The Election is ruining the pumkin spice vibe
It’s a beautiful time of the year in the American South. Fall leaves are various shades of mustard yellow and squash orange. The weather is perfectly gentle. Summer’s humidity is finally gone. Early autumn in America means oversized Halloween decorations are draped on the facades of houses. Giant spiders, plastic skeletons and fake cobwebs litter front yards. It’s always a charming, fun and special time of the year. This year though everyone is anxious. The election, someone moaned to me, is ruining the pumpkin spice vibe.
It’s also a damned scary time. None of us need a Freddy Krueger mask or a polyester witches hat to remind us that there are some pretty nightmare scenarios for the coming weeks.
The national conversation, the posters and the barrage of political ads is making everyone even more jittery. Hyper-partisan fear mongering is on steroids as both parties try to get undecided voters to the ballot.
In the midst of this, Ben Jealous joined me to talk about his America. Ben used to head up the NAACP, a civil rights organization, and now leads the Sierra Club, which is the oldest and biggest environmental group in the States. The biracial son of school teachers, he tells stories of his family; a distinctly American family made up of the descendants of slaves, a suspected pirate and aTrump-voting lorry-driving uncle.
Ben also has a stutter which he eloquently talks about from the perspective of being a surfer. As a child, Bill Cosby mocked his stutter which, Ben says, was the first indication he knew something was wrong with Cosby.
Thank you for listening,
Happy Halloween.
Robyn
