Reading last Sunday about Ron and Nancy Bryant’s move to Stanly County got a bunch of us in the newsroom talking about whether Charlotte is “activist-challenged,” as in, not as many citizen activists kicking up a grass roots fuss about things as many other cities seem to have.
I’m among those who think Charlotte has less of that sort of activity than you’d expect for a city this big and this lively. Over the years I’ve opined on my own theories about this. For instance, are we a City of Squelchers? (My column by that name, and a follow-up column, ran in April and May 2003.)
Then, at one of the cultural stakeholder meetings run by the Artspace Project folks, someone – I don’t remember who it was – asked why Charlotte seemed so different from, say, Minneapolis in terms of getting its cultural act together. The Artspace guys, one of whom is a Republican ex-state legislator from North Dakota, made some quips about there not being a lot to do in Minnesota in the winter so they had to offer more diversions.
My theory on this has several components:
First, bankers aren’t as likely to be activists as many other professions.
Second, colleges and universities breed activists. UNCC until recent years was young, small and didn’t attract the kind of students interested in activism. I think that’s changing, though. Queens and JCSU are too small to have a huge, lasting effect on the local civic culture. And Davidson students live in the “Davidson cocoon.”
Third, if you’re trying to make money and climb the social ladder, political or environmental activism is not the way to do it. You might tick off someone you want to do a business deal with. Or his or her spouse. Or their relatives. Instead, you write thank you notes and never criticize anyone in public about anything.
Fourth, Charlotte had plenty of activists a century ago. They were labor organizers, mill workers and streetcar motormen. The activists were scorned by the business establishment, fired from their jobs and in some instances killed.
Business won that battle – Charlotte remains one of the least-unionized places in the country, for better or worse. But the violence and repercussions from those days set a tone here for working people: Don’t raise your head. Don’t draw anyone’s attention. Just keep quiet and do your job. This used to be a very big milltown. The textile mills are gone. But maybe the sense of obeying the mill owner (a.k.a. B of A or Wachovia) lives on?
More people now are open environmentalists than a decade ago, which is good. But I wonder, how much of that is simply that environmentalism today is so mainstream. I mean, isn’t everyone an environmentalist by now?
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Activists? Here? You must be kidding
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29 comments:
WOW! You couldn't get out of that Good Guys/Bad Guys blog fast enough, huh Mary?
Activism is a lot more alive than stated in this column.
In the last 12 months, the following has happened...
ACORN has come in, made a presence by registering a significant number of poor voters, and played a part Mecklenburg becoming a 'blue county' last year (not to mention a Democratic sweep of the BOCC at-large spots).
PETA places a half naked women painted like a tiger in a cage on the Square during a cold day.
Well over 3000 imigrants and their supporters gathered in Marshal Park this spring to make their voices heard about pending legislation in the US House. Later that week, high school kids walk out of their classes to make their point as well.
Harry Taylor is handed the mic during a Bush 'town meeting' where he proceeds to rip into him about his policies in Iraq and wiretapping back home. This puts Charlotte on national TV that night. Meanwhile outside, 300+ protesters let their presence be known about Bush's visit.
Moveon.org stages multiple protests throughout the year at gas stations, Sue Myrick's office, Freedom Park, and other locations complaining about everything under the sun.
Flip Blemhem and his Operatrion Rescue cronies picket outside of local abortion clinics and gay & lesbian festivals.
No, we are not Chapel Hill or San Francisco when it comes to activism, but Charlotte is hardly squelching anything.
Do I agree with these activists? Some yes, some no. Personally, I think there are quite a few ex-hippies trying to relive the '60's and have a Bob Dylan love-fest. I will stick to calling a councilperson or bloggin when I have something to say. And let's quit knocking B of A and Wachovia. They are not the problem.
Sure, there are those who long for the days when they could run Charlotte like their own little fiefdom, but those days are quickly disappearning as we get bigger and more diverse. The level of activism over the last year is an indicator of that.
-Danimal
Charlotte will never be as activist as Asheville or Chapel HillCarrboroDurham. Its not in our DNA. Its very tough to build a movement in such a white coller businesscentric town. That being said,I have participated in many anti-war rallies with the local Social Justice Action Center. We just had an antiwar rally last Saturday at Freedom Park that was well attended. As part of the city's gay and lesbian community, we are constantly hard at work pushing for equality. Charlotte's culture and corporate power structure is to prejudiced and afraid to every truly embrace progressive causes and diversity like Asheville and portions of The Triangle but there is a progressive activist voice in this city and its growing stronger every day.
