Doug Clark has a pretty good column in the paper today (unposted) about the comments of Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker against the Wake County school board. Recall that the school board put a halt to that county's forced busing policy. Meeker bemoaned the fact that the school board members who voted to change the policy were from out-of-state, even though he himself came to North Carolina from the Washington, D.C. area.
But there is another dimension to this matter that Clark did not discuss.
The two most prominently reported board members who supported the change in policy were John Tedesco and Ron Margiotta.
These are both Italian surnames. Another board member is Chris Malone, who apparently tends to vote with Tedesco and Margiotta. I wonder if Meeker's comments may have been a not-so-subtle shot against Americans of Italian descent who have relocated to North Carolina; and who have possessed the temerity to disrupt the preexisting liberal order.
But clearly Meeker's comments were inappropriate, regardless of whether they may have been motivated by ethnic prejudice.
Whether its anti-Italian bias or not, it is a remarkable example of political prejudice. Meeker says that they are "come heres", and their philosophy is not consistent with local values. However, since these school board members are elected, it may well be that Meeker is the one that isn't compatible with community values. In any event, his comments are contemptible coming from an elected official. The sooner Raleigh rids itself of such politicians, the better.
Posted by: Storny | June 30, 2010 at 10:44 AM
The first shot from Joe's pulpito forum.
Posted by: Dave Ribar | June 30, 2010 at 10:52 AM
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?
Posted by: Stephen | June 30, 2010 at 10:53 AM
yawn...
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?
Posted by: Stephen | June 30, 2010 at 10:54 AM
Liberals flee the Northeast and West coast where liberal policies have resulted in high taxes, a high cost of living, and high crime with immunity. They then come down here and try to reinstate the very policies that lead to the problems they were trying to escape and try to subtly show off how much smarter they are than the yokels down here and point out how everything down here is being done wrong.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
But take a person from elsewhere who has actually learned a lesson from their years in the land of liberal big government and came down here to get away from it, and suddenly they have to be discredited.
Posted by: Spag | June 30, 2010 at 11:03 AM
Spag - you crack me up with your analysis. Now why did I marry one of those yankees : )
oh yeah - he was one of those who learned the lesson!
Posted by: Theresa Yon | June 30, 2010 at 11:55 AM
Stormy, I agree. Thanks.
Theresa, I think many of us learned some lessons from our years spent in the northeast (and perhaps also some midwestern cities as well).
Sam, I agree. Some great points. (BTW, I have suspected that you, too, might have been the victim of some bias in your primary against Linda Shaw, but it would be difficult to prove).
It would be interesting to know what Tedesco and Margiotta really think about Meeker's comments.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | June 30, 2010 at 03:23 PM
Oh, but don't you know it's all got to be a conspiracy between the Irish Catholic mob (Malone) and the Italian Catholic Mafia (Tedesco, Margiotta) to thwart an important aspect of The Agenda (TM)?
Posted by: Bubba | June 30, 2010 at 05:25 PM
Joe,
If I had a cousin Luigi.....................
Posted by: Jon A Firebaugh | June 30, 2010 at 05:36 PM