Today My apolitical hubby and I went GOTV in East Oakland FlatLands.....

Hubby normally wouldn't have come, but I told him I needed a partner...so off we went.

Beautiful day.....as when I went yesterday (without the hubby) it was raining.

We were assigned the streets behind Eastmont Mall (Foothill, Church street going from 62nd to 69th),
an area which is probably one of the poorest and blackest/brownest areas in the East Bay.
That's why I asked my hubby to come along.....as yesterday was kind of iffy with me dealing
by my lonesome....and I ended up quitting early.

Lots of dogs and "Beware of Dog" signs.

Lots young people outside in their cars, just chillin' with the music blarin'.

Lots of security fences and doors.

A few handwritten signs on doors saying "we do not have candy, please do not knock on door".

A few padlock on houses that seemed empty, i.e., possibly foreclosed on (although no sign),
or evicted.

We didn't stick too close to the address list we were given, as we decided to also
talk to the people out in the streets. Plus there were a few security apartment complex
that we couldn't get into, which made it impossible to knock on individual doors.

We placed OFA literature on cars in the parking lot of those apartment complexes,
since that is all that we could do. It appeared that lost of other Democratic groups
had been were we were.

One woman whose bell we rang, stated that she didn't want anymore literature,
because she would be voting, but had more information than she needed already.

We talked to people in the streets. I told most I came in contact to make sure to vote
on Tuesday, because this election was almost more important than the one that put Pres. Obama
in office, because otherwise, we were going to have to deal with those Teabaggers,
and they are bat-shit crazy.

Most said they would be voting again, and some asked if we knew where their polling station
was located. Most agreed that the Tea party people were crazy, when I mentioned them.

One said, she wasn't voting for Jerry Brown, and that she and someone else had been discussing
that just the other day.....because she said that when he was Mayor of Oakland,
he had messed everything up. My hubby corrected her and said that if it wasn't for
Jerry Brown bringing in the dollars to gentrify Oakland, we'd be in even worse shape now.

Later on, another said basically the same thing about Jerry Brown,
but said that she thought that Meg would be even worse.
I suggested that she hold her nose, and vote. She said....guess I will have to. She wasn't smiling.
I also reminded her to vote for Barbara Boxer too! She said, what has she done that was good?
I told her that she had supported Barack Obama's agenda from day one.
She said....well then, OK.

We approached a car full of young men parked in an apartment driveway.
My husband took the lead, and told them to vote for Prop 19,
so that the police would have less reason to warehouse us in jails.
They smiled and seemed to like the thought of voting for that. LOL!

One youngish woman going into the house with a bag full of groceries
said that she would not be voting this time,
because as far as she was concerned, she wanted to sit back and watch White people get fucked over,
since she'd been getting fucked over for all of her years (her words).

I told her that Pres. Obama needs us to give him the tools to continue his agenda....
and that if everyone thought like her, we'd never have gotten Obama in office.

She responded.....you see the good that done did us? They are treating him like shit and then some!
She said....I want to see them lose everything because that is the only thing they will ever understand.

My husband, the Baptist Minister said to her...Sorry you feel this way,
as there are White volunteers on these same streets, doing what we are doing,
but please....have a blessed day.

One young girl, who might have been only 16 if that (cause we asked a carful of youngesters if anyone of them was old enough to vote), got out of the car...was dressed as a fairy, and must have been 7 months pregnant. My husband gave her the OFA pamphlet and asked that she give it to her mother.

One hispanic man, who opened his door said this about the tea party.....
whether they like it or not, they can only slow down the Brown/Black take over of America,
but they cannot stop it. He'll be voting, he said, because it is his duty as an American.

After sweating and running up and down apartment stairs for 4 hours, we stopped.

How do I feel? Well, let's just say when we got back into our car, the news was on KGO, and they were talking about how the Republicans were going to take back the house.

I asked my husband to turn off the propaganda machine....and off we went to give back our
clipboard completed to the OFA guy that I had called and would be waiting for us at Concordia
Park.

We went to Nations' Burger immediately afterward, and I ate like a pig.

Good for you, going out on the hustings like that...

It sounds like a very tough day.

People are fed up, and you sure saw it today...

I hope you felt better after your dinner.

Recommended.

:hug:

but hopefully, it will yield results,
so that it won't be a tough ass two years. :(

We said we would have his back we have to show him. You are doing it! Thank you and all those who are standing up for our democracy.

cause when one has to actually do something, instead of simply speculating
about what other people should do to make it all better, that takes energy.

:hi:

You work your tail off for the Democratic Party and the people. I so admire you and your fierce loyalty to President Obama. A toast to you and the Rev. :toast:

:hi:

I salute you, in a heartfelt way. That's walking the walk.

:yourock:

he's not a big eater. :)

You did us proud!!!

and LOVE your Prop-19 lead in!! Adorable!

He believes that far too many young Black men are incarcerated or end up with a record due to marijuana charges....and he would be right.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

but in another way, it was more difficult, cause folks don't really want to open the door in the particular neighborhood that we went to. I can see how hard it must have been for census workers.

