From Political Wire
"No white folks have an ‘e’ on the end of Green. The blacks after they left the plantation couldn’t spell, and they threw an ‘e’ on the end."
– South Carolina State Sen. Robert Ford (D), quoted by the Charleston Post and Courier, saying that race have played a role in Alvin Greene’s (D) surprise victory since he was the only black candidate in a primary with a majority of black voters.
Being born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina this immediately raised a red flag. After all I didn’t know my town’s namesake was an illiterate former slave (having died 60 years before the Civil War and all) and I’d swear he looks white to me.
Nathanael Greene
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Saturday ~ June 12th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
blokeinfrance
Odd that a US pol thinks white folks have always been able to spell. Compulsory education in England was only enacted 200 years after the Mayflower left, ready loaded with many “American” names.
Back in England, many think that misspellings (Greene, Smythe, etc) are evidence of snobbery, not illiteracy.
Both half wrong probably.
Sunday ~ June 13th, 2010 at 1:50 am
TGGP
I read (I think at TPM) a quote from a person who actually did vote for just that reason. It could be that some blacks have retained many features of the “old south”/England (Thomas Sowell writes that they’re pretty much the only ones who still play whist), including that spelling for “Greene”. Coincidentally, one of my favorite papers features an author (not black, Jewish) with that spelling.
Sunday ~ June 13th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
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