Wednesday, May 11, 2005
A letter re: the county commission Chairmanship
I wrote this yesterday in response to Ronnie Bell's piece titled "Is there an elephant in our living room?" in the Sunday Daily Herald, which criticized Gary Grant (of the Halifax County Black Caucus) for threatening to escalate demonstrations about the impasse in electing a Chairman for the Halifax County Commission, and (obliquely) the Commissioners themselves for not explaining their positions. Phillip Brown, the Herald's county government reporter, actually covered Commissioner Manning's statement at the 2 May meeting in good detail, but way down at the bottom of a long article, and publisher Bell's editorial shows no sign that he noticed his own paper's coverage of it, so I thought it bore repeating.
I thought this letter was too long (maybe 600 words versus the Herald's policy of 350 maximum for letters to the editor) and probably too clever by half, dependent as it is on one's remembering the 'elephant in the living room' conceit of Bell's editorial; I was going to cut it down somehow but I showed it to Phil Brown at the city council meeting last night and he liked it so, since it really should get out while it is timely and the Herald will cut it however they like anyway, I just entrusted it to him for the Wednesday edition or soon after. This issue isn't going to go away, nor should it, and it is important that the matter be aired lest Halifax County continue to look, at first glance, like some bastion of racist politics. Here's hoping it knocks loose a constructive statement from Commissioners Pierce, Johnson, or Whidbee. Text follows:
Dear Editor,
There may indeed be a good-sized grey animal in our living room, but we all remember what the six blind men each decided when they felt different parts of an elephant. Can't we all agree that those who expect a 5-1 vote for the county Chairmanship because five commissioners are Democrats are as wrong as the blind man who thought the elephant was a tree because he felt only the elephant's leg, and those who assume a 3-3 vote must be based on racism may be as wrong as the blind man who felt the elephant's trunk and called it a snake? Those who extrapolate from single labels like 'white' or 'Democrat' will invariably be disappointed when their subjects are human beings rather than automatons.
I've spoken to Gary Grant of the Black Caucus and Concerned Citizens of Tillery at his protests outside County Commission meetings twice now and found him to be fundamentally reasonable and well-informed. I would not worry that one of his protests would get out of hand or violate anyone else's right to enjoy an event. He just wants to keep his issue in the public eye, and his issue is (in my opinion) all symbol, no substance, but nevertheless real. He admits that Vice-Chairwoman Johnson (a black Democrat) is already exercising all the powers a Chairman would have, and he can't name any specific issue that could come before the board which would motivate white commissioners to deny the chairmanship to Commissioner Pierce. It is all about the symbolism of that wall in the County Commissioners' meeting room, from which portraits of nine county Chairmen, all white (and all male, for that matter) stare down on the public seating, an unbroken line stretching back to 1940 (or 1947, I forget). When I brought up the fact that there HAD been a black county Chairman, James Edward O'Hara, a Republican who was later elected to Congress during Reconstruction, Mr. Grant knew about him and found it a further affront: Rep. O'Hara's portrait is downstairs rather than on that wall in the meeting room.
I can't tell Mr. Grant that racism is gone from Halifax County. I can't tell him that he's wrong to want Commissioner Pierce as Chairman, even if only for symbolic value. And I can't disagree when he says that people from outside Halifax County may get a bad impression of us if all they know is that the Commission is deadlocked along racial lines. What I do fault him for is not considering other explanations for the deadlock, not feeling around for other parts of the big grey creature, as it were, or not listening when other explanations are offered. I've been told that the division is really small businessmen versus those from government and institutional background, i.e., Commissioners Minton, Manning, and Hux are working from an accountability model based on experience in having had 'to meet a payroll', as President Reagan liked to put it. And I am disappointed that Mr. Grant chose to walk out of the Commission meeting on May 2nd when Commissioner Manning tried to answer speakers who attributed the impasse to racism. Commissioner Manning praised both Pierce and Minton, but said that Minton's experience as a pharmacy owner and mayor, actually levying taxes, were more relevant to the chairmanship than Pierce's work as a department head at International Paper and on a school board, in both cases managing a budget but with no responsibility to restrict institutional growth, that is, to set tax rates. This is what Commissioner Manning meant when he said, "it is not about black or white, it is about green" while holding up a dollar bill. When I later went up to thank Commissioner Manning for giving a sensible account of his position, he told me that NO ONE HAS ASKED HIM WHY he keeps voting for Commissioner Minton! From what I've seen, the board works together in quite a proper, collegial atmosphere. We owe it to them to look beyond the first two labels, color and party. The big grey animal in the living room may be a donkey; it certainly has a mind of its own.
