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Feb
10
I wrote this post last year about a conversation I had with a tow-truck driver in the Tri-C Eastern Campus parking lot the night in February 2007 when I attended a rally for Senator Barack Obama.
Okay – I made it in – I fed everyone in my family – the dishes will be there when I get back – the press table was GONE – they had nothing on me – but a nice tall woman who said she was the sleonard who had emailed with Wendell told me I could go in – and I saw Anastasia P.
It’s warm – not so loud yet – not back to the doors but very full. Mark Naymik is supposedly here somewhere behind me. And Jerid is supposedly here – I haven’t seen anyone else.
Now I just have to hope that they don’t drag my car away like they were doing to the car that had been in my spot. The tow guy – fascinating – said, you here for Obama? I said yeah. He said, “I wouldn’t want to be the first black president, no way. Just like Kennedy.”
Wow – I hope that’s not prescient.
Tonight, USA Today and others are reporting that:
Nobel Prize winner [for literature] Doris Lessing believes Barack Obama would be assassinated if he were elected U.S. president, the British writer said in a newspaper interview.
…
“It would be best if they ran together. Hillary is a very sharp lady. It might be calmer if she wins and not Obama,” Lessing was quoted as saying in comments translated into Swedish.
“He would probably not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would kill him,” Lessing said in the interview published Saturday.
She did not specify who she believed would kill Obama.
Lessing is 88.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:32 pm February 10th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Government, Hillary Clinton, Politics, WH2008
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8 Responses to “Nobel winner Lessing echoes Tri-C tow truck driver re: Obama & assassination”
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We’re come a long way from 1963… and 1968…
Haven’t we?
Joseph – the tow truck story stuck with me that whole night I was at Tri-C – I told Wendell Robinson and Anthony Fossaceca about it that night. And the tow truck driver was African-American. It was downright frightening – sent chills down my spine when he said it.
Have you ever seen some of the absolute filth, hatred, anger and pure, unadultered evil on some of the white supremicist websites, some of the ones that are convinced that even George Bush shills for Jews and needs to be gotten rid of?
Some of us have come a long way, yes. But there are a whole lot of others who not only don’t want to go anywhere, but they want to take a lot of us backwards.
Do not be naive.
Dorris Lessing’s British opinion should be taken seriously because??? Their best and brightest Tony Blair backed George II’s play in Iraq so Britishness is scarcely a recommendation. Your tow truck driver is probably a more dependable measure of a fear level than she is as a sociological analyst of the USA.
The British hold a lot of odd ideas as common currency that don’t hold much ground here. It bears remembering when one of them shoots off their mouth.
Well, I tend to agree with you re: why did anyone report what Lessing said? It would be interesting to know the context. But I’m sure she’s not the first and won’t be the last person to voice these concerns.
What really makes the concerns tangible is when you see him in a crowd – which is what I was reacting to that night last year – it is just eerie but probably a possibility for pretty much anyone these days. Mostly though, I banish the thoughts.
The “Haven’t we?” was intended as sarcasm… but I still think it’s a valid question- naive or not.
We’re going to have a competitive black or female candidate this year- and that certainly says something positive about the distance we’ve come since the 60′s.
I certainly am aware of the horrible racist crap that shows up on certain websites- but for every one racist hick that starts a blog, there are thousands of people like us who write the truth and hopefully keep those people in check.
Well, I like to feel that way too, Joseph and in general, I think you are right – we couldn’t have the race that we’re having, at least on the Dem side, without advancement.
But then – look at the Republican side – what is all that over there? I’m sorry that that sounds so nasty – but I just do not get those candidate options on the GOP side – and many Republicans seems to be having a hard time with them too.
I am only 38 years old and have lived through the desegregation and integration in the Chicagoland area, and have the exact same concern for Obama’s safety. I will continue to vote for him, pray for him, and hope for the best but the world has unfortunately changed less than it has stayed the same with a happy face covering words of hatred and violence. Part of me wants to tuck him in a safe place of influence but that is not my choice nor how change is truly brought about. He may become the first, and it may turn out to be brief, but he will not be the last. We need someone to restore the shine, luster and respect of that position and he is just the ticket.
I am about as far from racist as you can get but I honestly have had the same concern about Obama (and yes I am voting for him)
Regardless of how I personally do not have racist views, and the people around me dont have them…many, specially in the southern states do.
Just a few hours north of me for instance is one of the biggest branches of the KKK (Idaho…)
Regardless of how far we have come there are always though who havent come far enough.