Walking around Metro Houston wearing an Obama button makes one feel like a celebrity. Everyone wants to talk about Barack, and voters are energized and fired up. From the woman who checked me in at the hotel in Houston when I first arrived in Texas, who was suddenly fawning all over me when she asked me what my business was in Houston, to the front desk people on every shift at my next hotel in Pearland, who every time I came in or out wanted to know where I had been, where I was going and “how Barack was doing out there.”
Once again, I received the honor of teaming up with my friend and Obama volunteer extraordinaire April Vargas, and together we must have walked twelve miles in two days crisscrossing the Silverlake subdivision of Pearland, TX. Granted, we were seeking only people at this point who had said they may or would vote for Barack, but the enthusiasm of many of the voters that we encountered was striking. In two days of knocking on hundreds of doors, I found one person who had changed her mind and said she would be voting for Clinton. It is also ironic that the three rude people I met were Republicans.
I also spoke with a woman who I think exemplifies the choice of many women in this country. She told me that she had already early-voted for Obama, but that she felt very bad about it. I asked why, and she said that she wanted to vote for the first woman president, but just couldn’t, and I told her that I felt so certain that she’d get another opportunity to vote for a woman, and she said, “Do you really think so?” I said that I really did, and I also added that she should feel good about voting for Obama. As a matter of fact, several people told me that for the first time, they felt good about voting for somebody and not against someone else.
I must make a comment about Pearland, Texas. The Silverlake community, which is about twenty minutes south of the Houston city limits, is a fully integrated community. I knocked on just as many doors of African Americans as I did for white families. This neighborhood, which I would describe as middle to upper middle class, has large homes, many two-story, sitting on oversized lots. I was so very impressed and pleased, and in all my travels, I have never seen such a community. Every American in this country who feels that minorities or people of color should live in areas away from them should come and witness an area where Americans have moved beyond racial division and live comfortably and harmoniously together on the same block.
Call me crazy, but I just don’t see black kids and white kids playing together in the street where I live, and it is commonplace in Pearland. I was excited to canvass there for a couple of days. Overall, I encountered superb people in Texas. I had developed many preconceived notions about Texas, but having visited the state now about six times, I have changed my tune. For the most past, I met enlightened, educated, family-oriented and hard working people. I will look forward to going back to see how Pearland is faring under an Obama presidency.
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