- R. Kent Ross
(acting) Chairman, Halifax County Republican Party
400 Quail Court Rd. Apt. 207
Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870
(252) 535-3923
I thought this letter was too long (maybe 600 words versus the Herald's policy of 350 maximum for letters to the editor) and probably too clever by half, dependent as it is on one's remembering the 'elephant in the living room' conceit of Bell's editorial; I was going to cut it down somehow but I showed it to Phil Brown at the city council meeting last night and he liked it so, since it really should get out while it is timely and the Herald will cut it however they like anyway, I just entrusted it to him for the Wednesday edition or soon after. This issue isn't going to go away, nor should it, and it is important that the matter be aired lest Halifax County continue to look, at first glance, like some bastion of racist politics. Here's hoping it knocks loose a constructive statement from Commissioners Pierce, Johnson, or Whidbee. Text follows:
Dear Editor,
There may indeed be a good-sized grey animal in our living room, but we all remember what the six blind men each decided when they felt different parts of an elephant. Can't we all agree that those who expect a 5-1 vote for the county Chairmanship because five commissioners are Democrats are as wrong as the blind man who thought the elephant was a tree because he felt only the elephant's leg, and those who assume a 3-3 vote must be based on racism may be as wrong as the blind man who felt the elephant's trunk and called it a snake? Those who extrapolate from single labels like 'white' or 'Democrat' will invariably be disappointed when their subjects are human beings rather than automatons.
I've spoken to Gary Grant of the Black Caucus and Concerned Citizens of Tillery at his protests outside County Commission meetings twice now and found him to be fundamentally reasonable and well-informed. I would not worry that one of his protests would get out of hand or violate anyone else's right to enjoy an event. He just wants to keep his issue in the public eye, and his issue is (in my opinion) all symbol, no substance, but nevertheless real. He admits that Vice-Chairwoman Johnson (a black Democrat) is already exercising all the powers a Chairman would have, and he can't name any specific issue that could come before the board which would motivate white commissioners to deny the chairmanship to Commissioner Pierce. It is all about the symbolism of that wall in the County Commissioners' meeting room, from which portraits of nine county Chairmen, all white (and all male, for that matter) stare down on the public seating, an unbroken line stretching back to 1940 (or 1947, I forget). When I brought up the fact that there HAD been a black county Chairman, James Edward O'Hara, a Republican who was later elected to Congress during Reconstruction, Mr. Grant knew about him and found it a further affront: Rep. O'Hara's portrait is downstairs rather than on that wall in the meeting room.
I can't tell Mr. Grant that racism is gone from Halifax County. I can't tell him that he's wrong to want Commissioner Pierce as Chairman, even if only for symbolic value. And I can't disagree when he says that people from outside Halifax County may get a bad impression of us if all they know is that the Commission is deadlocked along racial lines. What I do fault him for is not considering other explanations for the deadlock, not feeling around for other parts of the big grey creature, as it were, or not listening when other explanations are offered. I've been told that the division is really small businessmen versus those from government and institutional background, i.e., Commissioners Minton, Manning, and Hux are working from an accountability model based on experience in having had 'to meet a payroll', as President Reagan liked to put it. And I am disappointed that Mr. Grant chose to walk out of the Commission meeting on May 2nd when Commissioner Manning tried to answer speakers who attributed the impasse to racism. Commissioner Manning praised both Pierce and Minton, but said that Minton's experience as a pharmacy owner and mayor, actually levying taxes, were more relevant to the chairmanship than Pierce's work as a department head at International Paper and on a school board, in both cases managing a budget but with no responsibility to restrict institutional growth, that is, to set tax rates. This is what Commissioner Manning meant when he said, "it is not about black or white, it is about green" while holding up a dollar bill. When I later went up to thank Commissioner Manning for giving a sensible account of his position, he told me that NO ONE HAS ASKED HIM WHY he keeps voting for Commissioner Minton! From what I've seen, the board works together in quite a proper, collegial atmosphere. We owe it to them to look beyond the first two labels, color and party. The big grey animal in the living room may be a donkey; it certainly has a mind of its own.
- R. Kent Ross
(acting) Chairman, Halifax County Republican Party
400 Quail Court Rd. Apt. 207
Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870
(252) 535-3923
