Canvassing in Butner

On Sunday Mary and I made our first foray out onto the campaign trail to knock doors for Terence Everitt for NC Senate and Bryan Cohn for NC House up in Granville County. We ended up with a route in Butner, a town of a little more than 8,000 (though I don't know where they all live, based on what we saw) most famous for the correctional facility where Bernie Madoff lived out his days, having reportedly earned a lot of cred from his fellow prisoners for the sheer amount of money he was able to steal before getting caught.

Certain things I forget about between canvasses in middle- to lower-income neighborhoods came right back at me as we started out. First off, the sense that most of these homes are regarded as little fortresses by their inhabitants. The blinds are always closed. Often the stale smell of cigarettes wafts out at one even through the closed door. The Google Nest doorbell has taken over wherever people have a little money for the upgrade. The ability to see who is actually at the door clearly holds a broad appeal.

So often the houses are quiet, and I have some guilt about the possibility that we might be rousing somebody who works hard throughout the week from a well-earned nap. Especially on an overcast day in February.

If someone actually comes and opens the door, the interactions are usually positive even if the residents aren't strong Democratic supporters. Even Republicans have to respect the work that goes into going door to door, for the most part. Most often it's the middle-aged to older Black people who truly seem grateful that we're out there advocating. On Sunday we got a few good interactions. One Black guy in his 40s was wearing a T-shirt that said "Gratitude vs. Everything." When we asked him what issues were top of mind to him he said programs for youth, especially troubled youth. Most people couldn't think that far, or couldn't be bothered. 

At the very tail end of the canvass the door was answered by a white guy in a UNC T-shirt. His wife was registered as an independent. When we handed him the information cards about the two candidates he immediately tore them up and said all politicians were criminals. But he stayed and talked for longer. About how the government never gave him anything (though it turned out he had a son at Appalachian State who wanted to go to UNC grad school, and they had spent $1 million on a sidewalk across the street which, although he framed it initially as an outrage, especially because the elderly fellow across the street who worked so hard on his yard now had this concrete going though it, but it did give the older folk a place where they could take a walk without getting runned over by a car (I quote). And the worst thing is you can't drink the water because it has all these chemicals in it and there's a weird pink slime in his pipes... He stayed and talked with us for maybe 15 minutes. Seemed like he liked being heard.