Tuesday, July 27,2010 - Thomasville Times - 5
OPINION
Thomasville Times
MICHAEL B. STARN
Publisher
mstarn@hpe.com
•
LYNN WAGNER
Advertising Director
lwagner@hpe.com
LISA M. WALL
Editor
editor@tvilletimes.com
•
ZACH KEPLEY
Sports Editor
tvillesports@yahoo.com
Race against time
VIEWPOINT
PETER FUNT
Syndicated Columnist
One headline after another
seems to confirm that rac
ism remains a serious prob
lem in America. Yet, while
deeply disturbing, the situ
ation is neither unexpected
nor necessarily an indica
tion of a significant shift
in the nation’s character.
Present conditions - from
economic distress at home, to
war and the specter of terror
ism abroad - create a perfect
storm for racial upheaval.
Over the last decade, three de
velopments in particular have
stirred those with racial bias
to erupt, much as bees react
when their hive is disturbed.
The first was 9/11, which,
along with lesser acts of ter
rorism that followed, trig
gered legitimate fears among
many Americans, while also
inviting inappropriate preju
dice against those of Muslim
lineage. Then came increases
in illegal immigration in the
Southwest at a time of severe
nationwide unemployment,
making latent bias against La
tinos boil over. And there was,
of course, the election of the
nation’s first black president,
which has become an emo
tional caU to action among
closeted and cowardly Ameri
cans for whom equal rights is
more an abstract concept than
a philosophical way of life.
Within this triad of racial
hatred, the bigotry exposed
by Obama’s Presidency is
in some respects the most
painful, and yet the easiest
to understand. The election
of a black chief executive
did not, in and of itself, move
the line that separates the
fair from the biased. It did,
however, underscore how far
the nation had progressed
to that point, and it chal
lenged — perhaps even dared
— the prejudiced among us
to reveal themselves, which
is what they are doing.
Overt acts of racism can be
limited by laws or curbed by
social pressure, but an actual
shift in the nation’s conscious
ness takes generations to
accomplish. Moreover, each
period of meaningful racial
progress, such as occurred
in the mld-slxtles, is often
preceded by vocal and even
violent outbiu-sts, as the fear
ful become more threatened.
In his memorable speech on
race during the 2008 cam
paign, Barack Obama spoke
of his white grandmother, “a
woman who once confessed
her fear of black men who
passed by her on the street,
and who on more than one
occasion has uttered racial or
ethnic stereotypes that made
me cringe.” People who strug
gle, and sometimes fall, to
overcome the fear that leads to
racism are, nonetheless, said
Mr. Obama, “a part of Amer
ica, this country that I love.”
Such compassion was sorely
lacking among administration
officials who reacted in knee-
jerk style last week when the
deliberately distorted video of
Shirley Sherrod, an official in
the Agriculture Department
and an African-American,
caused a political and media
firestorm. Although it was
not clear at first, Sherrod was
actually using her own life
experiences to underscore
how racial bias is difficult to
overcome — a process that in
her case took many years, and
was similar in many ways to
what President Obama had re
called about his grandmother.
For ail the parsing of
Sherrod’s speech, little at
tention has been given to the
message she actually sought
to deliver at the NAACP din
ner last March, on the 45th
anniversary of her father’s
ftmeral. He was shot in front
of three white witnesses by
a white man, who an aU-
white jury refused to indict.
That’s when she dedicated
her life to helping black
Americans escape the racial
hatred that her family faced.
“I’ve come to realize,” she
explained, “that we have to
work together and — you
know, it’s sad that we don’t
have a room full of whites
and blacks here tonight,
because we have to overcome
the divisions that we have.
“Our commimities are not
going to thrive ... our chil
dren won’t have the com
mimities that they need to
be able to stay in and live in i
and have a good life if we
can’t figure this out. White
people, black people, Hispanic
people, we all have to do our
part to make our communi
ties a safe place, a healthy
place, a good environment.”
Added President Obama
at week’s end: “If there’s a
lesson to be drawn from this
episode, it’s that rather than
us jumping to conclusions
and pointing fingers at each
other, we should aU look
inward and try to examine
what’s in our own hearts.”
That’s a slow and painful
process, as Shirley Sherrod
discovered, as must we aU.
Peter Funt writes about
newspapers at www.Fun-
tonFronts.com and is a
writer and public speaker.
