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 You can go to church and sing a hymn 
You can judge me by the color of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can't hide
 Is when you're crippled inside 
--Crippled Inside, John Lennon

Being a bitch --
that sounds like a Republican to me 
--30 Rock 

[Homer, as Grand Kleagle at a KKK rally]:
 Brothers! Oh, brothers! We have all gathered here,
 to preserve our hallowed culture and heritage! 
We aim to pull evil up by the root, 
before it chokes out the flower of our culture and heritage! 
And our women, let's not forget those ladies, y'all. 
Looking to us for protection! From darkies, from Jews, 
from papists, and from all those smart-ass folks 
say we come descended from monkeys!
 --And so, we gonna hang us a negro! 

--Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

 __________________

While volunteering with the group Election Protection in the 2008 Presidential election, Lisa was posted to a precinct in the rural part of what is already Ruralia.  Our job, as disinterested observers, was to make sure everyone had a satisfactory voting experience, and to contact our sources should there have been any problems.

What I remember most is one woman voter who embodied the whole shift for me.  She was thin -- wiry -- and wore men's tree bark garb, rubber knee boots and a scowl.  Her hair was in disarray and she dragged several children of similar mien behind her.  She was a cross between Holly Hunter's character in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the iconic Afghan girl on the cover of National Geographic: intense, challenging, burdened. It was a mystery how she started her truck, so cobbled together was it.

She was single-minded and angry; this was not a celebration of exercising her franchise.  She would not look at us or acknowledge our greeting, or anybody's, for that matter.  She strode in and out of the precinct at a 60-degree angle and a charge.  I imagine her purpose was one: Keep the black man out of office. 

White rubber knee boots are the Nikes for people in Wakulla County who work in the seafood industry, and mullet is considered the "Better White Meat".  It is not an easy life and the educational level is fairly poor.  But the residents of Panacea will be voting again this year. 

Don't listen to the pollsters; don't give any data to the exit inquisitors.  It's your private moment.

Rise and shine. Do it -- vote.