We may not have a daily and constant activist presence but we certainly have some neighborhoods that are active in a variety of causes: Dilworth,Elizabeth and Plaza Midwood are home to most of the city's Democratic grass roots activists and are always advocating for a variety of subjects. Bill James is always representing his suburban more conservative Lake Norman constituency that loves to reelect him. All sounds pretty activist to me.
Charlotte's hipness will, for the forseeable future, be tempered by the fact that it's in the Bible Belt. "Hipness" implies, to a degree, a lack of restraint that is at odds with the checks imposed by the traditionally social conservative character of the area. All the young, Jesus loving people here who dress like they are 40-year old golfers furthur emphasize my statement. Religion is very big here and it breeds intolerance. It's quite sad...
There most certainly is activism as previous bloggers have illustrated.
The most obvious one recently was deconsolidating our school system. Making the admin part of CMS smaller and accountable to the diverse and different areas of the county makes complete sense. It brings up Mary's point about squelchers.
Charlotte (including the Observer)is obsessed with EVERYONE agreeing. It makes people angry when the school board doesn't vote unanimously. Why would anyone care that two board members wouldn't go along?
Liberals. It drives them nuts because the opposing viewpoint resonates with MOST people.
How does Charlotte sqeulch? The blue ribbon committee headed by Harvey Gantt. Only Charlotte would put a man who has made millions of dollars doing work as a contractor for CMS. Why would he want to change?
Then put the other contractors in there: builders, bank CEO's, DUke Power execs etc. Their purpose is twofold: 1)protect their financial interests and 2)make sure none of their employees join the cause.
This wet blanket approach is applied to immigration causes, discrimination, and police misconduct.
The Chamber of Commerce is telling the world that Charlotte has "great schools" and "low crime". They can't afford to have activists compromising the money they make or the power they wield.
"Charlotte's hipness will, for the forseeable future, be tempered by the fact that it's in the Bible Belt. "Hipness" implies, to a degree, a lack of restraint that is at odds with the checks imposed by the traditionally social conservative character of the area. All the young, Jesus loving people here who dress like they are 40-year old golfers furthur emphasize my statement. Religion is very big here and it breeds intolerance. It's quite sad..."
You're darn right. However, sad, no, it's a great time to live in Charlotte. Get a haircut hippie.
I think you make some very valid points. I'd just like to add I think part of the reason more people don't get involved is because they don't think their voice or vote is worth much, if anything.
It's beating a dead horse, I know, but remember the arena deal? For a lot of folks, I think that was the last straw.
Wow and I thought your last post was ignorant and short minded. I guess we can all ad business and bankers to your unbelievably short bad guy list. Its my recollection that Wachovia and Lassitor are two major art actives in the city – a city mind you that art related business are closing due to lack of interests from local residents.
And when did modern day unions become a venue for activism. The problem is that you don’t acknowledge the activism that doesn’t align with your liberal views. What about that anti-abortion group that is headquarter here, or the group that headed up the vote no on bonds, what about Lennon’s group of North Meck parents or Derita Statesville Road organization. (There is irony in the fact I don’t know the names of these groups). Activism is more then tree huggers and union bosses. But should we expect when the good guys are mostly Ds and the bad guys are all Rs.
There is and has been political activism for many years in this town. CFEG came into existence 16 years ago trying to improve building maintenance in CMS. The Rhino Times exists because two brothers felt the need for the opposition paper. The first one started in Greensboro. There are many others as stated in previous posts.
For anyone at the Observer to say there is not enough activism is humorous as they are the paid cheerleaders for the downtown interests and generally oppose things which don't go well with the Chamber and the downtown interests.
To simplify. There are those who oppose larger government, and there are those who don't. The Observer encourages larger government and thus denigrates and tries to marginalize those who oppose it. Now comes Mary saying where are the activists?
Give us a place in your paper instead of ignoring our opinions and chopping up every letter sent.
Oh boo hoo. Conservatives get all upset if anyone questions there beliefs on anything. This liberal activist is staying right here in Charlotte. Sure we could move to blue echo chambers like Asheville and Chapel Hill but its much more fun to stay here and drive intolerant folks like you crazy. Its so easy to do.We also make more of an impact by fighting for change in a more conservative area than simply preaching to the choir every day. I thought conservatism was originally about living your own life and not telling other people what to do. All conservatives care about these days is bashing us evil gays and railing about the liberal media. Charlotte is getting more and more diverse all the time. I welcome all types of activism. Flip Benham has every right to protest our Pride event next weekend and make bigoted fool of himself. Its a free country. Conservatives have forgotten this fact and try and stifle liberal activism as illustrated by the posts here. That is what's sad.
No offense, Mary but you are a prime example of the fear of social or professional reprisal that keeps people form being activists - just look at your timid list (2!)"bad guys." PUHlease indeed.
