Jessica

Vozel

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October 27, 2008

For Beleaguered Western Pennsylvania, Campaign Can’t End Soon Enough

I’ve never seen my neck of the woods get this much attention – in an election cycle or in any other time not involving one of Pittsburgh’s sports teams. Unfortunately, none of it is positive, and most of it – in my experience of living there for two decades and returning frequently – is based upon truth. 

First, back in April, Barack Obama made his infamous “bitter” comment, saying that because of a downward economic spiral spanning 25 years, small-town Pennsylvanians “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” (See my April 14 column for a more in-depth take on this incident).

Then earlier this month I caught the last half of an NPR segment during which farmers selling produce street-side were interviewed about their voting preferences. One said, on the topic of Obama and race, “I myself was one time very prejudiced, but I ain't no more . . . I've always worked with them, and I found early on that blacks sort of took advantage of the situation. I don't know, anymore – I think they're OK as long as they do their end of the job.” I scowled at my dashboard radio, wondering where this man lived. To my dismay – but not surprise – at the close of the segment I learned that NPR was conducting these interviews in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles from where I grew up. Uniontown is the metropolis of my tiny county, Fayette, which was worthy of an NPR segment because it often goes blue in a sea of red. 

Then, just this week, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area." But it doesn’t end there. Speaking from a town 10 miles in a different direction from where I grew up, Murtha qualified his statements, saying “this whole area, years ago, was really redneck.” Naturally, this didn’t help his case at all.  In fact, his remarks even warranted an SNL spoof, where Joe Biden and John Murtha exchange foot-in-mouth comments at a campaign rally. Murtha also caught the requisite heat from the McCain campaign. At Robert Morris University, near Pittsburgh, McCain called Murtha out on his remarks and then tripped up and said, “I couldn’t agree with them more.” Oops. Talk about foot-in-mouth. 

Western Pennsylvanians really bristle at being called racist, and they’ve endured commentary calling them bitter, racist rednecks for months now. However, the accusations, in my opinion, are neither unfounded nor untrue. Another Uniontown farmer who took part in the NPR interview even confirmed it, saying, "You know, there still seems to be the race issue. Nobody admits it – nobody – but I think there is a racial component there. It's there. And it shouldn't be."  

Part of the problem, I think, is that people see “racist” as an epithet in itself, and western Pennsylvanians don’t take well to being called names. Another part, of course, is that not all western Pennsylvanians are racist. I’d venture to say, even, that most are not. But a few are, and those few could influence the outcome of the election. That’s what Murtha was trying to say. 

Unfortunately, that’s not the worst in western Pennsylvania news this week. McCain campaign volunteer Ashley Todd filed a fraudulent police report claiming that a 6’4” black man (Todd is white) attacked her at an ATM in downtown Pittsburgh, beat her, sexually assaulted her, and carved a “B” into the side of her face, saying something to the effect of, “You will vote for Obama.”  When ATM surveillance footage failed to corroborate Todd’s story, she was asked to take a lie detector test. But before she even started the test, she revealed the truth: She’d made it all up and carved a “B” in to her own face, which explained why the “B” was backwards – she used a mirror. 

But before the falsity of her report became clear, the media reported the story with the assumption of truth. It’s problematic, first of all, that her story was automatically believed – some speculate this was because she identified her attacker as being black and, as the Susan Smith case in 1995 proved, implicating a black perpetrator increases your chances of being believed.  But it’s also problematic in another way: For every false police report filed by a woman about an incident of sexual assault, women who are actually sexually assaulted have a tougher time being believed. In a culture that already distrusts rape victims to the point where many never come forward, it’s dangerous and sad for legitimate victims when some of the most publicized sexual assault cases (Todd, the Duke rape case, etc.) end up being false reports. 

For western Pennsylvanians, for Obama supporters, and really for all of us, the election can’t come soon enough. 

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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