■
2A
NEWS/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, April 3,1997
Martin resolution passes by 5-4 vote
Continued from page 1A
Williams said the measure
was a waste of valuable time.
“I have never been more frus
trated in my life since getting on
this board,” Williams said. “I
know I have only so much time
in office and I want to make the
best of it.
“I told Hoyle I respect you with
your feelings, but this is not the
time nor the place to bring it
into this community. Hoyle has
allowed (commissioner) Tom
Bush to take that resolution and
make it much bigger than Hoyle
ever thought.
“We are being diverted. Since
January I have been dealing
with this issue. I have stacks of
mad, phone calls and faxes. It’s
amazing. I
resent them
even bringing
this issue up.
We already
know about
the divisive
ness in this
community.
To promote
this allows all
those who are
bigots to come
out and say I
don’t support the black agenda. I
got a letter fi-om a guy saying T
don’t want any of my tax dollars
going to anything that is black.’
Williams
This allows all those who are
bigots and want to discriminate
against other groups can say it’s
OK, the county commissioners
say its OK.”
Censorship is only part of the
reason for his opposition,
Williams said. He said the new
process will only add to the
workload of commissioners and
county staff.
“It is a bad time to be bringing
this kind of issue to our
board...censorship is part of it.
We have 122 volunteers to take
time to understand what comes
to Arts & Science Councd,” he
said. “We are saying we are
going to take the place of the
council and decide who gets
Political clout is expensive and elusive
Continued from page 1A
the coimty, only four are held by
black women.
They appear to have the same
difficulty wiiming appointments
on advisory boards. Of the more
than 500 positions available,
only 35 are held by African
American women. Currently no
black women sit on the Board of
Equalization and Review or
Environmental Protection
Commission. Nor are they on
the Board of County
Commissioners or on the School
Board.
“Given the political climate in
North Carolina, black women do
have a double standard,” said
Wake Forest University politics
professor Katy Harriger.
“Conventional wisdom says that
black women would have a dou
ble problem. They’re often seen
as a group of people who
shouldn’t be in politics.
“Normally, you see more black
women in local politics and less
as you go higher. In North
Carolina, it’s a little different.”
According to Harriger, the key
to running for office is the abili
ty to win.
“People will run for offices
they think they have a chance
for winning,” sfte said. You have
to ask yourself, what is it in
Mecklenburg Counfy that keeps
women from running and from
winning. Candidates will say
“why bother.’ There is no point
in running.”
Harriger adds that political
parties don’t properly support
black women candidates and
are slow to recruit them.
‘What the Democratic Party
has failed to do is work on mul
tiracial coalition,” Harriger said.
“They often assiune that whites
won’t vote for black candidates.
(Former U.S. Senate candidate)
Harvey Gantt got a substantial
amount of white voters (in
1996). It shows that whites will
vote for black candidates.”
Harriger also says black
women sometimes have more
pressing issues to take care of.
“A big part of it for me, was I
had other things in my life that
needed to take precedent over
running for public,” said
Superior Court Judge Shirley
Pulton. “That’s the sort of thing
you do when
your children
are grown or
off in school.”
Fulton, the
only black
Superior
Court judge m
the Charlotte
area, was a
single parent
when appoint
ed to to com
plete a judgeship 10 years ago.
She decided to run after her
two-year term was up, winning
an eight-year term.
“I decided I wanted to be a
judge,” Fulton said. “I guess it
was just the right time.”
Black women also face being
firsts to hold positions, which
presents special challenges.
“When it was first mentioned,
I rejected the idea,” Fulton said.
“I did not have any role models
of women who had been elected.
It was a scary prospect, I kept
asking myself would I get the
money I need or vrill I get the
support I need...and of course,
will I get the money I need to
run a good campaign.”
Money, the mother’s milk of
campaigns, is especially difficult
for black women to secure.
Velma Leake, an unsuccessful
candidate for county commis-
I
Fulton
sioner in last year’s election,
knows first
hand.
“I was sacri
ficed as a
black
woman,” she
said. “I feel I
was sacrificed
3£ a Democrat
and as a black
woman.”
Leake said
she”was left
out” of several fund raising
events and was told to “have
fun,” during the election.
“People in power told me not
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this was a democracy. I had a
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“I had a Democratic white
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