“We Feel the Pain More”
This is the second part of a two-part article on race and the New Hampshire primary.
By Natalie Manley
When “race” and “New Hampshire” are used together in the same sentence, it usually has to do with the demographics of the 90 percent white state, and its role in the election cycle.
But for the minority of New Hampshire voters who are people of color, the issue is more than theoretical.
Some, like New Hampshire voter Martin Toe, who is black, wishs that the presidential candidates who were blanketing his state last week would give non-white New Hampshirites more attention on the campaign trail.
“What’s important is that the candidates actually engage with marginalized communities and not just talk about [them],” said Toe, who works for a local non-partisan organization. “Racism is a real issue in New Hampshire.”
Toe said that too often, major campaign events feel geared toward white audiences and fail to attract voters of color.
“Candidates need to dig deeper and find out where those groups are,” Toe said.
Viola Katusiime, who was having lunch with Toe, agreed, adding that, “people take the black vote for granted.”
Katusiime, who works at the same organization as Toe, expressed her disappointment in some of the current candidates’ efforts to address issues such as police brutality or systematic racism. She also mentioned a long list of concerns that she felt more seriously impact people of color, including climate change, housing, student debt forgiveness, economic inequality and New Hampshire’s low $7.25 minimum wage.
“When it comes to these issues,” Katusiime said, “we feel the pain more than other groups.”
But how does that thinking differ from white New Hampshire voters? According to exit polls of the primary posted by CNN, health care was named as the most important issue (37%) to New Hampshire voters, followed by climate change (28%), income inequality (19%) and foreign policy (11%).
Yet even though race-related issues didn’t top the list of concerns, that doesn’t mean they’re irrelevant.
“Don’t assume that just because the people here are white that they can’t be open minded about race,” said Jim Schachter, New Hampshire Public Radio’s Executive Producer.
Schachter, who has headed NHPR since late last year, explained that he and his team have been working to further diversify the NHPR staff and the stories they do.
“[Covering minorities] is really important,” said Schachter. “Our staff is not quite as diverse as the state of New Hampshire is so we obviously have a fair amount of work to do, but, a lot of [our] journalists seek out stories about other ethnic groups.”
Other New Hampshire residents similarly defended their commitment to equality and diversity.
“People in New Hampshire understand what justice and equality are,” said Roger Miknaitis, an undecided New Hampshire voter attending an Andrew Yang town hall. “Our motto is ‘Live Free or Die.’ Justice is important to us. Racial justice is important to us too.”
Yang dropped out of the Democratic presidential race last week.
Steve Leone, the executive editor of the local New Hampshire newspaper the Concord Monitor, expressed how the reality and impact of racism “is important for a lot of people in this state.”
New Hampshire voters feel they are not just voting on their own behalf, he said, but on the behalf of the rest of the nation, and world.
At a rally for presidential candidate Joe Biden last week, Judith Gaynor Johnson, a retired New Hampshire teacher, agreed that “the big issue [relating to race is] that there are black Americans who have been here for generations who are not being treated equal when it comes to housing, education, job opportunities, they’re not still being treated equal.”
Samson Waweru, who also attended the Biden rally Monday night, said the candidates’ performance at the New Hampshire debate when it came to race was dissatisfying.
“I was kind of disappointed that when [the candidates] started talking about race. They were only talking the negativities [of each other’s history with race], but they didn’t talk about the black experience and they didn’t talk about the minority experience,” said Waweru, an out-of state visitor from New Jersey.
Waweru, a Kenyan, said he thought that the current presidential candidates should seek the advice of former presidential hopeful Kamala Harris on racial issues. “I know she’s not a candidate anymore,” he said, “but seek her advice. Kamala Harris had the issue down pat.”
Other out-of-state voters attending the Biden rally felt similarly about how the candidates should be addressing different groups in America.
Wanda Marshall, a retired social worker who drove ten hours from Greenbelt, MD, with a few friends to see Biden, said she admires his relationship with former President Barack Obama, and what she sees as his authentic concern about African Americans and other more marginalized groups.
“The black community likes it if you come out and touch us,” she says.
Viola Katusiime, the New Hampshire resident, said candidates need to talk more about racism, but also need to walk the walk. “Some candidates have been good with hiring members of marginalized groups to be on their campaign staff, especially in higher-up positions, but some really have not done that at all and it shows,” she said.
“Voters feel more engaged if there are specific communities that candidates and their staff are reaching out to. If there are staff members that really know those communities, that makes all the difference.”
