Archives for January 2023

The insidious power of keeping it vague

“Say what you mean and mean what you say,” unless you want to keep everyone guessing. Alas, vague is in vogue, the better to sow confusion about not-so-honorable intentions — and get your way in the end.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has mastered this dark art, most recently as he ordered thoughtful discussions of African American history to end before they had begun, with studies of other cultures somehow escaping his ire.

A pilot of an Advanced Placement course on the subject has run into the buzz saw of the state’s “Stop Woke Act.”

The Florida Department of Education’s letter to the College Board said the content of its AP African American studies course “is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” showing by its use of “inexplicably” that it had no earthly reason for a decision intended to close, not open, young minds.

Try teaching the history of the United States of America with “just the facts,” and you might end up with lessons on the enslavement of men, women and children, lynching, redlining and Jim Crow without judgment, without pointing out the evil, the inhumanity and the apathy of those who looked the other way while reaping the benefits of racist oppression.

In the name of not causing trauma in today’s students, Florida policymakers are erasing the trauma of the families and descendants of the Floridians lynched in Tallahassee, the state’s capital city, where the same lawmakers obviously close their eyes when passing markers acknowledging that chapter in American history.

Educators may want to fight back. But with jobs and livelihoods at stake, there are risks. ProPublica talked to a number of professors without tenure who are anxiously changing course names and weeding out terms such as “white privilege” to dodge cancellation and firing. But it’s difficult to avoid something that’s so hard to pin down, knowing all the while that disgruntled students who might be unhappy about a grade know exactly which “woke” cudgel will get immediate results.

So, for those instructors, it’s better to just stop. Just stop any mention of gender politics and the roots of racism, just stop connecting the dots between modern wealth and health gaps and how America’s institutions were constructed with discrimination the motivating factor.

Just stop answering questions from students of every race who are supposed to be curious, but apparently not too curious.

Don’t tell the governor that “woke” comes from a 1938 “stay woke” caution from blues singer Lead Belly, advice for Black Americans who wanted to avoid a fate similar to that of the falsely accused “Scottsboro Boys.” And by all means, don’t teach that in a Florida school. Because in 2023, “woke” means whatever DeSantis wants it to mean.

Unfortunately, Florida has set a template for other states, such as South Carolina, where Republican legislators have proposed a bill already being criticized by organizations such as the state’s American Civil Liberties Union for what it calls vague language that could discourage teachers from settling there.

A vague election law has already had its desired effect in, yes, Florida. After voters overwhelmingly approved opening up the franchise to former felons who had served their time, Republican legislators said, “Not so fast.”

Many of those hopeful voters, after being registered by confused election officials, themselves unsure of exactly what the law said, were swept up by DeSantis’ “election integrity” task force, arrested by law enforcement officers who seemed puzzled about the details of the law the terrified, targeted citizens were supposed to have broken.

Of course, those hauled out of their homes in handcuffs in well-publicized raids were mostly African American, with the white transgressors in The Villages given not much more than a slap on their presumably Republican wrists.

Charges may have been dropped in most cases, but do you think minority folks with a former brush with the law would risk another by voting?

Call it a pattern of intimidation by obfuscation.

A Conversation With The Cast Of A Soldier’s Play

Following the Opening Night performance of A Soldier’s Play at Knight Theater, members of the cast participated in a post-show talk back, moderated by award-winning journalist and educator Mary C. Curtis.

Talk back participants included Norm Lewis who plays Captain Richard Davenport, Eugene Lee who plays Sergeant Vernon C. Waters, Tarik Lowe who plays Private First Class Melvin Peterson, Understudy and West Charlotte High School alum Al’Jaleel McGhee and Sheldon D. Brown who plays Private C.J. Memphis.

Local News Roundup: Myers Park sexual assault trial; Controversial Cotswold Chick-Fil-A plan approved; AG Josh Stein throws his hat into the ring for NC Governor

The trial of a former Myers Park High School student against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the city of Charlotte after an allaged sexual assault started this week. The former student alleges her Title IX rights were violated after she was sexually assaulted in 2015.

