Dan Coleman's blog

A $15K road to order, not justice

DAN COLEMAN Columnist
Chapel Hill Herald
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Final Edition
Editorial Section
Page 2

So, was it worth it, the $15,000 Chapel Hill just spent for two days of facilitated conversation on the renaming of Airport Road for Martin Luther King Jr.?

According to one headline, the meetings did "yield understanding." One renaming opponent, Steve Largent, said, "I think I'm being heard." Town Councilwoman Sally Greene said, "I was proud to be a part of it." Surely the committee members are to be commended for their efforts and for their willingness to grapple with a racially charged issue.

But this whole undertaking still seems to have missed the point. After all, Mayor Kevin Foy and Councilwoman Edith Wiggins did not approach their colleagues back in June to propose spending thousands of dollars so a select group of 20 Chapel Hillians could better understand racism.

No, the goal was to help with the decision on the road renaming, to obtain "recommendations for appropriate memorials to the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

From: Chapel Hill Herald, Saturday, November 06, 2004
Final Edition, Editorial Section, Page 2

When faced with big losses, we on the left almost reflexively recall the words of Joe Hill as he faced his execution in 1915: "Don't mourn. Organize."

But just as certainly as there is never a time to stop organizing, there are also times when mourning is appropriate. Hill's radical compatriots in the Wobblies may have smiled at his words, but they were heart-broken by his death nonetheless.

Similarly, when tens of thousands make a historic effort for a narrowly lost cause, especially when the stakes are great, a certain sadness is in order.

The stakes in the 2004 election were particularly high if you are of low or modest means, a person of color, a gay man or lesbian woman, a woman of reproductive age, or, in fact, any creature who must make its home in the increasingly fragile habitat of planet Earth.

NC WARN will hold it's Fourth Annual Auction and Dance Party Saturday night from 6:30 to 11:30 at the Eno Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 4907 Garrett Road.

As well as offering a rollicking good time, the event is an opportunity to learn about WARN's new Power Reduction campaign. This campaign gives us the opportunity to engage locally in an effort whose ramifications are truly global, one that ties consumption choices directly to policy making, and one that promotes an energy strategy exactly opposite to that of Dick Cheney.