Since “tolerance” has become the word of the week, thanks to the Mecklenburg County Commission’s much talked about response to Bill James, likely the least tolerant guy in town, I thought I’d share a resource with you from the Southern Poverty Law Center. It’s a website all about teaching tolerance. Check it out here. Teachers, there are ready-made classroom activities for you. There’s even a magazine, whose archives you can browse here.
This all may seem very basic, but this is where we are with tolerance in some areas of Charlotte: at the beginning.
But before we start trying to tell other people what tolerance is, and isn’t, let’s get the definition on the record. According to Dictionary.com, tolerance is a noun and means: 1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one’s own; freedom from bigotry. 2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own. 3. interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one’s own; a liberal, undogmatic viewpoint. 4. the act or capacity of enduring; endurance.
Synonyms for tolerance include words like patience and open-mindedness.
Now, I’m going to go ahead and assume that Bill James and his ilk won’t like the definition of tolerance. Of course, it’s probably also safe to assume that they think they’re right to fear “others” and speak their minds about those fears. So, class, as you can see, we have a lot of work to do. Now, remember: Tolerance goes both ways.
On a lighter note, check out this adorable video called “What tolerance looks like.”
Rhiannon “Rhi” Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing’s CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2011.
I received and signed a petition about censuring a County Commissioner in North Carolina who stated that “Homosexuals are sexual predators”.
Turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg and I’m writing this with tears in my eyes. :*(
I have now spent several hours digging up information on Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James. Every news article, even those dating back to 2004, states that his comments about blacks and gays have stirred controversy in the past. How long has this been going on?!?! Why hasn’t anything been done?!?!
Turns out he once sent a bulk e-mail to 1,300 people in his county and stated that teachers can’t reach the urban black children who grow up in the moral sewer. He also wrote, “That immorality impacts negatively the lives of these children and creates an environment where education is considered ‘acting white’ and lack of education is a ‘plus’ in their world.” James said he chose to use “hot and direct” rhetoric to discuss social problems among urban blacks “because politically correct, namby-pamby terminology won’t work and hasn’t worked.”
December 2nd 2004 the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina criticized the fellow Republican, but stopped short of asking the commissioner to resign.
County Manager Harry Jones sent an e-mail to James expressing outrage at the comments.
In his e-mail response James wrote to the County Manager that “to solve a problem you have to discuss it openly and there is no doubt that the urban core is a moral sewer full of promiscuity that leads to illegitimate kids and a continuing cycle of poverty which no one wants to address.”
The Chair of the Mecklenburg County Commission publicly criticized a controversial comment in which Republican Commissioner Bill James made during the commission’s last meeting in December 2009. The incident happened after County Commissioner Leake made an impassioned speech about her son dying of AIDS. During the December meeting Leake said, “A son that I birthed and died of AIDS, I did not know that in 2010 I would be sitting here to defend his lifestyle.” After that revelation, tempers flared when James leaned over and whispered to Commissioner James: “Your son was a homo, really?”
He’s made several other derogatory remarks in and out of his public office/work environment that is clearly in violation of the Civil Rights Act. I can’t believe that this is going on in this day and in my country. Someone involved in setting county policies, including social and education planning, has been allowed to loudly and publicly defy the laws in place to protect the rights of citizens of all colors, genders and backgrounds.
It is very apparent that someone with this long history of discrimination is not going to change. I, for one, am asking for his immediate resignation and I am asking that you please assist me in this endeavor.
I don’t live in North Carolina but TITLE VI of the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT prevents government agencies from using Federal funding when this kind of discrimination exists. The local government may not step up and fire this jerk on principle, but maybe hitting them where it hurts (typically the money belt area) will do the trick.
The county’s government website states that they received a FEMA Pre-disaster mitigation grant worth $3.5 million. The Charlotte Area Transit System also plans to use several millions of dollars from various federal programs including the ARRA and the FTA.
I do not want any federal tax that I have paid supporting this county until they act in the best interest of ALL of its residents by removing Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James.
Thank you.
Julie B,
I, and a lot of people in Charlotte-Meckleburg, feel your pain. Unfortunately, the reality is that James has run unopposed for quite some time. Until another member of his district decides to stand up for their community, I’m afraid we may be stuck with this guy.
Here’s hoping a brave soul realizes it’s their time to run.
Rhi
The Southern Poverty Law Center is very SELECTIVE in its tolerance. In fact, it’s fair to say they tolerate ONLY those people and ideas that conform with their worldview — and all others are smeared as “Hate Groups” and dangerous, violent people. The SPLC has no comment on the various hispanic hate groups or on the Black Panther Party intimidating white voters at election polls (Philadelphia). No comment. In their worldview, only the actions of white, heterosexual, Christians can qualify as “Hate” worthy of discussion and change. But they’re not really interested in changing anything except lining their pockets with cash. If an activity brings them publicity or potentially helps SCARE their donor-base, they are all about it. They would have us believe that skinheads and KKK people are hiding behind every weedpatch. Now they smear anyone who opposes illegal immigration as being racially motivated. They are shameless conmen and demagogues.
Mr. Scroggins is absolutely correct.
The SPLC plays up “Teaching Tolerance” in their fund-raising propaganda, yet that tolerance is not meant to extend to the realm of ideas.
Even the SPLC’s own spurious and twisted “definition” for “hate groups” confirms this. (There is NO legal definition for “hate group,” btw, it’s just another scare tactic in the SPLC’s decades-long fear campaign.)
According to the SPLC’s $146,000 donor-dollar-a-year PR Guru, Mark Potok:
“A “hate group” has nothing to do with criminality… [or] potential for violence…It’s all about ideology.”
No crime, no violence, just “wrong thinking.” There’s some tolerance for you. It’s okay to hate people who don’t think as you do.
The most ironic (read: “hypocritical”) thing about the Southern Poverty Law Center is that NOT ONE of its top ten, highest paid executives is a minority.
http://wp.me/pCLYZ-67
In fact, according to the SPLC’s hometown newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser, despite being located LITERALLY in the back yard of Dr. Martin Luther King’s home church, the SPLC has NEVER hired a person of color to a highly paid position of power in its 40 years of existence.
It seems that the white millionaires who run the SPLC believe that, like paying taxes, tolerance is for the little people.
Some experts