Barack Obama - Is ANY Black Too Black For Pennsylvania?

The United States seems poised to elect its first black president. I wasn't expecting us to arrive at this moment until much further in the future. But I guess I wasn't expecting to have a candidate with the poise, intellect, and vision of Barack Obama.

Pennsylvania is one of one of the swing states of the election. It went for Sen. John Kerry in 2004, and Sen. Obama appears to have an insurmountable lead in recent polls.

But there's one thing...The Western PA area is very racist. It is very common to hear references to "colored" people. And that's when the N word isn't used.


Recently, Congressman John Murtha was castigated for stating the obvious - Western Pennsylvania is a racist area. I moved to the Pittsburgh area 22 years ago, and 21 years ago we bought out current house, located in the Pittsburgh suburbs. Before we moved in, the former owner explained that he refused to have a "For Sale" sign in front of his house because he didn't "want the colored to come in."

As it turns out, one of the couples who helped us moved in was black, and we thought afterward that, after we were all moved in, all the whites should have left and left our black friends here. That would have started us out on the right foot in this neighborhood!

It will be very interesting to see the election returns on Tuesday. I could be wrong, but I'm expecting the Pennsylvania results to be a lot tighter than polls are indicating.