Transformation: A North Carolina Story
by Wesley Fink on November 6, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- What's New with Wes
While AnandTech Editors can be found in many cities and countries around the world, most of you are already aware that Anand himself and AnandTech are headquartered in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. I also grew up in North Carolina and went to college in North Carolina. Today I live in New York, but much of my family - "home" if you will - is still in North Carolina.
That is certainly why I was profoundly moved by the announcement, just a few hours ago, that MSNBC and the Associated Press have finally moved North Carolina to the Barack Obama column in the Presidential election. The networks concluded that the number of provisional ballots remaining to be counted were less than the current narrow lead held by Obama, and that no other outcome was really possible.
There are advantages to working for a CEO who began this website when he was 13 years old, and who is now an old man in his mid-20’s. Everyone assumes you are in the same age group as your boss, and despite the fact that I am the longest running current staff member at AT (other than Anand), most just assume I am in school or a fairly recent grad. I am flattered by that assumption, because I am actually a grandfather with three grown children. They grew up on my knee at the computer. They are all now graduated, successful in their fields, and all work either directly or indirectly in the computer industry.
For the work I do at AnandTech my age is irrelevant, but my age is totally relevant to my immense sense of satisfaction in the fact that North Carolina voted for Barrack Obama – even by the slimmest of margins. Younger commentators will talk about North Carolina as a dependable Conservative Red state until now, and the explosive growth and changing demographics of a state that has become Wall Street South and a Technology hub. For me the victory in North Carolina of a man with an African Father and a White Mother is much more personal, and nothing short of revolutionary. It is something I was not sure I would see in my home state of North Carolina in my lifetime.
When I grew up in North Carolina all the schools were integrated and “separate but equal” was the “progressive” law of the state. I still recall the gasps in a gathered crowd when my wife, a nurse, and I stopped at an accident and tried to help a gravely injured man who happened to be black. I was performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation at her direction and she was trying to control bleeding as best she could while we were waiting for a “colored” ambulance service that seemed to take forever to arrive.
As a College student I marched for Civil Rights and participated in sit-ins at lunch counters in Greensboro, NC and other NC cities. Fortunately these events were mostly peaceful in my home state, and while we saw lots of anger and name-calling, we didn’t see the murder and bombings that were happening in places like Alabama and Mississippi. That certainly does not justify the grievous discrimination that was a part of the fabric of my home state, but I will be forever grateful that for the most part the transition that was taking place was loud but mostly peaceful.
I also remember as a child that North Carolina was a reliably Democratic state in the days before Red and Blue became boundaries for hate and intolerance. North Carolina, as a southern state, was particularly hard-hit by the Great Depression. As a result the South saw Franklin Roosevelt as something of a God. It was simply that he and the US government paid attention to an area of the country that had been widely ignored except by those who exploited the region’s resources and cheap labor. The public works and infrastructure jobs created in the South by FDR had a profound effect on the area surviving the Depression and coming out of it with hopes that the South could be vital again. Because of the Fed investments in the South during the Depression North Carolina and the South were solidly Democratic.
In the 1950s a progressive Democratic Governor named Luther Hodges pioneered the concept of Research Triangle Park, which today is recognized throughout the world. When JFK was elected in 1960 his cabinet included a North Carolina Governor, Terry Sanford, who later went on to serve as President of Duke University.
All of that changed with the Civil Rights movement. People like Jessie Helms and Strom Thurmond, who favored segregation, changed parties as did others in the South who wanted things to stay as they were. They became the open champions of racism in the beginning and preached a more subtle brand of racism as it became less popular to openly look down on someone for the color of their skin. Regardless of the subtlety those who grew up in the South knew the emergence of the Republican Party in the South was initially based on Racism, a fact that was particularly puzzling since Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President.
The last BIG play of the racism card in NC was the now-famous “hands” ad crafted by Karl Rove for the then losing Jessie Helms Senate campaign against Harvey Gantt, the popular black ex-Mayor of Charlotte. Gantt was ahead in the polls. a fact that had to be maddening to the NC Senator that created a career out of the politics of racial and intellectual hate. In the last few days the Helms campaign flooded the TV stations with that ad with the white speaker crumpling a letter telling him he had not gotten a job. The ad went on to reflect “. . . you needed that job but you lost it to a person hired because of Affirmative Action”. The hands ad turned the tide and pulled out the closest Senate race of Helms' career.
