Illegal immigration is the hot-button, wedge issue of the year in North Carolina politics. It is ugly and has been fanned by Senator Dole's active support of the 287(g) program and, regrettably, many Democrats showing no political courage.
And now racism has reared its head in the ugliest way...since my childhood. Read more below the fold.
Johnston County, NC is a rural farming community less than one hour from Raleigh. I campaigned actively in what has historically been a very conservative region. Like the rest of the state, the increase in our Hispanic population has fueled much frustration and anger. However, in Johnston County-- amongst the more conservative of the 100 counties in NC-- I met many residents who expressed a sense of injustice, legal and moral, at the mess which a farming community dependent on immigrant labor finds itself. That's particularly pronounced amongst farmers who play by the rules and spend hundreds of thousand of dollars in complying with federal law in order to locate, document and transport their labor force from Mexico and central America. The immigrant workforce is THE work force responsible for harvesting and bringing to market NC's agricultural staples such as tobacco, soybeans, cotton, corn and sweetpotatoe.
But now... the rhetoric has gone over the top. Yesterday, a feature article in the Raleigh News & Observer profiled Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell's efforts to detain and deport illegal immmigrants a.k.a. migrant workers--- a good portion of whom are working legally with H2B status.
"Drunk Mexicans"
"Breeding like rabbits"
"<who> rape, rob, and murder"
"trashy"
"<who are> driving drunk and shooting"
"all they do is make love, I think"
So what do you think?
As a backdrop, when I was a student at UNC in the late 1970s, there was a billboard at the Johnston County Line. It read "Welcome to KKK Country."
Sheriff Bizzel's racist epithets hark back to an era of Bull Connor. And, for those of your outside our state-- and listen-- NC is not some hotbed of festering racism. We have had the largest percentage increase in Hispanic residents of any other state since 2000-- and CHANGE is threatening to people. But-- this episode is beyond the pale.
There's been no leadership on the political stage other than fanning the flames. That's especially true for Senator Elizabeth Dole and Charlotte Mayor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory-- but their Democratic opponents State Senator Kay Hagan (who defeated me in the May Democratic primary and whom I have endorsed) and Lieutenant Governor Bev Perdue have not exactly stepped to the plate in their public remarks and/or advertising campaigns. That's a sorry state-- but being politics, it is what it is.
This post is not about politics however. It is about galvanizing the power of the netroots community to help those of us on-the-ground in NC who are angry and intolerant of immigrant-bashing or any sort of bashing for that matter. I am in the midst of trying to organize and galvanize an outpouring of support for what arguably is the weakest, most defenseless community in our state. To sit on the sidelines is not an option. Americans and North Carolinians are better than this sort of race-baiting.
So what can you do?
Here's a start:
- Get this diary on the front page.
- Send out emails nationwide. Objective is to shine a national spotlight on this behavior-- Speak Truth to Power-- to exert pressure. I want the Sheriff's badge.
- Send me an email at jimneal2008@gmail.com volunteering to help.
- Send a contribution to Jim Neal for NC, PO Box 697, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. It's a 501c(4)advocacy organization I just established for the explicit purpose of bringing a voice to the least powerful (so new that we don't have a website & can't accept donations online-- but if there is a band-aid approach please comment.) My goal is to raise $10K now-- just to utilize for purposes of organizing a broad-based response to this calamity.
- Write and/or call elected officials in NC. Speak out:
US SENATOR ELIZABETH DOLE
US SENATOR RICHARD BURR
GOVERNOR MIKE EASLEY
U.S.REPRESENTATIVE BOB ETHERIDGE
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR BEV PERDUE (Democratic nominee running for Governor)
NC STATE SENATOR KAY HAGAN (Democratic nominee running against Senator Dole)
CHARLOTTE MAYOR PAT McCRORY (Republican nominee running for Governor)
Gracias.