It is months away from November 2018, but that doesn’t stop predictions not only for the midterms but also for President Donald Trump’s re-election chances in 2020. But while the world of politics is preoccupied with whether a blue wave is inevitable or a figment of hopeful Democrats’ imagination, events outside the bubble might shift the electorate in unpredictable ways.
Opinion: Will African-American Female Leadership Move Into the Spotlight in 2018?
It’s kind of a pattern. In tangled tales of the intersection of racism and sexism, women of color are depended upon for the hard work but pushed aside for recognition.
Jan042018
2018 Politics Preview and Predictions
CHARLOTTE, NC — Will 2018 beat 2017 when it comes to political surprises? WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis takes a look at what’s in store in Charlotte and beyond.
Dec272017
Opinion: Thinking Small When the Big Picture Looks Cloudy
Polls that show a view of Congress mighty low and sinking fast invariably find voters more satisfied with their own representatives. Thumbs-down verdicts for Washington and the “swamp” in general often turn rosier when dealing with particulars.
That fact, plus gerrymandered districts and restrictive voting laws, is reason enough for Democrats to be cautious when predicting a 2018 blue electoral wave. Americans are thinking small these days, preferring to stick with the familiar and close-to-home when confronted with issues that gobble up all the oxygen in the room and the brain.
At the least, taking time for family, home, neighborhood and church is one way to make sense of life and change the things you can, as the famous “Serenity Prayer” counsels. It’s the opposite of traditional advice to look at the “big picture” for perspective when little things don’t go your way.
Dec212017
Opinion: Remembering Recy Taylor and the Too Familiar State of Alabama
In “The Rape of Recy Taylor,” a recently released documentary, you see the face of bravery. It is Recy Taylor, the 24-year-old African-American — a wife and mother of an infant daughter — kidnapped in 1944 by a carful of young white men, some the sons of the “respectable” leaders of Abbeville, Alabama, where they all lived. A gun held to her head, she was blindfolded, driven to a remote spot and violated in unimaginable ways. She escaped being killed by promising to keep quiet.
But she did not keep that promise.
Taylor’s legacy can be seen in the women speaking up now about sexual harassment of all kinds, most recently Alabama women who on the surface have little in common with a poor black sharecropper from decades ago. In fact, Beverly Young Nelson, who became the fifth woman to accuse Roy Moore when she tearfully recounted her story of an alleged sexual assault, said she and her husband voted for Donald Trump, while Taylor, in her midcentury time, was not allowed to vote at all.
Nov162017
Charlotte Talks Friday News Roundup: Charlotte’s New Mayor, A Young City Council, Bonds Pass, More
On this edition of the local news roundup….
Local Elections wrapped up Tuesday evening, giving Charlotte its first female African American Mayor, in Vi Lyles.
The new Charlotte City Council is sporting several younger council members and keeps a Democratic majority.
Area towns elected new mayors and town boards.
The School Bonds passed, and a few new faces will be seen on the CMS School Board. We’ll talk through the results and the “what’s next” from this year’s election.
And now that this election is the books, Pat McCrory is making headlines, laying blame for his gubernatorial election loss last year and he hasn’t closed the door on a future run for office. We’ll talk about what he said, including his wife’s reaction to his chilly reception now that he’s back in the Queen City.
In the wake of the shooting at a Texas church last Sunday, houses of worship here in the Queen City are evaluating their security and safety. We’ll discuss that.
Those stories and much more with Mike Collins and a panel of Charlotte reporters on the Charlotte Talks Friday News Roundup.
Guests:
Tom Bullock, WFAE Reporter.
Ann Doss Helms, Reporter for The Charlotte Observer.
Kirstin Garriss, government reporter for Spectrum News.
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for RollCall.com and WCCB.
Nov102017
Opinion: Did Everyone in the White House Take a Nap During History Class?
In forward-looking America, history is sometimes regarded as a roadblock to progress, a nuisance. And that, as has been repeatedly proven, is a mistake.
Why look back when the future is so important? Well, because failure to do exactly that has consequences.
The latest to get caught up in “he must have dozed through class that day” is White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who has been criticized for his reading of the Civil War.
Nov022017
Catholics of color are keeping the U.S. Catholic Church alive
I was raised steeped in Catholicism—from my name, Mary Cecelia, to my education. I grew up in Maryland in the 1960s and ’70s. I attended the now-shuttered St. Pius V Catholic School, where I was taught by teachers from the Oblate Sisters of Providence, an order founded in 1829 to educate and care for African-American children. I wore my faith proudly, even when the bonds of it were strained. When my classmates and I got the side-eye from the white Catholic school kids at citywide field day games held in Patterson Park, or when some members of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul at the predominantly white Seton High attributed my high test scores to divine intervention rather than intellect, I remained proud of both my heritage and my faith.
Oct182017
Opinion: In a Culture War, American Values Lose
Over the weekend, a group of white nationalists returned to Charlottesville, Virginia, faces proudly uncovered and tiki torches in hand, with a message of division.
White supremacist leader Richard Spencer said to applause, “You are going to have to get used to white identity” — and warned of more to come.
The story barely lasted one news cycle, perhaps because, this time, no one drove a car into a crowd of anti-hate counterprotesters and killed a woman.
What you have heard plenty about, the story that has made ripples and had serious repercussions, is Vice President Mike Pence’s staged walkout at a Colts-49ers NFL game in Indianapolis — a political stunt that cost the taxpayers plenty — because he disrespected several players’ support of equality, justice and police accountability.
And no matter the spin, that’s what the pregame protests have been about since former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick consulted with military veteran Nate Boyer and decided to kneel silently (instead of sit) during the playing of the national anthem.
Oct122017
Opinion: The Rule of Law, the Role of History
It was as predictable as clockwork. When I worked at a newspaper in Tucson, Ariz., the letter would arrive or the phone would ring and the message would be filled with outrage and surprise. Imagine being in a store or on the street and hearing two or more people having a conversation — in Spanish.
The spanking new desert denizen— just arrived from Michigan or Minnesota or somewhere else where it got cold in the winter — could not understand a word and this is America, right?
Aug312017