He’s also the long-time host
of "Candid Camera. ”
www.tvilletimes.com
" BAH.' WE CAN PICK IT UP SOME OTHER TIME.
Stock cars and bootleggers
VIEWPOINT
D.G. MARTIN
N.C. Columnist
What is North Caro
lina’s favorite sport?
For lots of North Carolin
ians it is stock car racing
— the NASCAR variety.
Even those of us who are
not NASCAR fans take pride
in a sport that we think got
its start here and has been a
home to many of it heroes.
We take pride in the North
Carolina moonshiners who
honed their stock car driv
ing skills by outrunning the
revenuers. It is a mythical
fascination like we have for
the outlaw pirates on our
coastal waters 300 years ago.
We worry when we read
this week in the New York
Times that television ratings
for NASCAR in the impor
tant young men demographic
(19-34 years old) declined
by 29 percent last year.
Could the age of
NASCAR be over?
Not likely. Not in
our lifetimes.
But there may have to
be some changes in our
views about the history of
stock car racing and our
state’s connection to it. We
may have to share credit
(or blame) for the begin
nings of stock car racing.
The challenge to North
Carolina’s claim to a preemi
nent role in stock car racing
history comes in a new book,
“Real NASCAR: White Light
ning, Red Clay, and Big Bill
France,” by UNC-AshevUle
history professor Dan Pierce.
Pierce’s entertaining
discussion of the “hell of a
fellow,” mUl village, fair
ground red clay race track,
and moonshine culture gives
some credit to North Caroli
na for early stock car racing.
But, he writes, big-time rac
ing got its start before World
War II in Daytona Beach and
Atlanta where big crowds
and big prizes drew the best
drivers. In these venues an
ambitious young driver and
promoter. Bill France, began
a career that led to his suc
cessful effort to consolidate
and control stock car racing.
IronicaUy, it was bootleg
ging that led to a major shift
of stock car racing to the
Carolinas after the end of
World War 2. Led by Atlanta
Constitution editor Ralph
McGill, drivers with bootleg
ging convictions were barred
from the city’s Lakewood
track. But many of the best
and most popular drivers had
been convicted of running
moonshine. These popu
lar drivers moved to new
racetracks in the Carolinas.
BUI France foUowed, pro
moting, building, and owning
new tracks. Bootlegging had
an under-appreciated role
in some of the new tracks.
For instance, in North
WUkesboro, France part
nered with men connected
to bootlegging interests.
They developed one of North
Carolina’s most important
racetracks. The same group
developed Occoneechee
Speedway in HiUsborough.
Pierce teUs about another
under-appreciated group
with ties to bootlegging:
mechanics. Without a car
that had been modified to
outrun the law enforcer’s
chase vehicle, even the best
driver would be in trouble.
The modifications to the
pre-war Ford V-8 increased
speed significantly Accord
ing to former Charlotte
Motor Speedway President
Humpy Wheeler, the V-8
“became a race car in just
a few days with the right
hands working on it.”
So, when the moonshine
running drivers came to
the track to race, their
mechanics were key play
ers on their teams.
Pierce’s story of the
creation of the state’s only
remaining major speedway
and the running of the first
World 600 at the Charlotte
Motor Speedway is worth
the price of the book.
Pierce ends his book
with the retirement of BUI
France in 1972. Thus, he
does not cover the closing of
the North WUkesboro and
Rockingham speedways,
except his detaUed descrip
tion of how BUI France
made NASCAR his famUy’s
business helps us understand
why our historic connections
were trumped by money.
Maybe there is some con
solation. Charlotte got the
new NASCAR HaU of Fame.
Its first Inductees, other
than BUI France and BIU, Jr.,
are aU North Carolinians:
Richard Petty, Dale Earn
hardt, and Junior Johnson.
D.G. Martin hosts UNC-
TV's North Carolina Book-
watch, which airs Sundays at
5p.m. For more information
or to view prior programs
visit the webpage at www.unc-
tv.org/ncbookwatch/. This
Sunday’s (August 1) guest is
Shelby Stephenson, author
of "Family Matters: Homage
to July, The Slave Girl. ’’
FIRE.' FIRE.'
FOXNEWS HERE REPOKHNS A MWORFIBE
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ANYONE CHECKED THE FACTS?!?
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EDITORIALS
All unsigned editorials are the
consensus of Editor Lisa Wall and
Sports Editor Zach Kepley