Monthly Archive for May, 2010

Wake County is in the midst of a bitter fight over how best to educate its children. The new majority on the school board has promised to end what they would call “forced busing” in favor of “neighborhood schools,” while those in favor of the former policies argue that the new majority’s proposals amount to “resegregation.”

The move has sparked protest rallies, and school board meetings now regularly turn into heated confrontations. Recently, Chris Malone, a member of the school board majority, perfectly captured the tone of the debate in a statement to the News & Observer. Referring to Raleigh civil rights pioneer David Forbes, who spoke out against the new board’s policies, Malone said, “This guy has a right to his opinion, but he’s wrong and we’re right.”

Hmm, this all sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it? It sounds like the immigration debate. People with seemingly irreconcilable differences of opinion shouting at each other over the fence, distilling a complex debate into black and white platitudes. “You’re wrong and we’re right.”

News & Observer editor John Drescher recently wrote a great column about Malone’s statement. In it, he offered to pick up the tab for Forbes and Malone to have lunch together. He wrote:

“In the debate about Wake schools, both sides would do well to listen to the other and acknowledge that each side has valid arguments… If both sides got to know the other, they might find they have more in common than they think. And they might find some common ground.”

Our thoughts exactly. We at Uniting NC want to do for the immigration debate what Drescher is suggesting for the Wake schools debate. We want to bring people together at the same table, to share meals and stories, and to recognize that we all want the same things — safety, opportunity, respect, happiness. Our common humanity unites us more than our opinions divide us.

John McCain has long been a widely respected senator.  But his new ad contributes to concerns that the conversation on immigration in the United States is growing more polarized and less productive.

Senator McCain used to have moderate views on immigration. In 2006, he joined forces with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy to propose immigration reform.

He used to say that immigrants were “God’s children,” that they enriched our culture and provided needed labor. He used to say that the public expected politicians to work together, across party lines, to secure the borders and solve the country’s immigration problems.

And he said that a fence at the Mexican border was one of the least effective ways to control illegal crossing.

But in this ad, Senator McCain perpetuates the stereotype that most border-crossers are criminals who commit “murder” and “home invasions” against American citizens.

And in conclusion, McCain promises to “complete the danged fence,” as if that were now the only obvious solution to our immigration problems.

At Uniting NC, we’re not here to judge whether or not the fence is a good idea.  But we do believe that Senator McCain was right when he said that we are all God’s children and that we should keep that in mind as our nation and our communities discuss immigration.