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'Vote White' Sign Has Neighbors Talking In St. Pete

Tribune photo by KEITH MORELLI

A homeowner on First Avenue North in St. Petersburg has filled his yard with political signs, some of which are homemade and carry racial overtones.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - All along First Avenue North, campaign signs are plunged into front yards. McCain-Palin signs are here and there, facing the westbound traffic and so are Obama-Biden signs.

There are signs urging voters to vote no on Amendment 2 and even some opposing a new baseball stadium.

Passers-by are slapped with political overload when they hit a front yard just west of 63rd Street North.

"Vote Right" shouts one homemade sign in big red letters on a white background. "Vote White" is another, tacked high onto the trunk of a towering oak tree.

A plywood cutout of a Black Sambo figure sits next to another tree, under a large sign that says, "Hasta La Vista Obama" and "What About Galveston." The underlying message of that sign was unclear.

Surrounding the home is a 6-foot privacy fence with a locked gate. Attempts to reach the homeowner were unsuccessful Monday morning.

Across the street is a church, a day care center and a voting precinct, said one neighbor, who did not want to be identified.

The neighbor said the sign poster moved here two years ago from Texas and is pretty political compared with the rest of the working-class, predominantly white neighborhood.

Two doors away, Robin Harris said he has lived here for more than 20 years, but doesn't know the sign poster personally. A conservative and a Republican, Harris, 45, said he doesn't vote the party line every time, but likely will vote for McCain tomorrow at the precinct across the street.

He may not agree with the sentiment expressed by the signs, but he does support the right to free speech, he said.

"It doesn't bother me," Harris said. "It's free speech. This is America."

People offended should get a thicker skin, he said. "I don't get my feelings hurt much," he said. "If I did, I'd be crying every day."

This is a country where free speech is cherished, he said, no matter the message.

"It's like the old adage," he said. "Opinions; everyone has one, and they all stink."

Keith Harris, president of the 22nd Street Redevelopment Corp, was out early Monday morning. He stood on the sidewalk in front of the signs and snapped cell phone photos of the messages, photos he said he plans to use in workshops about racial issues.

"When I heard about this," he said, "I couldn't believe it. It's sad that in 2008, something like this goes up right across from a day care center."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760.

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