Blog | Mary C. Curtis

OPINION — It’s an inside joke I’ve told the last couple of years.

My ancestors on both sides have been in America for generations — men, women and children whose blood, sweat and grit drenched the Maryland soil they cultivated and farmed and lived on. Originally brought by force, they claimed their place proudly and served the country’s ideals admirably. In contrast, my husband, second generation to these shores, on both sides, is an American-come-lately. But because his grandfather sailed into New York harbor on a ship that set off from Kristiansand, Norway, he is our president’s dream (Scandinavian) citizen.

I’m not laughing at that punch line anymore, not when Donald Trump has shown how sincerely he believes that belonging is automatic for some and conditional for others. It has never been clearer that the president of the United States considers some Americans more worthy of respect and consideration and legitimacy than others, and how he draws that line is as simple as black and white.

Jul182019 TAGS: Donald Trump, immigration reform, Race/Ethnicity, Racism

What’s Next After CMS Board Suspends Superintendent

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It is a challenge that school systems around the country face, but the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system does seem to regularly make headlines because of changes and turmoil in leadership. This week, CMS officials announced the suspension of superintendent Clayton Wilcox in an email. Wilcox, who has been in the job for two years and early this year got a bump in compensation, is the district’s fifth superintendent in 10 years

Jul172019 TAGS: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Clayton Wilcox, CMS

Why big yellow buses are the big red herring of 2020

OPINION — Ed Sanders was both unique and ordinary. He became, in his own way, a hero just for doing his job.

When Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools integrated in North Carolina, if you can call it that, by allowing a handful of African American students to attend schools formerly reserved for whites only in September 1957, Sanders was principal of Central High. He had to smooth the way for Gus Roberts, its first black student, in a city still segregated in everything from housing to swimming pools to bathrooms.

As he told me when I interviewed him more than a decade ago, Sanders, a Simpsonville, South Carolina, native, had no particular desire to be a pioneer; all he knew was that he was principal. He prepared by enlisting the football team as protectors, using the threat of a canceled season as leverage and anointing a custodian as the young man’s unobtrusive guardian angel. When crowds gathered and one boy knocked the cap off the new kid’s head, Sanders threatened him and any other troublemaker with expulsion from his school and every other one in the city as he escorted Roberts through the front door.

Jul112019 TAGS: 2020 presidential race, busing, integration, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Race/Ethnicity

What Does the Jeffrey Epstein Case Say About Justice and Privilege?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As more details are revealed in the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the multi-millionaire arrested on charges of sex-trafficking girls as young as 14, there are more and more questions. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, who, when he was a U.S. attorney, arranged a plea deal for Epstein, is defending himself and resisting calls to resign. But many want to know more about why Epstein received such a light sentence in that case in Florida, and whether power and privilege played a part.

Epstein has pleaded not guilty. Now, the young women are speaking out – and many Americans are examining a criminal justice system that seems to work differently for rich and poor.

Jul102019 TAGS: Bill Clinton, criminal justice reform, Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, justice, women

Are we in this American experiment together? A July Fourth question to contemplate

OPINION — Who doesn’t love Cary Grant, the debonair British-born, American acting legend, who wooed leading ladies, including the Hepburns, Katharine and Audrey, as well as generations of moviegoers?

But he was not so charming when his submarine commander character in 1943’s “Destination Tokyo” said: “The Japs don’t understand the love we have for our women. They don’t even have a word for it in their language.”

Demonizing “the enemy” in wartime as “the other,” incapable of emotion and not quite human is not unusual. But someone always pay a hefty price. Loyal Japanese American families, rounded up and shipped to internment camps, waited until 1988 for President Ronald Reagan to issue an apology; survivors received meager compensation. Though that was expected to be that, the trauma to those Americans and the nation lingered.

And despite that World War II-era lesson, and ones before and after, America continues to make the same mistake, a notion important to contemplate during the Fourth of July festivities, when we celebrate the ideal.

This year, a Washington, D.C., military parade and fireworks display with a speech by Donald Trump that places a national holiday squarely in partisan territory will be both a distraction from and a reminder of our current plight.

Jul042019 TAGS: 2020 presidential race, Cory Booker, Democrats, immigration reform, Joe Biden, Julian Castro, July Fourth, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Race/Ethnicity, Republicans

A Controversial Fourth of July Celebration

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Even an all-American holiday doesn’t mean a break from political polarization. The annual Washington, D.C., party and fireworks celebration this year will also feature an exhibit of military might, with tanks, flyovers and a speech by the president. With the Republican National Committee handing out VIP tickets, is the event more campaign rally or public salute to the country? Depends on what side you’re on.

Jul032019 TAGS: Donald Trump, July Fourth, military, parade, Washington

Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup: SCOTUS Gerrymandering Decision; New Noise Ordinance; NC Budget

Featured at WFAE

After days of “wait and see”, finally a decision from the Supreme Court about North Carolina’s Gerrymandering case. We’ll go through the details.

It got noisy at City Council as they passed a new noise ordinance which some say violates freedom of speech.

The North Carolina Senate votes ‘yes’ on House Bill 370 requiring sheriffs in the state to work with ICE. Urban sheriffs are opposed, and Governor Cooper calls it “unconstitutional.” And the legislature has a budget compromise.

Axios uncovers documents allegedly explaining why former Governor Pat McCrory isn’t working for Donald Trump.

Mike Collins and a roundtable of reporters talks about those stories and more on the Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup.

Guests:

Michael Bitzer, Political Scientist, Catawba College

Gwendolyn Glenn, WFAE Reporter

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com and WCCB

Jonathan Lowe, reporter for Spectrum News

Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV Reporter

Jun282019 TAGS: Democrats, Gerrymandering, North Carolina, Republicans, Supreme Court

This election, black voters will not lie low and take one for the team

OPINION — Republicans often say that the Democratic Party takes black voters for granted. They are right.

Of course, the GOP then does nothing to appeal to those voters. In fact, with the actions and words of its leaders on everything from gerrymandered districts (see North Carolina) to fair-housing enforcement (or the lack of it), the Republican Party, which once claimed broad support as the party of Lincoln, takes deliberate action to repel them.

So, election after election, Democrats count on GOP radioactivity to drive African Americans to vote for the “D.” What choice do they have, after all?

Jun272019 TAGS: 2020 presidential race, Democrats, race, Republicans, voting rights

Previewing 2020 Democratic Debates

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The first debates of the 2020 presidential election are here. 20 Democrats will face off in a two-night debate Wednesday and Thursday in Miami.

Each candidate will have a minimum amount of time to make a maximum impact. The stakes may be even higher for those at the bottom of the polls, because their campaigns need attention and money to continue.

So, what should viewers look for, in addition to that memorable moment that can make or break a campaign?

Mary Curtis weighs in.