First a little background. I grew up in a small town in North Eastern Pennsylvania. My town was a mile by a mile; I went to high school with a graduating class of 150. My parents are a Hair Dresser and a Millwright/Carpenter. My grandparents (on both sides) grew up within 15 miles of where I grew up. Both sides had parents who were immigrants who worked in the coal mines.
Now, let's get to it. Obama's comments were dead on. They were. End of story.
My high school demographic was comical. It composed of 1 Black family (father worked as a prison guard), 1 Indian family (owned a gas station, which was heavily vandalized the week after sept. 11), and 1 Chinese family (operated a Chinese food restaurant.) the rest being Irish and Eastern Europe Catholics and WASP's.
Being friends with the Indian kid, it took a long time to realize the amount of abuse he and his family endured. I never knew what religion he was because he just did not tell anyone. A town over had a huge "Mexican Invasion". The fights and violence against them was ridiculous. For a while people were getting stabbed left and right coming home from jobs from the farms a few miles away.
Guns, Silent Racism, Anti-Immigration sentiment, Suspicion that the gov is against them; these are all a part of my area. We recently had an invasion of Evangelism. By recently, I mean while I was going through High School. Before that it was Catholicism, which has been really hit hard in my area. Our Catholic schools are closing left and right and my town (a mile by a mile) which had 3 (yes 3) Catholic churches has now consolidated down to 1.
My area is bitter. The People are bitter. The jobs are gone. They have been gone for since the 1920's when mining crashed. The few that did keep their heads above water are rapidly leaving. They are replaced by shirt factories and Walmart distribution centers. The unions are falling to pieces. The tanking economy is removing what was left of the building and construction opportunities from the cities an hour or so away. Bitter is almost not a strong enough word.
I would love to hear the rest of Obama's speech, not just the sound bite. But regardless, he was right. And my area isn't even the worst. Go 5 hours west and hang around Pittsburgh. I worked there in EMS for the summer. Having rural areas and decaying industrial towns so close to a big city is just a bad idea. Racism is rampant. A Black cop I became friends with and I joked about it. It was ridiculous.
I dare any of you to drive through a Coal region town in the North East of Pennsylvania or a dying steel town in Western PA and tell me that it isn't bitter. I've seen people spray paint the sides of their houses with messages of despair, warning people about insurance companies that screwed them over. I've seen entire towns rot.
The sound bite is annoying. Elitist or not the man is right.
Now, let's get to it. Obama's comments were dead on. They were. End of story.
My high school demographic was comical. It composed of 1 Black family (father worked as a prison guard), 1 Indian family (owned a gas station, which was heavily vandalized the week after sept. 11), and 1 Chinese family (operated a Chinese food restaurant.) the rest being Irish and Eastern Europe Catholics and WASP's.
Being friends with the Indian kid, it took a long time to realize the amount of abuse he and his family endured. I never knew what religion he was because he just did not tell anyone. A town over had a huge "Mexican Invasion". The fights and violence against them was ridiculous. For a while people were getting stabbed left and right coming home from jobs from the farms a few miles away.
Guns, Silent Racism, Anti-Immigration sentiment, Suspicion that the gov is against them; these are all a part of my area. We recently had an invasion of Evangelism. By recently, I mean while I was going through High School. Before that it was Catholicism, which has been really hit hard in my area. Our Catholic schools are closing left and right and my town (a mile by a mile) which had 3 (yes 3) Catholic churches has now consolidated down to 1.
My area is bitter. The People are bitter. The jobs are gone. They have been gone for since the 1920's when mining crashed. The few that did keep their heads above water are rapidly leaving. They are replaced by shirt factories and Walmart distribution centers. The unions are falling to pieces. The tanking economy is removing what was left of the building and construction opportunities from the cities an hour or so away. Bitter is almost not a strong enough word.
I would love to hear the rest of Obama's speech, not just the sound bite. But regardless, he was right. And my area isn't even the worst. Go 5 hours west and hang around Pittsburgh. I worked there in EMS for the summer. Having rural areas and decaying industrial towns so close to a big city is just a bad idea. Racism is rampant. A Black cop I became friends with and I joked about it. It was ridiculous.
I dare any of you to drive through a Coal region town in the North East of Pennsylvania or a dying steel town in Western PA and tell me that it isn't bitter. I've seen people spray paint the sides of their houses with messages of despair, warning people about insurance companies that screwed them over. I've seen entire towns rot.
The sound bite is annoying. Elitist or not the man is right.