November 19, 2006
-
Sanford, TX
Matt and I both agree that once upon a time, Sanford was probably a booming little town. But, once the Sanford Dam was finished, people packed up and moved away to another place to build another dam. And Sanford is left on the map. Population? Probably less than 300, it’s about the size of the town in West Virginia where I grew up.
The center of townWhen I was little I used to watch those pledge drives to “Save the Children” in other countries, and I used to ask my parents if we could send money to them. My mom would alway say, “We’re helping poor people already, because we send money to your relatives in Thailand and Philippines.” Which is true. We’ve had to bail my dad’s brothers out of debt multiple times.
So, sometimes I wonder, when I see how many white people send money overseas, or build houses for people in Mexico, why they don’t help their own kind. There are plenty of poor people in West Virginia. And plenty of poor people in Arkansas (whom Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham did nothing to help while I was living there). It’s almost as if American white people scorn their own kind. But I know that’s not true, because certainly, in the churches I’ve attended, I’ve seen people give tons of money towards helping the poor.
What a strange phenomenon of self-hatred, to fly to Mexico to build a house, but to make fun of the rural poor in one’s own country. It’s actually disgraceful. But to tell someone so, would be to bring the ire of the “liberal” populace upon you.
(Frankly, I’d rather live and work with “ignorant redneck” people in Texas than with the “educated tolerant” people I always encountered in Berkeley, California, who did more to discriminate against me than any Texan I’ve ever met.)
