Chapel Hill and Carrboro are special.
It is no secret that both towns are mostly liberal places, but focusing on political ideologies completely misses the point. The community surrounding UNC is caring before anything else.
We can see this in the “all are welcome” stickers proudly displayed in store fronts, the friendly waves from long-time townies to new students and how welcoming both towns are to refugees.
For all the good in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, there is never a sense of perfection. It is unspoken that even in the “southern part of heaven,” we can all do more to improve our communities.
While both towns certainly have problems that need to be internally addressed, the state and federal government now stand in opposition to the towns’ positive values.
The North Carolina General Assembly, through laws like House Bill 2 and House Bill 318, has made it illegal for our community to treat all people equitably. President Trump’s recent travel ban may make it illegal for the towns to accept people fleeing terrorism in Syria.
While there may be laws trying to regulate town policy, our community has shown repeatedly that no threat can cause the people of this town to change how we as community members treat people.
It is this board’s honor to serve this wonderful community. In these trying times, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help.
We all have a tremendous resource in each other. No legislator or president can ever take that away.