Speaking of good guys/bad guys and the need for activism, Parks Helms was on Charlotte Talks this a.m. bragging about the "back door" passage of money for the schools that just went through. When Mike asked why parents were upset with the school system Helms said something to the effect: "Parents judge the school system based on their child's experience at their school. They don't realize that we have a county-wide system and that overall, we do a good job county wide." UNBELIEVABLE. How else would/should you judge? So if your child gets a sub-par education you should be okay with that because COUNTY WIDE the schools do a good job! That should make you want to march. (and of course the ever-affable Mike Collins in his desperate need to be liked by the liberal media did not call him on it)
Yeah I heard that too. Helms planation owner mentality never ceases to amaze me.
The modern phrase for plantation owner is limosine liberal. Whether they support Republican's or Democrats is inconsequential.
The Myers Park elite are a great example. They pride themselves on being "democrats" or "open-minded". They have "diversity" in THEIR schools (not TOO much diversity, mind you).
They are the biggest opponents of activism. Of course publicly they applaud gay marches and immigrant demonstrations. It's a "let-the natives-get-it-out-of-their-system" attitude behind closed-doors, however.
Then the gays stupidly march and protest on a weekend in downtown. WHO CARES? THERE'S NO ONE THERE! March through the streets of Myers Park every other month and see what kind of stomach the elite have for diversity.
We have never marched anywhere. That's a good idea though. I have not lived in Charlotte long, but from what I can tell Myers Park is hardly a bastion of diverse liberalism to begin with. Although I have never experienced any problems in the area and Myers Park Baptist Church is very progressive and gay friendly which is even more commendable being a Baptist Church. I am sure they have been excommed from the SBC. Dilworth next door leans overwhelmingly Democratic and our commmunity association president is openly gay. This difference between next door neighborhoods has always puzzled me. I guess when Dilworth was still an iffy area the first people to rediscover it were hippies and artists and while they are mostly gone their progressive and welcoming vibe lives on by attracting open minded yuppies. Plaza Midwood and Elizabeth are just as liberal. They are not large neighborhoods but Charlotte is really not as intolerant as people pretend it is or want it to be. The growing activism is a great example of that.
I'm not a hippie you moron. My hair is short. All the doofs around here are the ones with the long hair or what I like to call, the "bowl-cut". Cut your own hair.
There are more people that are activists than you realize. The Observer always takes the perspective of South Charlotte liberals so they miss out on a better view of the area.
You personally ridicule people that don't line up with your political gaols. It makes people fly under your radar. You would be more effective if you got out of your bubble once in a while. Your out of date.
People in the suburbs want to be more activist. They don't want to be tagged as 'bad/racist/selfish' by the observer so instead they quietly withdraw their kids from school and don't support the crappy school system.
Then you bash them for looking out for their own kids. You are part of the problem. Really.
Look at what happens when people become activists. The Charlotte Observer bashes them as being "bad guys".
Larry Gauvreau is an activist for school reform. He was one of the main "activists" for fighting the illegal CMS racial busing.
Activists like Larry Gauvreau are trying to get schools built where the children live. They are demanding fiscal responsibility from a bloated CMS administration.
Would Mary Newsom ever praise Larry Gauvreau for his activism for better schools being built where the children live and where the growth is?
Never. Because Mary Newsom doesn't like suburbs. It doesn't fit with Mary's vision of "new urbanism". So Mary tries to marginalize activists like Larry Gauvreau by labeling them as "perpetuating racial discord".
I guess that is a code word for calling someone a racist.
Mary, I challenge you to document anything Larry Gauvreau has done that would validate your charge.
It's hilarious that newsroom of the Observer, which is nothing if not the house organ for the Charlotte Establishment, was fretting about the lack of grass-roots activism in Charlotte.
It reminds me of Leonard Bernstein's response upon hearing about the Black Panthers' plans for revolution: "I dig, absolutely!"
Too bad many people just focus on liberal and conservative instead of posting about the article itself...
I think Mary makes several valid points. UNCC will continue to have an impact on the activism in the community. Liberal and conservative student groups are making their voices heard on campus about many issues, including affirmative action and gay rights. There will always be people on both sides of every issue, but students come up with creative ways of expressing views and opinions.
She is also correct about people trying to climb corporate ladders. Personal opinions can result in slammed doors sometimes, even though they shouldn't. For example, I cannot reveal my opinions about certain large corporations because as a planner, I may have to work a case involving them and stay impartial. Professional requirements definitely stifle personal opinions.
People are swift to attack Mary and her opinions, but it seems like most miss the issue or don't put thought into it. Instead of attacking the "liberal Observer" become a journalist and write articles with a conservative viewpoint. It's the same argument about liberal bias in the classroom. If there were more conservatives willing to become teachers or professors, the so-called liberal bias wouldn't be an issue.
