My County

I had heard recently that there was a cross set aflame in a rural area in the Northwest corner of Susquehanna County. So when I saw a headline on AOL that read "Racists React to Obama Victory" and said there had been ten incidents nationwide, I clicked on it to see if our little corner of the country actually made the list.

Oh, it did. Understand, we live in a geographically large county with a relatively tiny population and the distinction of being one of the two poorest counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. But c'mon -- as rural as it is here, and as Republican as I know this county to be, I didn't expect it to make up 20% of the items on a supposedly national list. Don't believe me? Here's the link to the AOL article. But upon closer examination, it seems that the two items is all part of the same case. Whew! That's a relief -- we're just making up 11% of the nation's bigotry.

In Apolocon, a cross was burned on the lawn of a biracial couple. The couple in question (she's Jewish, he's black) have lived here for 5 years; they have a pottery studio where they teach classes and sell their creations. And in the Binghamton newspaper article (because you know it didn't make the local weekly newspapers), there is an open question of whether this was because the couple is biracial, or because she's Jewish (anti-Semitism, anyone?) or because they supported Barack Obama. In nearby Little Meadows, I learn, there used to be KKK rallies. This is so profoundly revolting, I don't know where to begin.

It turns out the Friendsville item may be the criminal action against the two men arrested for racial intimidation. Still not reported in our local newspapers; maybe next week when it will appear in the police blotter....

The point here is not a liberal trope about bitterness, guns, religion, and bigotry. It's not even the more nuanced point about racism going both ways, and that we need to condemn the cross-burning as much as the burning rhetoric from the Reverend Wrights of the world.

What I take away from this is the feeling that my county -- and yes, I wasn't born here but by gosh I live here now -- needs better education and more intervention and a chance for people to learn what's going on in the world without feeling like the world is leaving them behind. We need jobs, and services, and a chance to get better, do better, appear better.

Before I look to Barack Obama, or even to Congressman Carney (reelected to his second term), I have to look to myself. I am reminded that I need to be involved with the welfare of my neighbors. I could condemn them, but how does that help? So I have to figure out a way to help make this a better place. I can't do it single-handedly, but I can make a difference.

That's a change I can believe in.