Kentucky and Oregon held primaries this week and race was once again a topic of conversation in the Democratic contest. According to the US Census, both Oregon and Kentucky have predominantly white populations - 90 percent. Last week, there was a lot of talk about rural white voters in West Virginia’s Appalachian region because of the primary there. This week, many Appalachians in Kentucky voted, and 21-year old Ada Smith from the Appalachian Media Institute was one of them. She lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky and wants to set the record straight before her vote gets analyzed by pundits.
I spend a lot of time trying to convince people that where I'm from is not like Deliverance, the Beverly Hillbillies or the Dukes of Hazzard. Since I moved away to college, it’s hard when people hear my accent and assume I’m racist.
In current election coverage, the media has chosen to fall back on stereotypes. I am hearing once again that Appalachia is full of a bunch of racists, incapable of voting for a person of color.
I know racism exists in Appalachia, but so do black communities. All of the voters here aren't white and elderly. I think we may be scared to admit that more Americans than just Appalachians have a race problem. Instead of questioning how we’re going to deal with racism as a country, it's easier to make Appalachia the scapegoat, carrying the load.
I go to a small liberal arts college in western Massachusetts. In many ways it is the exact opposite of where I grew up in eastern Kentucky. Many people assume my campus is a place where racism doesn’t exist, just because it’s Northern and liberal. Just this year, a noose was hung on my school's campus, though. It reminded me that racism does exist in places that folks don't like to admit not just Appalachia.
My community faces a lot of the same problems as communities of color in places like New Orleans, New York City and Puerto Rico. Yet I've had people from those areas not want to talk to me. They've later told me after we've become friends that they saw all southern whites as racists. And the last thing young people in the mountains want is to be further isolated from other struggling communities. All the conversations about the rural primaries are making it worse. I'm really afraid the next time I meet someone new, they'll assume I'd never vote for a black president.
The truth is my friends who are young voters are all talking about change...just like the rest of the country.
Today, as a resident of Kentucky I voted in the primaries. Regardless of what has been said about my state and my home, the race of the candidate was not something that affected my vote. Kentucky is struggling with high rates of poverty, massive environmental damage, prescription drug abuse, poor healthcare, and a lack of access to education. I'm frustrated that the real problems of my home are being buried at this important political time.
Host Back Announce: Ada Smith is from Whitesburg, Kentucky. Her essay was produced by the Appalachian Media Institute and Youth Radio.
