"Never could I have anticipated . . . a black man being at the top of the ticket"

[Blue_Tires]

In the Vastness of Montana, an Overwhelmingly White Population Enters a New Political Frontier

TEIGEN, Mont.

Cattle ranchers in the high plains of central Montana sometimes come across square rock formations just beneath the ground's surface. They have no doubt about their origins.
They're the foundation of old one-room schools," says Dan Teigen, pointing to a spot where he recently made just such a discovery.

Teigen's family settled in these parts more than 100 years ago. The dot-size town carries the family name. There's little in Teigen now but the husk of an old hotel and the huge Teigen ranch that sweeps up and around the McDonald Creek Valley.

Among those who came here over the years were the descendants of Irish, German and Scottish immigrants. Their families continue to populate the spare landscape between the towns of Roundup, Grass Range, Teigen and Lewistown.

But one group that never settled in any numbers here, or in any part of Montana, were blacks. There has never been a black schoolteacher, mail carrier or law enforcement officer in any of these towns. As those school foundations attest, there is history here, but no black history -- no frayed emotions over the flapping of the Confederate flag, no sit-ins for voting rights, no debates over the duties of the Talented Tenth.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102904331.html

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Oy.

:banghead: