I first encountered this phrase many years ago in a discussion when a person was pontificating and passing judgment on everyone and declaring all these people needed to be punished. One of the people there quietly asked, “Who died and made you God?” After the rash of diaries calling for a North Carolina boycott last night I have to wonder myself. Follow me below the squiggle and let’s see who would be really hurt by a boycott.
The Poor in North Carolina
The Point in Time survey is made by the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness. They literally go out onto the streets and talk to the homeless. Follow the link for the latest results. Here is a condensed version of the 2008 data.
The 2008 survey found:
· 12,371 people identified as homeless, including
· 3,643 people in families, 2,216 of whom were children.
· 1,054 identified themselves as veterans of military service.
· 1,961 identified themselves as having a serious mental illness.
· 4,206 identified themselves as having a substance use disorder.
· 1,108 identified themselves as being a victim of domestic violence.
· 6.5 percent of people identified themselves as having been released from the criminal justice system.
· 6 percent of people identified themselves as having been released from a mental health hospital or drug treatment program.
25% to 30% of the veterans are homeless
In just two years, from 2008 to 2010, North Carolina's poor population grew by 326,000 people, an increase of 25 percent. The number of poor grew twice that fast in Mecklenburg. About 139,000 people lived in poverty in Mecklenburg in 2010, a 51 percent leap in just two years. The median household income has dropped 8.5 percent in Mecklenburg and 6.9 percent statewide in two years.
The Children Living in Poverty and Abused Children
Child Poverty in North Carolina
Number of poor children (and percent poor) 559,875 (24.9%)
Number of children living in extreme poverty (and percent in extreme poverty) 258,770 (11.5%)
Number of adults and children receiving cash assistance from Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 43,219
Maximum monthly TANF cash assistance for a family of three $272
Child Welfare in North Carolina
Number of children who are victims of abuse and neglect 21,895
Number of children in foster care 8,828
Number of children adopted from foster care 1,615
Number of grandparents raising grandchildren 95,027
In North Carolina:
A child is abused or neglected every 24 minutes.
A child dies before his or her first birthday every 8 hours.
Progressive Businesses
These are some of the Business leaders who came out against Amendment One.
Guenevere Abernathy`CEO, LoMoMarket
Adam Abram, CEO, James River Group, Inc.
Catherine Adamson, Founder, Chapel Hill Bees LLC
Ryan Allis, Co-Founder, iContact Corporation
Harry Bailes, CEO, Family Health Network
Stephen Barringer, Executive Vice President, Dealers Supply Company
Steve Barton, Principal, Axiom Architecture
Mik Beetham, Green Energy Lawn Care
Ron Bernstein, CEO, Liggett Vector Brands LLC
Leah Bergman, Local Yogurt and LoYo
Bucky Black, President, Resource Wood, Inc.
James Boyle, Professor of Law, Duke University Law School
Jennings Brody, Parker and Otis, Owner
Burton B. Buffaloe, President, Logic Limo
Ann Campbell, Co-Founder and Board Member, Campbell Alliance Group, Inc.
John Campbell, Co-Founder and Board Member, Campbell Alliance Group, Inc.
Greg Casey, The Octopus Garden Smoke Shop, LLC
Jennifer Conaway, Your Next Level, Inc., President
Dean Debnam, CEO, Workplace Options
Christopher DiGiovanna, Trader Chris Consignments, Inc.
Dr. Heather Dixon-Fowler, Entrepreneurship Professor, Appalachian State University
Martin Eakes, CEO, Self-Help and Center for Responsible Lending
Anita S. Earls, Executive Director, Southern Coalition for Social Justice
Janet Elbetri, Sandwhich, LLC
Ken Eudy, CEO, Capstrat
Diane Evia-Lanevi, Founder, The Tomorrow Fund for Hispanic Students
Andrew Fitzgerald, Partner, Strauch, Fitzgerald and Green, P.C.
Abigail Fitzgerald, Strauch, Fitzgerald and Green, P.C.
