After glancing at North Carolina’s political and/or civil rights report card, one would say that the area is a moderate southern state in the south eastern portion of the United States. This is in contrast to the Deep South red states which border North Carolina, such as South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Before President Donald Trump was elected, North Carolina had been quietly stirring the humidity for the dark storm which would situate itself over the United States.

Shortly after the election of America’s first African American president (Barack Obama), private interests groups and individuals such as the Koch Brothers began to quietly bankroll far right conservative candidates that would bend to their will. For instance, North Carolina legislators engaged in widespread voter suppression by using laws such as HB 589. The State and Federal courts subsequently deemed this law as highly discriminatory and unconstitutional. In addition, North Carolina pulled voting stations from colleges and metropolitan urban areas. This democratic atrocity is compounded by the current practice of gerrymandering, which the courts previously found to be constitutionally racist. This attack isn’t limited to voting. It expands to state funded educational institutions in which The Koch Brothers have funded organizations who wish to inhibit the teaching of trendy curriculums at state funded institutions such as the University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It should be noted that trendy curriculums are designated as those which focus on African/African American/Latino and Women/Gender history and rights.

North Carolina legislators even tried to defund Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), such as Shaw University. Shaw University has been in existence longer than many of the Predominantly White Institutions and Universities of the state, and serves a sizable population of non-black students, in contrast to popular belief. The amount of money thrust into conservative candidates within North Carolina has lead to a full takeover of the North Carolina Legislature, such that we have witnessed unprecedented actions by conservative legislators in the scramble to retain power within the state. This past year, North Carolina Legislators unabashedly tried to unconstitutionally strip the current democratic Governor, Roy Cooper, of all power because they were in essence “in their feelings” due to Pat Mcrory’s election loss. In addition, when an African American was elected to the N.C.Supreme Court in 2016 the NC legislature sought to dilute his power by expanding the Supreme Court for the first time ever. If one takes all of these actions in total, it is somewhat embarrassing to the citizens of this state

Although these actions may seem unprecedented, this behavior within and around North Carolina politics is not new. As in many instances, the Carolinas have engaged in actions which have acted as a catalyst for practices which permeate throughout the rest of the South. It should be noted that the first state to secede from The Union was South Carolina. What many people do not know is that after the emancipation of America’s enslaved African population, there was a period of prosperity for African Americans, along with lower class whites. However, there was a regression of this prosperity towards the end of the 19th century. One of the most noticeable examples of these regressions was illustrated in The Wilmington Riots, in which Wilmington, North Carolina, a majority African American city at the time, enjoyed a sizable amount of prosperity due to African American wealth and political power. However, in 1898, the white minority in the city of Wilmington killed hundreds of African Americans. They ran scores of African American business owners out of town, in addition to their white allies who engaged in this new form of fusion politics. The white supremacists (democrats) subsequently took back control of the local government. It should be noted that this is the first and only coup to have ever occurred in the United States of America. In Durham, North Carolina, there are a handful of signs referencing Black Wall Street. Black Wall Street didn’t perish because of the crack epidemic or incarceration, it perished because Highway 147 was purposely constructed on top of it. Such was seen in Overtown, located in Miami Florida, which was once the place to be for black celebrities, entertainers and thinkers.

After a couple of Greensboro Students helped to act as a catalyst to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, North Carolina, along with the rest of the south, refused to build a comprehensive bus system, the kind that is seen in cities like New York, or Washington D.C. North Carolina metropolitan areas, like Raleigh, have the funds and the need to do so. However, it was never built because North Carolina, and all of the southern states which followed, would rather have a broken bus system than to have an integrated one. In addition, North Carolina, and by extent, the south, has no more than two metropolitan areas. These states also suffer from weak and/or non-existing worker’s unions, which were shunned due to racial economic policies. This system was set up so that the minimum wage in North Carolina ($7.25) could stay low while land prices soared. As a result, the working class populations within the state were taken advantage of in spite of the earlier civil rights movement gains, which included workers’ rights.

However, if we look at history there is a way that our state can return to common sense and morality. This really isn’t an issue of democrat or republican, but the issue of a progressive North Carolina which is socially and economically inclusive. This is an issue of winning back the state to common sense, equity and equality. Rev. Jesse Jackson was one of the first African Americans to ever run for President. He had reasonable success through what he termed “The Rainbow Coalition,” in which working class whites teamed with African American and Latino voters to fight for shared economic interest. The Rainbow coalition had its beginning in late 19th century Wilmington North Carolina, with its fusion politics. This rainbow coalition was rejuvenated by the 44th president of the United States (President Barack Obama). Now, it is being used again by Reverend Barber in his “Poor People’s Campaign” to combat the unconstitutional acts of the North Carolina legislature.

At some point, the citizens of North Carolina, and America in general, will have to stop being persuaded to vote solely on moral issues disguised in shadowed racism. They are being taken advantage of by the bourgeoisie who, in actuality, do not care for their well-being. If the majority of white voters do not realize that the shawl has been pulled over their eyes, then every time African American and middle/lower class white voters begin to have economic and political progressions, a reactionary form of politics will follow, which will cause them to vote contrary to their pocket and their own personal interest. One only has to look at history to see this conundrum occurring continuously over and over again to the detriment of the working class, the middle/lower class whites, the African American community at large and all other minority communities in general.

Lex-Jordan Ibegbu

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