US:Some of Obama's field workers and volunteers are encountering a raw racism and hostility, writes Kevin Merida
DANIELLE ROSS was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Indiana, a mobile phone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floors, stories from the trail on her mind.
It was the day before Indiana's primary and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to happen since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.
In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.
"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person'," recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."
For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone- bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed and unreported. Doors have been slammed in their faces.
They have been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers) and they have endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African-American president.
The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street- level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.
Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone- bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take. "It wasn't pretty."
She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna county, her home county, which is 98 per cent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"
Documentary film-maker Rory Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert F Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organiser told her he would not vote for Obama because he was black, while a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."
Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive.
The campaign in a statement said: "After campaigning for 15 months in nearly all 50 states, Barack Obama and our entire campaign have been nothing but impressed and encouraged by the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life. The last year has only reinforced Senator Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest."
On election day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along US 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.
Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised.
During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face. But taunting teenagers on a busy commercial strip in broad daylight? "I was very shocked at first," Murrell said. "Then again, I wasn't, because we have a lot of racism here."
The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalised at 2am on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate- glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen.
Other windows were spray- painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages: "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright".
Ray McCormick was told of the incident at about 2.45am. A farmer and conservationist, McCormick had erected a giant billboard on a major highway on behalf of Farmers for Obama. He also was housing the Obama campaign worker looking after the office. When McCormick arrived at the office, he grabbed his camera and wanted to alert the media, but he was told Obama campaign officials didn't want to make a big deal of the incident. McCormick took photos anyway and distributed some. "The pictures represent what we are breaking through and overcoming," he said.
As McCormick, who is white, sees it, Obama is succeeding despite these incidents. Later, there would be bomb threats to three campaign offices in Indiana, including the one in Vincennes, according to campaign sources.
Obama has not spoken much about racism during this campaign. He has sought to emphasise connections among Americans rather than divisions. He shrugged off safety concerns that led to early Secret Service protection and has told black senior citizens who worry that racists will do him harm not to fret. Earlier in the campaign, a 68-year-old woman in Carson city, Nevada, voiced concern that the country was not ready to elect an African-American president.
"Will there be some folks who probably won't vote for me because I am black? Of course," Obama said, "just like there may be somebody who won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman or wouldn't vote for John Edwards because they don't like his accent. But the question is, can we get a majority of the American people to give us a fair hearing?"
For the most part, Obama campaign workers say, the 2008 election cycle has been exhilarating. On the ground, the campaign is being driven by youngsters, many of whom are imbued with an optimism undeterred by racial intolerance.
"We've grown up in a different world," says Danielle Ross.
Field offices are staffed by 20- somethings who hold positions - state director, regional field director, field organiser - that are typically off limits to newcomers to presidential politics.
Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside the largest polling location in Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama.
"I trust him," Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama's face on Seifert's T-shirt and said: "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?"
Pollsters have found it difficult to measure accurately racial attitudes, as some voters are unwilling to acknowledge the role that race plays in their thinking. Some though are not.
Susan Dzimian, a Clinton supporter who owns residential properties, said outside a polling location in Kokomo that race was a factor in how she viewed Obama.
"I think if it was somebody other than him, I'd accept it," she said of a black candidate.
"If Colin Powell had run, I would be willing to accept him."
- (Los Angeles Times- Washington Post service)