I don’t aim to simply re-post other people’s commentary here, but I think it’s important to pass on in the hopes that it will fire you up. Maybe you will pass it on and it will spark conversations, discussions and in some of you maybe even some action. Keith Olbermann has become one of my favorite journalists in recent years. He’s an amazing writer, he conveys his point with eloquence and passion and I admire him a great deal.

He’s always said that the platform of “Special Comment” was saved for, well, special times, but last night he said he may have to make it a regular occurence for the next few weeks, in light of the incredible campaign we are watching unfold. He then took aim at not 1, but 3 people who are contributing to the ugliness we are seeing, the hatred, the pure and blatant racism that has come to the surface in light of a black man running for president. And because I couldn’t have said it better myself, here you go:

As time goes on and I witness more and more of these instances of hate and racism, I’ve found myself having a hard time containing the anger and sadness that I feel over it. I was talking about this with Cort & Fatboy  yesterday in the office and while I realize that living in an amazingly diverse place like the Northwest can put me in a bit of a happy bubble, I don’t think I truly realized how prevalent racism and hate still is. This election season has really brought out the UGLY in a lot of areas around the country. 

Fatboy grew up in Salem, said he was surrounded by people who took issue with race, but has never quite been able to get his head around it, that it seems like a movie to him. That’s how it strikes me, as well. With every instance I find myself thinking ”this can’t be real, can it?” We talked about how while 40 years is a long time to pass and allow for progression, it’s also not that long. That we do still have generations living among us that were around before and during the Civil Rights Movement and who will undoubtedly take issue with a black man running for president.

This came from FiveThirtyEight: “So a canvasser goes to a woman’s door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she’s planning to vote for. She isn’t sure, has to ask her husband who she’s voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, “We’re votin’ for the n***er!”

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: “We’re voting for the n***er.”

When I read that, at first I shook my head in disappointment, but as I mulled it over, surprisingly, I didn’t feel so bad about it. Beyond how they were raised and what they believe, this couple is voting and they’re voting for someone who they never thought they would….or could for that matter. Progress? I think so. I won’t ever understand it, I can’t understand it, I didn’t live in their time or place, I’ve grown up where none of that matters. People are just people to me. Sure there are good ones and bad ones, but that’s never something that race determines.

I’m thankful that I grew up with a family who embraced all people and who never gave me even the smallest inkling that someone who wasn’t white was “different” or was to be looked at in any other way than I’d look at myself. But that upbringing is also what makes it so difficult to understand when I hear or see things like what’s going on right now.

This election, the events that have transpired over the last several years, leading to the rollercoaster that has been the last few months have been exciting, exhausting, inspiring, devastating and about a million other emotions I could list off. A part of me can’t wait for it to be over so that I can break my addiction to the unending news cycles, constant poll checking, fact checking and worry over it all. But I must say, I do really enjoy it. It’s refreshing to see people having their own debates, getting fired up, inspiring their friends and families. To know that no matter what the outcome, we will all have taken this ride together, one that is for the history books. I personally hope that as a whole, we will come out the other side a little wiser, a little more open minded and be headed in a much better direction.