One struggle, one vote: Blacks propel Obama to victory in South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina. The African-American woman with the soft, juvenile look, sitting in her modest café in black and poor neighborhood of Charleston, does not look her age. Chantelle Milton (photo Daniella Zalcman) is 36 years old. Since her husband’s death two years ago, she has raised her two daughters on her own and has a two-year old granddaughter, Zehnyah. Like for many blacks in South Carolina, her story is a story of struggle. She might be forced to rent out her house to pay her mortgage and cannot afford health insurance. Chantelle’s dream is within reach. It lies about 2 miles to the south, in downtown Charleston. “I wanted to have my restaurant there but I could not afford the rent”, she says. She opened the Charleston ice cream and music café a year and half ago on King St, close to a highway overpass. The restaurant sits opposite Uncle Leon’s minuscule and messy barbershop, next to Al “Hollywood” Meggett’s gym. The 77-year old “Hollywood” has trained generations of boxers in his 50-year career and still teaches kids from the neighborhood how to jab.“I have always managed restaurants, says Chantelle. I know I can run a restaurant. But it is difficult here. We are trying to get businesses to improve this place better but there is a lot of crime and drugs and also a lot of police harassment”. Like 78% of African-American voters, Chantelle voted for Barack Obama in the Jan. 26 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary. In a state, where 55% of Democratic voters are African Americans, black votes propelled Barack Obama to a huge victory over Hillary Clinton. The Illinois Senator, won 55 percent of the overall vote. The former first lady finished second with 27 percent and South Carolina native John Edwards trailed in third place with 18 percent. “Obama inspires me”, explains Chantelle. Like him, I was raised by a single mom. He knows where I come from”. In Charleston, the second largest city in South Carolina, 32% of the population is African-American. In North Charleston, there are more blacks than whites. The suburban city of Charleston is considered by the FBI as one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. 33.8% of those under age 18 live below the poverty level. In an apartment complex on Hunters Ridge Lane in North Charleston, Chris and John, two young African-American high school dropouts aged 16 and 17, seem to be waiting for an improbable opportunity, smoking a cigarillo. Their friend Romeo observes discretely a sheriff car, which stopped in front of a house a few doors away from where he is standing. De’vasha Mc Pherson, a 18-year old black woman, has been raising her 11-month old daughter Da’nasia on her own after the father of the baby was locked up. The woman is looking for a job but dreams about going to college and moving to a better neighborhood with her daughter one day. “I would like to study nursing”, she says. “I will do everything to make sure my daughter gets a good education. It is hard because black youth is losing more and more every day. Our school system is messed up and kids are dropping out of high school”. The young mom likes Barack Obama “because he is African-American” but supports Hillary Clinton. “I think she could do a good job”, De’vasha adds. Her oldest brother is in the military and just came back from Iraq. She says she is scared for Obama’s safety. “I am afraid he would get killed because people don’t want to see a black president”, she adds. In his large brick-facaded Methodist church in downtown Charleston, reverend Joe Darby reflects on the impact Obama’s presidential bid has had on African Americans. “I have never seen so much excitement about a primary, he says. Normally people would be pondering which white guy to choose. Senator Obama has really energized people from my congregation. There is a great deal of pride in the African-American community for his candidacy, even among those supporting Hillary Clinton”. Charleston remains prone to “geographical apartheid”, as the reverend puts it. Despite his efforts to reach believers beyond the African American community, reverend Darby has failed to add white people to a 3000-member congregation “This church is 99,9% black”, he says. “I do not think people are ready to mix when it comes to faith”. The reverend says he is leaning heavily toward Obama. “If he won, it would have a massive impact on our nation”, he says. “Imagine a black president. Before the Iowa caucuses, nobody thought it would be possible”. In the non-descript lobby of a hotel in North Charleston, Marion Welch, the president of the Coalition for Black Voter Participation says the close race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has energized African-Americans: “The community has responded, not just to Obama himself but to the competition between him and Hillary Clinton”. The coalition has focused its efforts on voters’ education in the African American community in Charleston. “We understand that it will take more than Obama or Clinton to change this country”, adds Mr Welch, a 52-year old former soldier. “If one of them is elected president, he or she will have to work with Congress. We as a coalition, also focus on those issues and races”. Waring Howe, the white president of the Democratic party in Charleston, recently endorsed Barack Obama. “I chose to support him because I think he has the best chance of winning the general election in November”, Mr Howe, a lawyer, says. “I also appreciate his message. “The country needs to be unified and its standing in the world needs to be restored”. Sitting in his office in downtown Charleston, Waring Howe admits his party has been unable to reach out to many African-Americans in the struggling neighborhoods of Charleston and North Charleston but says Obama’s presidential bid has brought a lot of people to politics. “He has the support of 2/3 or even 3/4 of the black community”, Mr Howe adds. “African-Americans think he can go all the way and get involved”. In her restaurant, Chantelle Milton agrees. On January 26, she voted in her first primary. “Barack Obama really woke me up”, she says. “And now I am listening”. Charleston (South Carolina) / Jean-Cosme Delaloye CommentsYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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