Canvassing in Gary, Indiana - Part III

At the end of the street, we turned around and worked our way back on the opposite side. Most of the houses were unoccupied. We went to one home where the mother of the house was not registered to vote, but the daughter who opened the door said that her mom had just returned from work and had just gone to sleep and that there was nothing on this earth that was going to get her to wake up her mother. We left the forms for her with some doubt that they would get completed and mailed in. The last house on the end of the block was the house across the street from Roy’s, and as it turned out was his mother-in-law’s house. She, being over 65 years of age, was eligible for an absentee ballot (that's something that is being encouraged in swing states, to ensure that some contingency or other doesn’t prevent that vote from either being cast or counted on election day). Roy was still in his yard working, and his wife was back, waiting for us. I got her voter registration form completed and she stepped over to her mother’s to make sure she understood what her mother was signing. They were really happy to see us, which surprised me because the last thing you want on a Saturday is for some stranger to come knocking on your door peddling whatever it is they're peddling. But then again at the Chicago campaign office where they have volunteers make phone calls, the calls are greeted with surprising enthusiasm too. (When they called me, come to think of it, I actually welcomed that call... and that's definitely not how I respond to other organizations who call me even if I've supported them in the past). It occurs to me now that going door-to-door in Gary, we didn't discuss any issues such as the economy, jobs, etc.; the main issue here was the big issue, the one of African-American empowerment.

On our way down the street back to my car, we passed by a 18- or 19-year-old guy whom we'd seen before, washing and polishing his car out on his lawn. (He was still at it). He had already told us he was registered to vote but Linda of course had to pause and comment on how beautiful his car was looking (it was about 12 years old, a large maroon gas-guzzling American car of some sort). He told us that it was clean inside and out, and sure enough, he had detailed it so carefully that it looked like a pristine royal velvety living room inside! Linda suggested that he could perhaps give his neighbors a ride to go vote on November 4, and he told us he didn’t like to let anybody ride in his car! Back on the sidewalk, Mable commented to Linda that this kid was probably suffering from sickle-cell anemia. It turned out that Mable was a pediatrician and Linda an at-home midwife. Who knew?

At Gregory’s house, we found that he was still busy on the phone and wasn’t going to talk to us, despite Linda’s cajoling from the living room (“You’re not going to let us down, are you, Gregory?” and, on our way out, “You know we love you, Gregory!”) His 12-year-old sister stepped outside with us, curious about us. She had already told us earlier that she knew who Obama was because they talk about him in the house so I said to her that she could try to get involved in the campaign if she wanted, that there was probably stuff for kids to do. Linda added that she could then tell her grandchildren that she worked on President Obama's campaign because it would be a historic one. Later on, we passed a 7-year-old boy walking by himself, and had a little friendly exchange with him, and Linda asked him, “You gonna be president when you grow up?” He giggled the way any kid would being asked about his grand plans by an adult. Mable said to me after he had gone that there was a time when you couldn’t even think that. I remembered a conversation I’d had earlier with my husband, and said something to the effect that there was a time when African-Americans couldn’t even get a library card. She said, jokingly, “Oh, that was just yesterday!”

The polling place for all of the people we had just was a church just down the street, and since there was a small crowd of people there and music blaring, we headed over. They had a barbecue going, with free hamburgers, hotdogs, and soft drinks, and were giving away used clothing as well (donations of course accepted). Here’s my video of it. That’s Linda, getting in the spirit of things. (The houses you see around the church are a bit larger and in better condition than the ones we went to).



There was a very enthusiastic woman we met there who told us that she was doing everything she could to promote Obama’s campaign: her backyard faced the church and she was going to hold a voter-registration event there and that when the church heard that, they were going to do one too. She was a student at Purdue University's regional campus and showed us the Obama buttons that someone she knew created and that she wore to class every day. (See pictures above).

On the drive back to Chicago, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to these people if Obama did get elected. On the one hand I know that he has done enough community organizing among disenfranchised African-Americans to never forget them, but on the other hand, when people become presidents, they change. They gain power but the presidency often ends up being bigger than themselves. I just hope I'm not putting my support behind yet another politician who shows up only when when he/she needs votes and forgets them after election day. I'm hoping to go back to Gary with a couple of old high school friends in mid-October.