We are residents -- by choice -- of West Virginia. I attended college here in the 1980's and fell in love with the beauty of the place and the strength and independence of its residents.I rallied with striking coal miners who must fight for every benefit in an industry that has historically treated its workers as though they are mere peons in the realm of King Coal.
I marched in protest against mountain top removal. I worked for Democrats running for local and state offices -- from City Council to Governor.
I lobbied the West Virginia State Legislature on environmental issues and matters of a woman's right to choose.
And, eventually, I went to law school in West Virginia and got my first job at North Central West Virginia Legal Aid -- representing poor West Virginians who were barely getting by in a state that has been aptly compared to a third-world country. Nearly last in education, income and health care.
After living in Florida and New York -- with a brief stint in Canada -- I happily returned to West Virginia four years ago with my partner. Together we bought 6 acres in a rural county where we've been building our own home.
And so it came to pass that we are living here as 50 plus year-old, college educated, White, lesbian feminists.
As Obama supporters, we naturally are feeling rather ambivalent about our home state this morning after the West Virginia primary.
We knew that the state would go for Hillary. Our closest friends living in this mountain state confided to us that they were supporting Clinton.
They did not do so because she is White. Our fellow Mountaineers listed a variety of reasons: Hillary's resoluteness -- her fighting spirit. Many (including us) do not want another Democrat to cave in to Republican demands that he or she "give up" in the general election until all the votes are counted. There is comfort in Hillary's willingness to be tough and stick-it-out.
Many feel that because she is the first and probably last woman (in their lifetimes) with a real shot at winning the Presidency they cannot bring themselves to vote for Obama. Others believe Barack is too inexperienced and/or that he just won't win in November.
Whatever their reasons, not one of our friends prefer Hillary simply because she is White and all insist that, in November, they will vote for the Democrat, regardless of whether or not Clinton is heading the ticket.
But we heard the exit polling statistics last night and again this morning -- more than any other state where race-related exit polling was conducted -- West Virginian Democrats said they would not -- under any circumstances -- vote for Barack Obama simply because he is BLACK.
We love West Virginia and the people here. When we hear folks from other states joking that Mountaineers are "barefoot ignorant and inbred" we don't just deny those negative stereotypes, we stand up for our home state by reciting factual truths that undercut them.
But thanks to the two-out-of-ten West Virginians who said that Obama's race was a factor in their decision to vote for Hillary, we are hanging our heads in shame this morning.
Shoes or no shoes, there is no way to refute the ignorance of those sentiments.