I've got a relationship going with someone on Foothill, and I've never failed to see Oakland as a viable town. Good fer you, Frenchie Cat!

and then demolished that later on in the evening! :rofl:

so yeah.....

nt

and did.

Some people won't vote and think they are powerless but it is worth a try.

Nothing is as satisfying as jumping in and helping. Thumbs up to your husband, too.

thank you to you and your husband.

I remember when that neighborhood you were in was solidly middle class. When Eastmont mall had a couple of large stores, JC Pennys for instance. Hell I remember when that site was a Chevrolet plant and most of the flat lands on the west side of E 14th had thriving factories.

I hope you reached more people out there than you think. I tell all the kids I come in contact with to always vote. Some of our ancestors died for that right. Some of them right here in Oakland.

BTW if you look carefully you'll see that major damage to our town was done by Eliu Harris, the mayor right before Jerry.

My husband was talking about that. Said he did NOTHING.

Sad too, cause we knew him and his wife quite well from before
he got into office. We used to party we some of the same folks.
But my hubby didn't let him off the hook.

First, because you're going into a black/brown neighborhood, you need backup? Why?

Then you quote a racist black woman-approvingly. Let's watch white people get fucked over? Are you referring to those millions upon millions of white people who barely make enough money to put food on their table, gas in their cars, or pay their mortgage? Maybe some who are being evicted as I type this? Yeah, let's fuck over these white people!??

Then you quote a racist hispanic. Black and brown people are going to take over America? Exactly what policies will they implement when they "take over" the US? No whites allowed.

For this post, you should be ashamed.

2nd, I have lived in East Oakland before, and went to high school in Richmond (another tough town)....
and my husband was raised in the West Oakland Projects, so plueaze....
I know how to act, and what to and what not to do. :eyes:

In reality, I'm not comfortable knocking on any door by myself these days
anywhere that I can think of. I don't mind if there someone else in those streets
with me...they don't have to come to the door (they can be working other houses),
but being out there all alone ain't exactly smart thinking.

So no, I'm not so stupid as to believe that I want to GOTV so badly that I'd
prance up and down East Oakland streets knocking on doors by myself feeling safe
like a bug in a rug. Perhaps you've never lived there, and don't understand. Women are
naturally more restricted as to what they can do these days all alone anywhere really.
Not all young men are respectful, especially when a few get together......
and I am, to some, quite an attractive woman.....
and because I am also smart enough not to set myself up to be sexualized simply for trying to get out the vote,
and since I'm married, I figured it would be a good idea to enlist my hubby. Doh!

As far as who is racist, I don't believe that the statement from the Guy who was Hispanic was
racist....it was just the truth; the Teabaggers are wanting to "take Back America".....and
he was simply stating the fact that they might slow it down, but the browning of America
is well on course. The part about White people not being allowed were your words, not his.

As for the woman you called a racist, I don't think she was talking about individual White folks
as much as she was talking about the collective dumbness of many......and I'm sorry, but
I won't deny the fact that many Black folks, having watched the treatment of Obama as President,
ain't all too thrilled at the lackluster manner in which he has been defended, period.
That being said, I didn't walk those streets doing GOTV to come here politically correct
with my first person account. I just related those things that were told to me....
and that wasn't the first time I've heard that kind of talk, and it won't be the last.

So no, I'm not even close to been ashamed.

The poster mentions that she GOTV in other communities by her lonesome. But when she goes to one that is black and brown, she needs the backup of her husband. I guess when she goes door to door in white communities she feels so safe and tidy. What is she afraid of? What hostility did she find? A single black girl can carry groceries into her house, but that same neighborhood is too scary for a do-gooder without some muscle?

Second, the hispanic gentleman's comment is racist. Raw, ugly racism. We both know that many of those who are teabaggers are racist. We accept that. Heck, they accept it. That racism is wrong. Equally wrong is racism on our side. Whether black, white or brown. Last time I checked, there are millions of white Democrats and progressives trying to right the wrongs of the past and to correct injustices. Should we stick it to them too?

By the logic of the hispanic man, he doesn't want to win elections to help ALL Americans. Nope. He's going to stick it to the white man. That is a fight that we will never win. If you put white people in that scenario- white versus black and brown, who do you really think will win?

Right now the electorate is over 75% white. For god's sakes, teabag senators are sniffing around finding how much money it will cost to deport every illegal. Don't think for a second that if we are polarized by race to such a degree that the result will not be favorable for mexicans, the blacks, filipinos, chinese, etc. So irresponsible comments and posts like this feed into the teabagger mentality.

What the heck is happening to us?

Your entire piece showed the results of Reaganomics, Bush presidencies, and Congressional terrorism in the 90's. Now you see, Frenchie, why the republican party is NOT a political organization, but in reality is the most despotic regime in the history of the planet?

I am that serious, and the organization needs to be taken out, so that no padlocks, no dispiritedness, no hatred ever adorn the faces of people you meet. DAMN the republicans!!