Joel Fleishman, Professor of Law and Public Policy, Duke University
Stephen Fraser, Co-founder, Spoonflower
Christopher Gergen, Executive Director, Bull City Forward
Barbara Goodmon, President, A.J. Fletcher Foundation
Shelly Green, CEO, Durham's Convention and Visitors Bureau
Charles Grubb, CEO, Magnolia Management Group, Inc.
David B. Hagan, President, Hagan Properties Incorporated
Scott Harmon, Manager, Center Studio Architecture, PLLC
Zach Harmon, Princeton Daycare, Inc. Co-Owner
Haywood Holderness, Pastor Emeritus, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC
Sarah Honer, Spira Pilates Studio, Owner
Dianne Jackson, Board Member, Boys and Girls Club of Orange Co.
Alan King, Workplace Options, President & COO
Dave Kirkpatrick, Managing Director, SJF Ventures
Nancy Kittay, Somethin' Else
Erin Krauss, Social Worker
Terry Krauss. Forward Motion Associates, LLC
David Kreegerr, CertaPro Painters of Durham-Chapel
Gary Kueber, CEO, Scientific Properties
Katrina Lamberto, Founder, Katlamdo Organizing
Kel Landis, Partner, Plexus Capital and former CEO, RBC Centura Bank
Michael Lemanski, Founder, Greenfire Development
Margot Carmichael Lester, Owner/Content Strategist, The Word Factory
Ruth Little, Longleaf Historic Resources
Beth Maczka, Senior Program Officer, Community Foundation of Western NC
Jody Maxwell, Customization Manager, Sports Endeavors
Easter Maynard, Executive Director, ChildTrust Foundation and Head of Charitable Giving, Golden Corral
W. Quinton Maynard, Managing Partner, Morehead Capital
Ralph McCaughan, Merge Records, Co-President / Co-Owner
Susan McDaniel, NC Green Plumbing, Inc
Steve McKinsey, McKinsey Printing
Jason Merrill, President, Back Alley Bikes
Tina Merrill, COO, Blogads.com/Pressflex LLC
Leon Morton, Sabaki Maintenance, Proprietor
Sandy Moulton, Principal, The Xenia Group, Inc.
Julie Mullin, Fiberactive Organics, L3C
Aaron Nelson, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO
Jane Norton, CEO, ReSourcing Natural Solutions
Bob Page, CEO, Replacements, Ltd.
John Parker, CEO, Good Work
Milan Pham, NIcholsonPham, PLLC
Grace Pilafian, Grace Pilafian Landscape Consulting and Design, Owner
Joshua Pope, JPHubbs
Anthony J. Pugliese, Senior Vice-President, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Dennis W. Quaintance, CEO, Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels
Mark W. Read, Owner, Mark Read Studio
James L. Ross II, Ross & Associates
Andy Rothschild, Founder, Scientific Properties
Barbra Rothschild, Founder, Scientific Properties
Susan Sachs, President & Principal, Starfire Consulting, Inc.
Andrew Scharfenberg, Steel String, LLC Owner / Logistics
Keith Shaljian, Worker-Owner, Bountiful Backyards
Joan Siefert Rose, President, Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
Patricia Smith, NC Green Plumbing, Inc.
Tom Stevens, Think Leadership Ideas, Owner
Jeannie Striegel, I Heart Veg, Owner
Paige Sullivan, Concert Telecommunications, Inc.
R. Edward Stewart, President/CEO, UDI/CDC
Nina Szlosberg-Landis, President, Circle Squared Media
Jim Tate, Escape Hair & Skin Studio
Tina Toler-Keel, It's Who I Am Magazine
Juan Villa, President, Juan Villa Photography
Bonnie Warford, Carpe Diem Restaurant and Caterers
Katherine S. Weaver, President, Residence Development Company
H. Michael Weaver, Chairman, CEO, Weaver Investment Company
Alison Weiner, Mahalo Arts, Inc., President
Andrew B. White, CFO, Southern Heels Management, Inc.
Charlie Wilson, Principal & Vice President, CT Wilson Construction Company
Greg Walker Wilson, Walker Wilson Consulting
Edward Winslow, Attorney, Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP
Christopher Wysocki, Yarnhouse
One of our most values businesses in North Carolina is Replacements Ltd. This company is a huge supporter of LGBT rights. Their PAC is used to help fight for the rights of everyone. Read this press release for one small example of the work they do.
