Black Men Canvass Door-to-Door for Obama in the Key State of Iowa

by Frederick H. Lowe
Albert Camper, Jr., became interested in politics when President John F. Kennedy visited a U.S. Air Force base in England where Camper was stationed.

“When President Kennedy arrived, he was like a rock star,” Camper remembers.

After an assassin’s bullet cut down Kennedy in 1963, Camper discussed politics with friends over coffee but that was the extent of his involvement.

That all changed with President Barack Obama. Camper, now retired from AT&T Corp., voted for the president in the 2008 race, but that was the limit of his political activity.

When President Obama announced that he would seek re-election in 2012, Camper, now 71 years old, balding and boasting a bit of a paunch, decided to become a campaign volunteer.

“I wanted to be a part of this. I wanted to join the fight to help him [President Obama] win,” he said last Saturday during a three-and-a-half hour one-way bus ride with 53 other Obama supporters to Dubuque, Iowa, from Chicago.

In Dubuque, a town of nearly 58,000 and the state’s ninth-largest based on population, he and others went door to door to canvass for votes and register voters. Dubuque, which is built on high hills, overlooks the Mississippi River. Camper, who wears an Obama baseball cap, has so far canvassed in Iowa five times for the president, and he plans to go there again before the Nov. 6 presidential election.

The Obama re-election campaign considers Iowa key to assuring the president’s re-election. President Obama won Iowa and its 11 electoral votes in 2008. Campaign officials based in Chicago have sent buses, vans and cars to canvass in Iowa, the first swing state that has early voting. Early voting began in Iowa on Sept. 27. Campaign officials believe if they win the early vote, they will win the state. Iowa’s residents can also vote by mail. Eighty-five percent of Iowa residents vote in presidential elections.

Camper is one of an undetermined number of black men who are spending their Saturdays traveling from Chicago to Iowa to canvass for the president. It is impossible to know how many black men either in Iowa or nationwide are volunteering for the president’s re-election because the numbers are not available.

Their reasons, however, for canvassing door-to-door are very similar.

The men, who were interviewed by The NorthStar News & Analysis, had brushes with politics in their younger years, and all of them voted for President Obama in 2008, but most did not take the extra step to volunteer for the campaign. This year, however, they decided to become more involved.

De-Anthony King, a 36-year-old fundraiser for Chicago-Kent College of Law, is the lone exception. King campaigned for President Obama in 2008, and this year he is the out-of-state coordinator for the 46th, 47th and 48th wards on Chicago’s Northside.

He arranges to send volunteers into Iowa whenever the 48th Ward hosts a canvassing trip. Last Saturday, King canvassed in Dubuque, but normally manages the operation from Chicago. He volunteered this year for President Obama’s re-election because of his support of same-sex marriage or marriage equality.

Others volunteered because they are angry at the way Republicans and Tea Party members have treated the nation’s first black president.

“They have undermined his every step in an attempt to invalidate his presidency. They have made issues about his birth certificate and his college transcripts. I do feel angry at times by the way the president has been treated,” said Emanuel Payton, who manages Obama volunteers for the 48th Ward. Payton has also driven a van load of volunteers to cities in both Iowa and Wisconsin.

“In 2008, I sat on the sidelines, but this time I wanted to contribute,” explained Payton, who provides computer technical support for one of Chicago’s marquee law firms.

Michael Gadson, 50, feels the same way. A Chicago resident who volunteered to canvass for President Obama in Marion, Iowa, a Cedar Rapids suburb of 34,000, Gadson said he began working with the Obama campaign because he was disgusted with Republicans and not because he felt the need to support the president because he’s black.

“I decided to get involved in President Obama’s re-election campaign in order to contribute to the political process, and because I believe in what President Obama stands for. Conversely, the Republican Party has sunk to an all-time low with its propagation of racism, sexism and classicism,” said Gadson, who retired from the Air Force in 2011 after 28 years at the rank of Senior Master Sergeant. He now works for the American Bar Association, which is based in Chicago.

Like Camper, Gadson, a native of Birmingham, Ala., became involved in politics early when at 18 he cast a vote for his dad, who was running for constable. His father narrowly lost the election. Because Gadson was in the Air Force, he could not actively participate in  political campaigns. He did, however, vote by absentee ballot.

Iowa is an overwhelmingly white state. Of the estimated 3,062,309 people who live there, 93 percent are white and 3.1 percent are black, according to 2011 U.S. Census estimates.

That has prompted fears among some black volunteers. One unnamed black woman refused to canvass alone in Dubuque.

“I don’t know how many black people live in Iowa,” she said, refusing to get out of the van in a neighborhood where she was being dropped off to canvass. Instead, I, Frederick H. Lowe, got out of the van and knocked on doors alone in the neighborhood where she was supposed to work.

I was surprised by the way I was treated. At the first house, I registered a husband and wife, who thanked me for stopping by. It was hot day, and an elderly woman at another house offered me iced tea. I did not accept the drink, but I did register her to vote.

In Iowa, a lot of men wearing baseball caps drive pick-up trucks, but they wave to the volunteers. Still, many homeowners don’t come to their doors, although their front doors are open, and their dogs are barking loudly to announce a visitor. And there are stories of black men and single women canvassers being treated rudely.

Gadson said he was not anxious the first time he canvassed.

“I am used to interacting with people, and I really enjoy going door-to-door meeting people,” he said. Gadson has canvassed three times in Iowa and plans to continue up until Election Day.

Black men who ride the buses and vans from Chicago to Iowa are a minority, given the number of white and Asian volunteers.

Ironically, some whites and some Asians who are campaigning for Obama’s re-election appear at moments to be uncomfortable working in close proximity to black men. Perhaps their discomfort is based on their watching us being depicted exclusively as criminals night after night on Chicago’s local news stations.

When I boarded the volunteers bus for a one-way, five-hour return trip to Chicago from Marion, an Indian woman with short hair quickly clutched her purse, which was occupying an empty seat next to her. She then asked another woman if she had her purse.

Despite stories about such incidents, black men volunteers are pleased about their active involvement in the campaign.

In Gadson’s case, his friends support him.

“My friends commend me for my beliefs and taking time to canvass,” he said.

Being on the road has made Camper a strong believer. "I have no doubt that Obama is going to win," he said.