close
close

Le-verdict

News with a Local Lens

    • Signs of hope? Neighbors disagree but remain friendly
    minsta

    Signs of hope? Neighbors disagree but remain friendly

    Pabio Posted on

    Amy Miller and Guy Trammell Jr.
    | Color us connected

    This column appears biweekly in Foster’s Daily Democrat and the Tuskegee News. This week, Guy Trammell, an African American from Tuskegee, Alabama, and Amy Miller, a white woman from South Berwick, Maine, write about polarization.

    By Amy Miller

    South Berwick’s main street today resembles many main streets across America: two neighbors at a major intersection airing opposing political views.

    On the fence of Linda and Rick’s lawn hangs a large Harris banner; Just down the road, Justin and Karalyn installed an even larger Trump-Vance banner on the wall of their home-based auto detailing business.

    You’d be hard-pressed to find nicer people than Linda, who has held political signs around town for decades, or Justin, who invites his customers to take home signs he purchased for anyone who wants them.

    What makes this scene unusual, almost unprecedented, is the neighborly bond between these politically passionate households.

    “They were the best neighbors I ever had,” Justin said.

    “They are basically good people at their core,” Linda reported.

    Karalyn brought Linda a plant for Mother’s Day. Linda and Rick gave them tickets to the Ogunquit Playhouse because they knew how much the couple loved Elvis.

    Every Valentine’s Day, Linda brings small gifts to the young family next door. When her grandson is in town, she invites Justin and Karalyn’s son to come read with them. She considers the neighbor’s children as “her surrogate family”.

    “How can you be mad at someone who bakes you cookies just because they have a different political opinion,” Justin asks rhetorically.

    According to the Pew Research Center, more than half of American adults find it “stressful and frustrating” to talk to people with whom they disagree politically. Some 84% said political debate has become less respectful in recent years.

    Justin reports that he and his neighbors talk politics, but there are “no dirty looks, no whispered discussions,” he said. “It’s just people who care about voting.”

    When one of Justin’s panels fell, Rick went to replant it in the ground. When Justin saw that one of Rick’s signs was missing, he went up to him and told him he thought it was stolen. Together they searched the land and found it blown into the bushes.

    It turns out that Justin raised his Trump banner a year ago, long before most households started promoting their favorite politicians. When Rick finally put up the Harris sign, Justin went to ask him what took so long. And when Trump was indicted, Justin didn’t discuss it with Linda. “She was excited about the indictment and I just allowed her to express her excitement,” he said.

    From Justin’s point of view, he and his best neighbors are both right. They are right to say they care about the country. And they are right that they are using their voices to make a difference.

    From Linda’s perspective, the fact that people who disagree can’t talk to each other and behave in a civil manner “is one of the main reasons we’re in the mess we’re in.” “.

    By Guy Trammell Jr.

    Every year, the Iron Bowl (University of Alabama vs. Auburn University) divides friends and families. Include Tuskegee University vs. Alabama State University; and Tuskegee v. Morehouse. Southern football rivalries are serious and polarize people.

    The white Associated Press created Tuskegee’s most historic polarization from exaggerated disagreements between Booker T. Washington and WEB Du Bois. There are articles, essays, prose and books about this lie, which falls apart when the evidence is examined.

    Players on a team may disagree, but does that stop them from playing their different positions and working together to win the game?

    Yes, that’s right, Du Bois mislabeled Booker’s speech at the 1895 Atlanta Cotton States Exposition, calling it “the Atlanta Compromise.” This is called criticism. If your baked potato has butter with cheese and mine has sour cream with chives, are we enemies?

    Booker’s childhood was spent as a forced laborer, working on a Southern plantation. Du Bois’s childhood was spent as a student, attending Northern schools. Booker’s life was about building a civilization for his people. Du Bois’s life educated his people to reject brutal treatment and relegation to servitude.

    Both led black people on a moral path, to achieve total freedom in the midst of white racist intolerance. Leave aside this shared mission and we’ll miss the full story.

    Although little known, Booker’s inner circle included Monroe Nathan Work, his archivist and former colleague of Du Bois; Adelle Hunt, his librarian and editor for Du Bois’s “Crisis” magazine; and Margaret Murray, his director and Du Bois’ mentor at Fisk University.

    Also hidden was the fact that Du Bois twice applied to teach at Tuskegee, and in 1903 his office was in Tuskegee’s Carnegie Hall when he worked for Booker teaching summer school.

    In the 1960s, America was divided over California’s Black Panther Party for Self Defense, formed by Tuskegee students who formed the first Lowndes County Black Panthers.

    The Black Panthers were called “threats” for teaching the law, protecting people from police abuse, and feeding children. They never copied the behavior of white hate groups by invading, lynching, raping and destroying white communities.

    The same goes for my brother’s babysitter and Tuskegee alumna, Betty Shabazz, whose husband, Malcolm X, reformed prisoners and educated black people to protect and defend themselves.

    But of course, American society does not support educated black people who protect their families and demand to be treated like human beings. People who do this are threats… right?

    When you think about it, there are so many examples that prove that we are not as far apart as some try to convince us. Let’s start the conversation to reach common ground!

    Amy and Guy can be contacted at [email protected]

    LEAVE A RESPONSE

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Pabio
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like