Legendary Dinnerware Retailer a Longtime TWO Sponsor
BURLINGTON, Vt — Truth Wins Out thanked Replacements, Ltd. today for awarding $5,000 to the organization. The funds will help TWO fight anti-LGBT extremism, religion-based bigotry, and the “ex-gay” myth.
“Truth Wins Out is humbled by and grateful for the consistently generous support it has received from Replacements, Ltd. founder Bob Page,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “This contribution enables us to continue combating anti-gay lies with the truth and building a world where LGBT people can live openly, honestly, and true to themselves.”
Founded by Bob Page in 1981, Replacements, Ltd., located in Greensboro, NC, has the world’s largest selection of old and new dinnerware, including china, stoneware, crystal, glassware, silver, stainless, and collectibles. In facilities as large as seven football fields, Replacements houses an inventory of 13 million pieces in more than 300,000 patterns, some of which are over 100 years old.
TWO also commends Bob Page for his leadership in fighting North Carolina’s Amendment 1, the constitutional marriage discrimination amendment being placed before that state’s voters tomorrow. According to influential LGBT blogger Pam Spaulding, Page has invested “in the six figures” to defeat Amendment 1 and urged the nationwide LGBT movement to “give until it hurts” in order to beat back bigotry in the Tar Heel State. Said Besen, “Bob Page is a truly great leader in North Carolina. His tireless commitment to LGBT equality is an inspiration to us all.”
Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.
The LGBT Community
We have a large and active LGBT community here in North Carolina. Take a look at NC Pride and some of their sponsors. Take a look at Equality North Carolina and the work they do.
The Progressive Movement
The NC Policy Watch, a Project of the North Carolina Justice Center fights for the rights of everyone. Blue NC is where a lot of us hang out to keep informed of what is going on in our state. We have been out registering voters and drumming up support for progressive candidates. We are working hard to make a difference.
So who will you hurt with your boycott? Who will suffer from lack of money coming into the State? The poor, the homeless, the homeless Vets, the children, the businesses who fought against Amendment One, the LGBT community, and the Progressive community. Who are you hurting? You are hurting people like this lady whom my niece called yesterday regarding voting.
After I asked the caller if she needed help getting to the polls she told me: "I'm disabled and battling cancer but nothing is going to keep me away from the polls today to vote against this amendment. Now get off the phone with me and start making some more calls to other people."
You are hurting people like me. I live barely above the poverty level, have C.O.P.D. and no health insurance, and I am out there trying to help the homeless and fight for funds that aren’t there now in sufficient amounts. You want to dry up money coming to this State so that we have even less funds to help the poor? You want to punish those thousands and thousands of us who worked our hearts out trying to make a difference?
What is the lasting result of Amendment One? Even its own sponsor admits that it will be struck down. At an appearance from N.C. State University this week, House Speaker Thom Tillis, a primary proponent of Amendment One, acknowledged that the next generation is largely opposed to the constitutional rewrite on the May 8, primary ballot, and that it would be repealed. Within the hour of the polls closing a North Carolina resident had already put up a petition on Change.org to repel this amendment. The Law Firm of McKinney, Perry & Colter is already working to litigate this. From their Facebook website: "Our firm is looking forward to litigating exactly what a "domestic union" means and asking our courts why the privileges and protection extended by the State of NC should only be extended to a married couple. Call us if you are impacted by Amendment One."
So I have a question for those people who got all self righteous, especially for the person who admitted he didn’t care about the supporters and businesses who helped us or the people because: "haters only understand consequences. “yes, it might be painful for all. but if we are not willing to all sacrifice -- money, effort, and even hurt ourselves -- for victory. otherwise, you are reduced to arguing rights versus Jesus. And rights never win with the Jesus crowd.” Of course these self-righteous people are not the ones being hurt. It is the people of North Carolina who were not responsible for the Amendment that will be overturned who will be hurt. It is the poor and children and LGBT community and progressive businesses and the progressives of my State who will be hurt. So my question to you self-righteous outsiders who plan to hurt the most vulnerable in my State who died and made you God?