I am a liberal activist so the Observer is fine by me. LOL. It really depends on your perspective. I actually find the Observer to be too centrist and and I think if anything the paper needs to lean farther left. Conservatives feel the opposite. Welcome to America. The land of free speech and opinion at least for now. Read the Rhino if you want a sviewpoint in the conservative vein. I just hop over to The Ashevile Citizen Times site when I need a real shot of Liberal Kool Aid ;-)
You're smoking crack if you think the Observer is "centrist".
Chris,
You make some valid points.
People should read both the Rhino and the Observer. It's the only way to get the whole picture on local issues. The only difference between the bias in the two papers is that at least the Rhino admits it is biased.
As for conservatives becoming "journalists" to express their opinions, what do you think all of these bloggers are doing? The Observer wouldn't hire them even if they had journalism degrees from the most respected university, so they write for free.
As for professional requirements stifling expression of personal opinions, whose get stifled more - conservative or liberal opinions? Both Wachovia and BAC are very liberal institutions. (I work at one of them, so I speak from experience.) Duke Power is constantly trying to bill itself as more "green". CharMeck govco and CMS would certainly not be called conservative. Until recently, US Airways was suffering under the union contracts that almost put it out of business.
Other than Carolinas Medical Center about which I'm not sure, these are the areas largest employers.
So, when Mary talks about corporate culture stifling activism, she must be talking about conservative activism.
Is that right Mary?
Hooray for Mary Newsom! She's challenging folks in Charlotte to take a look around them in the same way that Mary Tyler Moore kept Lou Grant and all of Minneapolis on their toes in her TV show newspaper days.
Lord knows, my hometown needs it. I'm considered a conservative Democrat in Durham and Chapel Hill, but if I go home again, I'll have to make sure the Presbyterians don't try to trade me to another denomination for a banker and a musician to be named later.
But guess what, folks. Do you know what I have learned in wild, woolly, liberal "Duke and Carolina Land?" Keep this under your hats: bankers are among the greatest grassroots activists in this country. Bankers are on the frontier of social, educational, cultural and environmental change because in cities like Charlotte, you've got to make something workable and viable in the community without the guarantee of a single-institution payroll (Duke University in Durham), a guaranteed governmental payroll (state government in Raleigh), or a secure academic base of operations for extolling the virtues of only one of the two major political parties (Chapel Hill).
Then add to Uptown Charlotte's creative mix of architects, clothiers and culinary chiefs what really sets Charlotte apart--its distribution industry--then you can see that "getting the goods and services to the people" is one of the more dynamic grassroots campaigns a person can experience.
Here in the Triangle, we can design great products and build far-sighted educational programs, but it's all we can do to get these distributed from beyond our region out to the people of North Carolina and the Southeast.
Even Jerry Brown out in California, he of the "Small Is Beautiful" economic outlook that inpsired many of us to join grassroots movements for small business and family farms in the "back-to-the-country" '70s--even former Gov. Moonbeam himself recognizes that "it takes a bank" to give a village a chance.
Yes, Steve Martin, you could make a strong case that bankers are "wild and crazy guys and gals" who nonetheless recognize and understand just how sturdy a city's civic and commercial foundation must be for all the other great pursuits in education, the arts, sports and even tree-hugging to thrive.
And pul-LEEZE, Charlotte, save those wonderful tress that make the Queen City so zesty!
I had to look very closely at Mary's poststart and the comments.
Activism - action to achieve a desired goal.
Now where does that make activism a liberal, conservative, democratic, republician, black, white, latino or any other label's domain.Plenty of activists will soon be enjoying Friday Night High School Football. A lot of people take a lot of actions to makes those events happen.
Either Mary cleverly waived the red cape to all the bulls who revealed their own bias or, as I prefer to believe, Mary's bias displayed over years of newspaper commentary did not allow her to properly use the term activism and thereby biasly framed the question.
In the 2003 school board election suburban "grass roots" activists helped defeat the sitting school board chairman, Dr. Rembert, who had made it clear that she did not support changes in the school system that many in the community were seeking and who had been openly disdainful of suburban parents. Yet the Observer played the results of that election as an "us against them" kind of thing--the selfish suburbanites versus the poor inner city residents. Instead of congratulating the suburbs for turning out to vote for what they believed in the Observer gave them a slap in the face (and I think helped create some of the friction we see on the board today). It appears to me that the Observer only supports "politically correct" activism.
Mary - There is lots of activism in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The reason that people don't think there is any is because it is never covered in the media. I have been to numerous events and have never seen reporters of any type there. News 14 is the best out there for covering local events. Why can't we seem to get The Observer to any of these? If you would like to see some let me know and I can get you a list.
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