It is because one of the Republican Party’s legacies in the South is racism that the victories by Barrack Obama in North Carolina and Virginia are clearly revolutionary. Republicans represent many other things in other areas of the US, but in the South that legacy of racism has remained. The fact that an African-American has won my home state and Virginia is a repudiation of that legacy. This turn may be temporary and a reflection of the dire Economic conditions and international wars that now plague the US. I don’t think it is, but even if Republicans win North Carolina again in 4 years or 8 years, the party will never be able to effectively play the racism card again. There are areas of the South, it turns out, where running a campaign based on racism and hate and fear just won’t play reliably any more.
The Obama win in North Carolina and Virginia is also good news for the Republican Party. The victory by a man with an African Father and White Mother who describes himself as a "mutt" has forever destroyed that racial barrier. No matter your political persuasion we are all better off in toppling those barriers. We can never again assume in any future Red victory in the South that it was at least partly the result of lingering racism.
This victory also presents the opportunity for the Republich Party to decide what it really stands for today. Perhaps in reinventing itself from this humiliating landslide victory by the Democrats, the Republican Party can find a way to be inclusive again – embracing African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Gays, Atheists, Muslims, and ALL Americans, instead of preaching the politics of exclusion, barrier fences, and fear.
In America, it turns out, you really can grow up to be President – no matter the color of your skin or the heritage of your parents or the label others might apply to your beliefs. What has happened in my home state today and in the US in the last few days is truly a Transformation.
The majority of our readers are under 30, and I really think you get it more than us old fogies. In many ways that’s good news, and I'm glad so many of you get what's going on. However, getting to where we are today was painful and emotional for many of us. Telling the story is one way of letting go of those emotions.
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rowcroft - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
I am a minority and a conservative. I find it objectionable that you would associate Republicans with racism (racism does not observe party lines).The continued defense of your post show it was not a well thought or delivered "opinion piece." It was assumptive of the readers beliefs and did not qualify statements represented as fact.
The only "Transformation" that I can see is this site's tolerance of being the delivery mechanism for your opinion.
zuffa10 - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
I live in Raleigh as well from.all of us know why Obama won North Carolina.
Its all the northeastern tranplants that have moved here like me and we've finally taken the state over :)
Dadofamunky - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
but both parties have changed too. while neiither party has a monopoly on racism and intolerance historically, it's better to look at things as they are now rather than trying to extrapolate from the past:- The Republican party of Lincoln bears absolutely no resemblance to the Republican party of today;
- While the Democratic party housed a large contingent of racists in the mid-20th century (including Robert Byrd), it was also home to a large progressive wing; that is a constant that stands to this day;
- The Democrats did not run a campaign based on fear and subtle race baiting. The Republicans did, adhering to a tradition established decades ago. Own up to it for a change!
Now the shoe is on the other foot: Republicans are the ones who are bitter and angry while the Dems are the ones who are looking forward with hope and optimism. We get to clean up the mess left behind. We can only hope the Republican Party will ditch its know-nothingism for a more inclusive and rational ideological stance. I suspect that will not happen.
MarchTheMonth - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
I was just in the triangle area this past weekend to visit my friend. It would have been awesome to know that your headquarters were right there. Both of us being computer geeks, we would have definitely visited the "headquarters"Occams Razor - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
So we have a half-black, half-white person as president-elect, and now we can say a big step has been made toward ending racism in NC.I wonder how many african-american voters voted for Obama just because he is black (or half-black). In fact, I wonder how many white voters voted for Obama just because he is black. Still sounds like racism to me. Liberals seem to want to keep every group compartmentalized so they can each claim some special "right" they think is theirs. Conservatives (not necessarily Republicans) would prefer to have everyone in a homogeneous melting pot and to give them an equal shot at equal rights.
