Oh, poppycock!

What’s happening around Rowan County?

Who are our legislators kidding?

None of Rowan County’s state legislators have an opinion on the Confederate flag? The tragedy in Charleston and whether South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from flying over government properties?  Whether North Carolina should continue to sell license plates with the Confederate flag?

It’s not a North Carolina issue says one. The governor can handle it says another. No opinion. No comment. Not important issue.

Other legislators in various Southern states are saying that the Confederate flag was not about slavery but was about the South’s sovereignty being invaded by the North. About the South wanting to assert its right to leave the United States and establishing its own country. About “states rights.” Nothing to do with slavery.

Baloney!

That’s like saying that jumping out of a 10-story building won’t hurt. Or not having an opinion if it will hurt. Or that it won’t hurt if you’re not the one jumping. Of course, jumping won’t hurt. But landing will.

Suggesting that the South tried to leave the United States had nothing to do with slavery is just as ridiculous.  The connection from “states rights” to slavery is a straight line.  Admittedly, it was about preserving an economic system completely dependent on slavery. But does omitting that slavery was critical to the economic infrastructure of the time change the reality. Of course not.

None of our legislators harbor the underlying racial hatred that led to the tragedy in Charleston. Sadly, however, race underlies voting patterns.

If he were alive and running today, a pre-repentant George Wallace “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” would gather a lot of votes, maybe more than the 14 percent he got in 1968. A few years before he died, Wallace said, “When I first ran for governor … I had to stand up for segregation or be defeated.”

Our legislators are by no means of that ilk, but at the same time, they know that their base is Richard Nixon’s “Silent Majority.” And they know that if they step on the toes of their voter base, they may not be re-elected.

Legacies are about profiles in courage. Great leaders are willing to lose the battle to win the war. Time will prove that the leaders who recognize the Confederate flag is a festering sore, more than a South Carolina issue, have an opinion and are willing to speak out are those upon whom history will smile.

And what’s with the school board?

A few days ago, the North Carolina Bar Association recognized Don Sayers with its Citizen Lawyer Award for providing exemplary service to our community.

Don and other members his law firm, one of Salisbury’s most respected, have represented the school board for 50 years. He didn’t even make the cut from the application pool to the final four.

Don has served on many local boards including the Rowan County Heart Fund, Chamber of Commerce, the Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Historic Salisbury Foundation, United Negro College Fund Campaign, Salisbury Historic Preservation Commission. Don was president of Historic Salisbury when it raised over $3 million to purchase and restore the Salisbury depot. As a director of the Margaret C. Woodson Foundation, he has helped oversee more than $20 million in charitable gifts around Rowan and Davie counties.

Yet, the school board didn’t see fit to even interview Don to continue as its legal counsel. Three of the final four to be interviewed are from Raleigh and Charlotte, where $400 per hour legal fees are considered low.  Last month, I had two telephone conferences with four lawyers, two from Raleigh and two from Charlotte, much of it educating them about my situation. The bill exceeded $10,000.  Part of my bill was the $550-per-hour lawyer calling the $450-per-hour back to discuss it. That cost me $1,000 per hour.

Whoever the school board selects will have a learning curve. That won’t be free. Unless the one Salisbury attorney in the final four is selected, our education system’s lawyer won’t live here or be part of the fabric of our community.

A large component of the criticism of our education system is about having more local control and input.  Yet these same voices are now reaching outside our community for legal guidance.

Poppycock!

David Post lives in Salisbury.