Opinion

Editorial: When prejudice comes out of the closet

Friday, May 19, 2023 -- It was a moment of unintended candor that provided clear insight into what too many of those who occupy seats in the North Carolina General Assembly believe but rarely state so directly.

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Rep. Abe Jones, a Wake County Democrat
CBC Editorial: Friday, May 19, 2023; editorial #8850
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company
It was a moment of unintended candor that provided clear insight into what too many of those who occupy seats in the North Carolina General Assembly believe but rarely state so directly.
During debate on a bill to increase taxpayer funding for private school vouchers, State Rep. Jeff McNeely, a white Republican from Iredell County, interrupted remarks being made by state Rep. Abe Jones, a Wake County Democrat and former state Superior Court Judge who graduated from North Carolina public schools and went on to earn an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.
“The question, I guess,” McNeely inquired, “is would you have been able to maybe achieve this if you were not an athlete or a minority or any of these things?”
From left: N.C. State Rep. Abe Jones, D-Wake; Rep. Jeff McNeely, R-Iredell

Implicit in his question was the premise for it. Black people, particularly those who were educated in North Carolina’s public schools, lack the innate ability to succeed, are a burden and only achieve because of unfair advantages bestowed upon them. Such bias permeates the rhetoric, motives and actions of too many who lead and control the General Assembly today. The legislature’s Republicans tolerate and appease racist views many it its caucus hold.

Before Jones could respond to McNeely’s stunning question, Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Robert Reives rose to interject: “I'm hoping I wasn't the only one that got shocked by that comment that the only reason you (Jones) went to Harvard was because you were Black and an athlete."

In a calm and polite response Jones referenced his class rank and said: “I earned my place, and I did well.”

House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican who was supposed to be presiding and paying full attention, later confessed that he was reading notes on his cell phone and not completely focused on what was going on – and he cut McNeely off.

A day earlier, during the debate on overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the 12-week abortion ban issue, amid an emotional deeply personal recollection by state Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams, registered nurse and Black Democrat, D-Cabarrus, of her own abortion. “I am someone who has grown up in the church and believes in the power of God,” she said.

Rep. Keith Kidwell, a white Republican from Beaufort County, was reported responding mockingly to staffers in the back of the chamber. He quipped that she must have meant the Church of Satan. Does North Carolina now have a state religion – a faith determined by Freedom Caucus members like Kidwell and McNeely?

More than a lack of decorum or respect, these remarks reveal the deep prejudice that permeates too many and too much of what goes on in the North Carolina General Assembly.

Words of apology and regret at this point, no matter how needed and appropriate, must be more empty rhetoric. They must be matched by actions and legislation that doesn’t perpetuate prejudices but embraces the dignity, potential and obligation to serve all in North Carolina regardless of race, ethnicity, personal gender identity or faith.

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