In many ways this has been a dispiriting semester for the UNC community. Despite the violence and murder in Charlottesville, as close a proxy to Chapel Hill as exists, Silent Sam still stands.
The Board of Governors for the UNC system not only effectively shut down our law school’s Center for Civil Rights, it also declared an escalation of its partisan war on UNC. They have done everything from suggesting an expensive move of system headquarters to Raleigh in order to escape the horrifying perception that UNC is a flagship institution, to sending a letter from board members scolding UNC officials for even asking for Governor Cooper’s guidance on Silent Sam.
These events, combined with the unwillingness of almost all UNC leaders to take a strong and principled stand on anything remotely controversial creates hopelessness.
While I deeply empathize with this bleak outlook, it is exactly because of these events that we must continue to build a democratic opposition to regressive forces around us.
For some people, the impotence of University actors means that the only available tool of change is to use electoral politics. Certainly the electoral politics of North Carolina are important, leading up to a 2018 general assembly election that will decide if Republicans in North Carolina maintain super-majorities in both houses that essentially allow them to govern as a single-party state.
It goes without saying that this decides the political future for the state, and that the NCGA affects UNC as the genesis for the politicization of our education and the hard right-wing swing of both the BOT and BOG.
I encourage you to participate in pressuring your elected representatives and voting in all elections, including the upcoming municipal contest. However, we cannot vest all authority for change in an elected body, particularly not in one like the NCGA that continues to use racial gerrymandering to avoid the competitive elections that might occur in fair districts. If formal politics is failing the democratic voice of a majority, or even a plurality, work has to be done outside of those failing systems.
It is not enough to call our representatives and vote. We must go further and proactively organize. That onus is not just on union leaders, political parties or campus activists.
What organizing and acting actually means depends entirely on your situation. For me, that work has included being involved in the Campus Y. For others, it’s been Black Congress, the developing union, or just working as an individual in collaboration. If you support ongoing movements like the UNC Boycott or inactive groups engage and work with them. If you feel that these movements need to be constructively critiqued to be more effective, reach out to them and express both your concerns and interest in building. By its very nature, grassroots organizing must stem from all of us.
