Obama Supporter Doesn’t Mind “giving them more balls” and a Passenger Remembers Ryan Hummert

We all know the stereotypes and generalizations of who supports the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama; the young, the educated, and African-Americans. It is also known that stereotypes and generalizations are often not entirely accurate and you cannot easily categorize every person. Because of this, combined with my nosiness and my interest in politics, I often ask passengers who they are going to vote for in the presidential election.

The other night I picked up a young white male of about 21 or 22 in the Central West End to take him to a strip club in Sauget. He got in the cab with a little bit of an attitude and was dressed like a gang-banger saying he was paying by credit card so I didn’t really talk to him that much weary of the fact that the card may not be good.

About half way through the ride he asked me “so what of you think of Obama?” I responded that I intend to vote for Obama and he said he was too and then he let me in on some of the arguments he was having with his family. He said ” my father and uncles say that voting for Obama and making him president would give them people more balls and they already are trying to take over…I’m not worried about it because my nuts are bigger than anyone’s” and then he went on to say a lot of other things that I didn’t understand. Maybe he was high or maybe the MF was just crazy, who knows, but in the little bit that I did understand I was able to draw something from.

His arguments with the older members of his family are very typical of white working-class families of the last 15 or 20 years. Those who have grown up in the Hip-Hop Generation (Generation X) and now the next generation have radically different racial views for the most part than the older members of their family. Because of this, and the awkwardness to which many approach hem, these young white people are often made fun of and ridiculed by the snobbish elitist entertainment industry, West County types, racists, and yuppie globo elitists in places like the CWE and Lafayette Park. How many young men like this there are there that are voting for Obama I don’t know. The studies show that young people of his demographic do not vote in high numbers and many vote in the same patters as their parents (i.e. Kid Rock) and never develop a political philosophy attached to their lifestyle. Time will tell.

Ryan Hummert Remembered by Passenger

If you are in the St. Louis area by now you all know about the tragic case of the Maplewood firefighter Ryan Hummert. The 22 year old rookie and son of the former mayor was shot and killed in an ambush after a deranged man set fire to his own property. The same day that it happened I picked up a young couple a few blocks away from where the shooting took place. The young male told me that several weeks ago he had been stabbed in an attempted robbery in Maplewood and that Hummert had been one of those who saved his life. It is written on which day we shall all die; but who knows, if he would have not fallen victim to such a heinous act, how many other lives Hummert could have touched.