Dadofamunky - Friday, November 7, 2008 - link
...except when the conservatives' seat of power is threatened. Then, boy, watch the buckets of mud fly! Equal shot at equal rights, coming from you, is nonsense. The conservatives' "equality of opportunity" is a lie, and proven as such by your performances in the real world. Yeah, you guys don't discriminate: you screw every race and creed over equally. The Willie Horton/Rev. Wright stuff doesn't fly. Nobody cares anymore. Game over!And skip the minorities' "special rights" and reverse racism stuff. Most blacks voted for Obama BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIKE YOU, GENIUS!We've moved on. You're still fighting the campaigns from 20 years ago. That's why we'll continue to win going forward. The Dems finally adjusted their thinking. The Repubs are just beginning to enter the dark tunnel of isolation. Enjoy it! I know I'll enjoy watching it.
johncarr - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
As a citizen of the United States of America, I believe that is time to simply be an "American". Especially, in this time of economic turmoil, let us lay aside being republican, democrat, white, black, Christian, atheist, etc. and just be Americans. Whether we supported the candidacy of the newly elected president or not, he is now OUR president and we should support him in every way possible and, indeed, hope that he is successful in his efforts to govern this country.Now with the above said I, also, resent being called racist because I choose to be a political conservative and am therefore a republican. While I disagree with liberals on many things and, in fact, believe them to be often wrong as well, I respect their right to their opinions. In return, I would hope to have my beliefs respected. After all, being an American gives us each the right to free speech and free thinking.
I have always thought the description “African-American” to be incorrect. I think that “American of African descent” is better. I describe myself as an “American of European descent” because I am an American whose ancestors came to America from Europe. I have never been to Europe. I don’t know any family members in Europe. I certainly don’t consider myself to a “European-American”. It seems to me that the same thinking holds true with “African-American”.
Finally, Mr. Fink, while you have the right to your opinions, I can’t say that I much approve of your presentation. I believe it is way past time to stop concentrating on the past, which cannot be changed, and get on with making the future better.
Barbu - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
...and when a blog is shown on the first page of a site, it surely would be good to keep the subject close to the main topic of that site.We have a saying in Europe: everybody knows politics and football (soccer, for you). On the same tone, I'm eager to read Mr. Fink's next musings on knitting. Or maybe photo cameras... Oh wait, I already read some of his amateur diatribes on modern cameras; certainly, not more "modern" than knitting.
While I can feel for somebody that's older than "readers under 30" (because I'm over that age too), I also feel that AnandTech deserves to keep the high-level for which it got its renown; as the Bushes ;) finally stepped down, it's high time for Wes to make way for people that actually care about that high level, without thinking that (once they've been around for some time) they can write half-a$$ed reviews or, even worse, defamatory ramblings.
ggathagan - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
For every Strom Thurmond, there's a Robert Byrd.The problem with assigning racism to a particular political belief is that it falls short of the true root of racism: human nature.
By our fallen nature, we strive against anyone who is different than us, whether by philosophy, culture or ethnicity.
You can look at any group of people in any location on the planet and find contention, whether you look in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, or any of the multitude of islands on this earth.
That contention runs the gamut of looking oddly at your neighbor to the genocidal atrocities seen throughout history in all of those locations.
I live in a state that, a mere 200 years ago, became a unified country by virtue of one island leader slaughtering the leaders and soldiers of the other seven major islands in the area.
They were all of the same race.
The hatred between the ethnicities of Asia is matched by the tribal slaughter practiced all over Africa.
The basic difference between the conservative and liberal school of thought centers around each school's view of the government's place in a citizen's life, nothing more.
Unfortunately, the devolution of civility in our society is such that both schools of thought reach all too quickly for the old accusations that have little or no merit.
The two main political parties in the US have long used human nature to artificially create acrimony between people who, under most circumstances, would be the best of friends.
Are there still knuckle-draggers out there who are stupid enough to think that race makes a difference?
Sure, and they come in all shapes, sizes and political leanings.
I did not vote for Barack. My opposition to his presidential bid was due to his political stance, not the color of his skin.
To attempt to construe my vote as being that of a racist is an insult, especially from people who do not know me.
Now that he has been elected as my president, I will support him as strongly as I have his predecessors.
I will also try my best to counter his actions where his political viewpoint diverges from mine.
That's the right and responsibility of all citizens of the US.
Wesley Fink - Thursday, November 6, 2008 - link
I would NEVER imply in any way that those who voted against Barack Obama are racist. There are many other valid reasons for choosing another candidate over Obama and I know plenty of people who voted for others who don't have a racist bone in their body.My point was that an African-American winning states like Virginia and North Carolina is truly an event that says a great deal about America's evolution - and in this case North Carolina's evolution. It IS a very big deal in the historical perspective.
The story was to provide something of a personal historical perspective. Many of my Republican friends in the South have no idea of the history of the rise of that party in the South. Many also claim to be conservative, but the party they support bears little resemblance to the definition of conservative described by Barry Goldwater.