Latinos and African Americans angry with Allen in Norfolk

By: Susan Mariner
Published On: 8/20/2006 1:24:58 PM

The Latino Music Festival event was in Town Point Park on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk. A very outgoing and extremely jovial American of Hispanic descent, Chris Jamarillo, and I brought Webb's message to the crowd at the event.  We wore Webb for Senate T-shirts and brought lapel and bumper stickers, literature on Webb, and "Vote Democratic" fans with Webb stickers on them. 

Details of our experiences below the fold.
There was a good crowd at the free event.  The crowd was racially mixed, comprised mostly of African Americans and Hispanic Americans, and they were extremely receptive to Webb.  A lot of people, especially the Hispanics, hadn't heard of Webb yet, but as soon as they found out that he was a Democrat running against George Allen, they were on board in a big way.  I was pleasantly surprised at how many African Americans knew of Webb and had a favorable impression of him.  Almost everyone had heard about Allen's racist comments and were very angry, especially the African Americans. 

The majority of the people there wanted lapel stickers to wear and bumper stickers for their cars.  The caucasions at this event were favorable to Webb almost to a person, though we did run into a guy who I had met on numerous occasions as a volunteer for an annual nonprofit fundraiser who actually said that he liked Allen's "macaca" comments, had donated money as a result and who thought "macaca" would get votes for Allen.  I was infuriated and speechless and walked away feeling like I was might vomit.  Actually, I still feel a little sick to my stomach thinking of this person and that I had ever thought well of him.  Anyway, he was the only one out of many hundreds of people we spoke with that didn't voice their intention to vote for Webb against the now despised George Allen. 

We were there for 2 and a half hours, and during that time lots of people found out who they'd be voting for in November. I can say unequivocally that the folks down there on Norfolk's waterfront last night were MAD as hell, and they don't want to take it any more!

To see more of how some Norfolk residents are responding to Allen, check out the pictures of the anti-Allen protest that occurred last week when he was in town for his "Veterans for Allen" rally with John McCain here.

Comments



Thanks, Susan. (Kathy Gerber - 8/20/2006 1:33:53 PM)
Your experience me of a really great rally song by the O'Jays called Unity.  You can hear a bit of it on

Amazon

I have it on CD but I don't know all the ins and outs of how much can be posted. I do have it on CD.



Thanks for the link, Kathy (Susan Mariner - 8/20/2006 1:39:04 PM)
Neat song!


Give Me Your Huddled Masses (PM - 8/20/2006 4:02:59 PM)
George Allen thinks that message on the Statue of Liberty refers to football


Challenge people like the racist you encountered (snolan - 8/20/2006 6:11:54 PM)
Susan; I know it is after-event thinking, but I think it is important that we try to challenge people like the racist who make you sick to think outside the box.  Ask him why he felt that way and challenge him to think.

Invariably the root cause for a lot of racism and bigotry is fear.  I heard a fabulous quote from BBC to use on such people:


"You live in fear, and that's not really much of a life at all, is it?  I don't live in fear and I am alive."

I know that's fiction, but it is really poignant.  In that quote Sam challenges someone to step above their fear rather than simply dismissing them.  There is nothing wrong with dismissing them, but it's even better to challenge the good inside of them to come out.

That's how change happens, one person at a time.

Now, to commit this to memory so I can respond in similar situations quickly and effectively rather than coming up with it 2 hours after the confrontation.



Then again, (mkfox - 8/20/2006 6:22:32 PM)
some people are so stupid, stubborn or bigotted anyway that there's no point to argue with them.


limited time (Susan Mariner - 8/20/2006 6:33:15 PM)
The choice was to spend time trying to convert a lifelong bigot (he said he'd always been a "conservative Republican" with a nod and wink... It was fairly clear to me that he meant he'd always disliked people who had darker skin than him... can you believe he said that?) or to get the word out to people about Webb.  I think we made the right choice in moving on.  I appreciate what you're saying though.  I suspect I'll run into this person again sometime, and perhaps I'll use your line with him then.


latest polling numbers (Susan Mariner - 8/22/2006 12:55:57 AM)
We can see by the cross tabs in the latest Survey USA poll that what I was saying about the Latino vote in Norfolk was accurate.

Allen's down by 79 percentage points amongst Latinos across the state and by 31 points amongst all voters in the southeastern region.  Try to get your mind around that... down by 79 percentage point for Latino voters across the state, and I suspect it may be higher for Latino voters in Hampton Roads!  Wow.  Like I said, they are mad!