MONTANA: "Never could I have anticipated . . . a black man at the top of the ticket"

[Leopolds Ghost]

Montanans who have only met a black man once in their lives talk about potentially voting for the first black President
in a state with no direct experience of white on black racism, whose only images of black people (positive or negative)
come from TV -- or childhood memories of visiting coastal cities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102904331.html

The Innocents at Home (Photo Gallery)

In central Montana, one of the least racially diverse areas in the United States,
residents grapple with the idea of voting for a black man.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2008/10/29/GA2008102903544.html

[Leopolds Ghost]

1. This article is really interesting, you guys should read it.

[Leopolds Ghost]

2. More from the article (which seems to be subscription-only, unless you link from Pollster.com)

TEIGEN, Mont.

Cattle ranchers in the high plains of central Montana sometimes come across square rock formations just beneath the ground's surface. They have no doubt about their origins.

"They're the foundation of old one-room schools," says Dan Teigen, pointing to a spot where he recently made just such a discovery.

Teigen's family settled in these parts more than 100 years ago. The dot-size town carries the family name. There's little in Teigen now but the husk of an old hotel and the huge Teigen ranch that sweeps up and around the McDonald Creek Valley.

Among those who came here over the years were the descendants of Irish, German and Scottish immigrants. Their families continue to populate the spare landscape between the towns of Roundup, Grass Range, Teigen and Lewistown.

But one group that never settled in any numbers here, or in any part of Montana, were blacks. There has never been a black schoolteacher, mail carrier or law enforcement officer in any of these towns. As those school foundations attest, there is history here, but no black history -- no frayed emotions over the flapping of the Confederate flag, no sit-ins for voting rights, no debates over the duties of the Talented Tenth.

So how do the people here get to know the accomplishments, artistry, pain and jubilation of more than 36 million Americans? How do they begin to understand Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, who could become the first black president? Particularly when they may never have seen a black mayor, a black school principal or even a black shift supervisor?

Montana, where just 0.4 percent of the 945,000 residents are black (6.4 percent are Native American), is one of the least racially diverse states in the country. But blacks are the most highly segregated minority in America, according to the Census Bureau. And like here, there are many neighborhoods across the country where whites' daily experience of blacks is limited to chance encounters and what they see on TV.

"I remember being in Billings as a little kid," says Teigen, 39, an Obama supporter running for the state House. "I was in a grocery store. I saw a black man and I said, 'Wow, that's a black man.' It occurred to me that that was the first black man I'd ever seen in Montana."

There is a certain kind of innocence to his words. Which is part of the complexity, as you travel around the ragged buttes of this region. With a black man inching closer to the White House, many folks here just might have to grapple with a situation they've never faced before.

[Trailrider1951]

3. I lived in Montana in the mid '80s

It's true, i saw no Black people the entire time I was there, even though I was in a college town. So, since there are few Black people up there, all their (Caucasian peoples) hate and prejudice is directed towards the Red peoples. :-(

[Leopolds Ghost]

4. Yeah, but it seems like a different dynamic

in Montana and the Dakotas, they aren't "rednecks" like a lot of us think of it... alot of them are the grandchildren of German immigrants who basically staged a shooting war against the Natives for conquest of the formerly native lands... Whites vs. Natives in Montana and the Dakotas is almost like Israelis and Palestinians.

The liberals these regions are the descendants of those immigrants who were pacifists who moved to the area as farmers after the ranchers had made it a blank slate (who preferred to thank the Federal Government's land policies for their prosperity instead of the power of the gun.)

Nevertheless, the whole region is struggling economically now, and they have no black people or hippies to blame it on like the Reagan dems did in the late 70s when domestic peak oil collapsed our manufacturing economy.

[wolverinez]

6. Montana is doing pretty well compared to the rest of the country nm

nm

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. fascinating article and a hell of a photographer

thanks, now to get it copies and pasted to the reference file... it is THAT GOOD

[Tinksrival]

7. Well,

Being from Chicago I am use to diversity. Recently I traveled to Denver and rode a shuttle bus with a University of Montana Women's soccer team.
I couldn't help staring. They all had the same look. Tall, blond, tan, well they were amazon-esque. I couldn't help staring. It felt like I stepped onto a bus in Denmark or Sweden.

Goes both ways I guess.