Charlotte City Council approves a controversial rezoning on Randolph Road to allow the rebuilding of a Chick-fil-A to become a drive-through-only business. While the decision goes against the 2040 plan, some council members say it’s the best solution to alleviate a traffic nightmare in that area.

Attorney General Josh Stein throws his hat in the ring, announcing he’s running for North Carolina Governor in 2024. He’s the first major candidate to announce in a race that promises to be competitive as the governor’s seat will be open with no incumbent for the first time since 2012.

Now that the Carolina Panthers season is over and a widespread head coach search is on, can Steve Wilks get the top job permanently? We’ll talk about why this hire is getting attention, and get an update on who the Panthers are talking to.

And Bojangles is entering the adult beverage world with an alcoholic version of its famous sweet tea!

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those and more, on the Charlotte Talks local news roundup.

GUESTS:

Erik Spanberg, managing editor for the Charlotte Business Journal
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
Shamarria Morrison, WCNC reporter
David Boraks, WFAE climate reporter

Hospice for Profit: End-of-life care is full of people looking for a big return on little effort.

Since the 1980s, hospice has been covered by Medicare, and it’s come to be an expected part of the healthcare that millions of Americans receive at the end of their lives. But beneath the pamphlets of patients living out their days in comfort lies an uglier reality: a cottage industry that frequently misappropriates taxpayer dollars in the name of profit.

Guest: Ava Kofman, investigative reporter for ProPublica.

Telling the truth, onstage and off, so history doesn’t repeat itself

When members of Congress gathered on the Capitol steps last week to remember the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and honor those who defended them and democracy itself, there were glaring gaps in the heartfelt tableau.

That Friday morning, two years to the day after insurrectionists swarmed the U.S. Capitol with the intent of overturning the results of a fair election, many Republicans were too busy with a call sorting out the Kevin McCarthy speaker of the House drama to attend, though GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania was spotted among his Democratic colleagues.

It should have been a commemoration that transcended party and politics, a brief acknowledgment of the truth of what happened that terrifying day. Instead, memories of a mob breaking windows and pummeling police officers while calling for the heads of then-Vice President Mike Pence and then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, have, in some quarters, gone poof!

That’s the danger of “whitewashing” history, a term I use with intention. It’s a practice neither shocking nor original, but it blocks any progress toward Americans understanding one another and this country we all share.

Thankfully, culture provides plenty of opportunities to fill in the blanks — and to reflect.

A play I’ve seen twice in recent weeks is a prime example. It illuminates a time many seldom think about, a history others would like to forget despite its imprint on injustice that remains in the present day.

“A Soldier’s Play,” first produced for the stage in 1981, set largely in the barracks of an all-Black Army unit in Louisiana in 1944, is a drama, a mystery and a history lesson — one that’s more relevant and necessary than ever at a time when any mention of this country’s past that doesn’t come tied in a shiny bow has become one more battle in America’s culture wars.

Will Southwest Be Held Accountable?

Over the holidays, thousands of passengers were left stranded or delayed when Southwest Airline’s outdated re-booking software broke down. Who can be held accountable, and why don’t airlines invest more in their own infrastructure?

Guest: Heather Tal Murphy, business and technology reporter for Slate.

Host: Mary C. Curtis

Reflections on the January 6th Capitol attack, two years later

Two years ago, our democracy was attacked by a group of angry insurrectionists trying to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

At the time, most people viewed it as a misguided group of angry voters involved in something that just got away from them. Since then, investigations seem to point to an effort controlled in many ways by Donald Trump.

We look at what has happened since to those involved, what may happen next, and how this moment in our history will be remembered.

And we hear from a documentary photographer, who was at the Capitol, and whose pictures capture how close we came to losing our democracy.

Guests

Michael Gordon, reporter for The Charlotte Observer

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”

Nate Gowdy, documentary photographer, author of “Insurrection,” a book of photographs capturing the events of Jan 6.