Strength In Diversity

Thanks to readers who sent comments on my post "It's a Black Thing Joe Moore Can't Understand." Here are a some to share. Do you have a similar story, please share it. Your name will not be revealed, but please include your real name in case I need to contact you with a question. Thanks! Tom, Thanks for sharing your experience. I have had several similar experiences on Howard and Jarvis. I was walking on Howard street midday last week and was greeted by an tall african american man, probably in his 50's. He was like many you see on Howard, grizzled, a little stooped over by time yet still grinning and optimistic. "How ya'll doin," he asked with a warm smile. I greeted him back and we remarked about the weather, which was beautiful. He remarked on my Gordon button and shook my hand. "You workin for him?" he asked. I confirmed that I was helping with the campaign when and where I could. "He's a good man and he's got my vote," my new friend said. "Joe don't care about us and it's time for him to go. I'm tellin all my friends to vote for Gordon." I thanked him for his support and after chatting a bit more I wished him a great day. A younger man, about 20, approached Dan Dooley and I yesterday at the Jarvis El stop. After taking the fliers we were handing out, he asked for a campaign button. I took the button of my hat and gave it to him. I notice I get lots of smiles and salutations from the folks both on Howard and on Morse when they see my campaign button. It is refreshing to see that they aren't buying the lies and scare tactics. ANOTHER: I, too, spoke to an older African-American gentleman this morning. John [name changed] lives near Morse Avenue...asking for help to find a friend who is homeless and has been missing. At any rate, John asked me about "the flyers" that are being passed out around the neighborhood. He is the perfect target for this ACORN garbage. "You must work 20 hours a day," John told me. He...doesn't own a computer, so he doesn't read the blogs. He has a lot of faith in us. I wish more readers like John would contact me with their stories. So I told him that I thought the flyers were "a cynincal exploitation of poor people." He loved that. Then he said, "I thought it was bullshit." I laughed and told him that a lot of people would agree with him. Then John talked about the miracle of bee pollen. I spoke to another African-American man named James [name changed] who lived in Jay Johnson's building at 7702 N. Marshfield. He let me into the building [recently] and also introduced me to his girlfriend Vanessa, the woman that Jim Ginderske kept bringing up during the forums. Ronald pointed out the leftover blunts, showed me where the walls had been patched, talked about how Vanessa's son got mold poisoning at one of the Ashland buildings. When I told Ronald [about] a story about Johnson and how Johnson contributed thousands of dollars to Moore's campaign fund, Ronald shot out, "Joe Moore is a c###sucker." He then went into a five minute diatribe about Moore's defense of Johnson after the Marshfield fire. "Who the f*$% is Joe Moore!" Ronald said. I was feeling really encouraged when I heard about the nursing home fiasco with Joe, and then...comments about the ACORN flyer. "Maybe Don has a shot!" Then on my way home tonight, someone called me about latest...smear on a private citizen (Toni Duncan). Sigh.