How Racial Unrest Is Motivating White Voters In One Key Michigan County
On a recent morning, Kim Gates helped hand out free boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables in an underserved area of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Lately, the retired school teacher from the nearby tiny town of Caledonia has been trying to volunteer with minority communities and read more about racism.
The 63-year-old white woman had always voted for the candidate she thought was best for the job — like, for instance, Michigan's recent Republican governor, Rick Snyder. She says she never considered herself political until Donald Trump's victory in 2016.
"The night he got elected I got online and started looking for issues I was going to support," Gates said. "And I chose to support areas against racism and with immigration."
Gates says she was drawn to those topics, in part, because she was living in a "very very white, very homogeneous community."
