Thank you, Tennessee | Eastern North Carolina Now

    You have taken the spotlight off North Carolina in expelling two Black Representatives from the floor of your legislature. Elected Representatives. Young articulate Black men. And for a peaceful protest against gun violence that killed six people in your state. Three of them, nine-year-olds. We watched your antics and heard the voices of those ejected and realized that this is what happens if you are white and carry the big stick.

    North Carolina owns stories... Madison Cawthon, Mark Meadows, Mark Robinson, HB2, and a recent law loosening gun control. We also own the stories of John Edwards and Cal Cunningham who skulked off the stage under the weight of their indiscretions. We own the Tricia Cotham bait and switch debacle. So many stories. Too many headlines.

    Tennessee, racism is at the core of your most recent headline. You, with a supermajority and the big stick, took it to two Representatives for bull-horning gun violence. And because you can, you ousted them. Your not so subtle ploy takes us back to an ugly place. Your headline takes the cake.

    All of us need to take a look at these supermajority legislatures. North Carolina is living one now, made even more potent by Tricia Cotham's switcheroo. Supermajorities are created when gerrymandering is so precise and granular, districts are created that disenfranchise certain populations and leave them with no representation. Manipulated hegemony, tyranny by a minority, gives too much power to some people who carry the bully's big stick and do not walk softly among us.

    The character of a country is shaped by those who hold the big stick. As long as an under-class stays under, things are pretty calm. But we live in a time of great emergence of brown and black people finally getting their turn at the wells of power. A great reversal is underway. It may be scary, but it is pretty exciting to live in a time of dynamic change. The big stick approach will not stop the changing landscape. It will just rile people, like me, to speak up and speak out.

    The holding of power is heady. If people of power have nefarious intent, the fear of losing something -like status or influence, and if the values of American virtue - justice and equality for all people are disregarded, we are in bigger trouble than a bad headline or two.

    We regular folks are weary of the gamesmanship. Recent stories about inter-galactic discovery by the Webb Telescope show galaxies billions of light years away. With every story of the magnitude of creation, there comes a sense that somebody somewhere in a galaxy far away may be laughing at us for thinking we are big and powerful. What folly it is that we think we have any control at all in the long run.

    Until we get a grip on the real problems that impact us we will continue to have unrest. Unflattering headlines will be the least of our concerns. Voting can make things different. But until we level the playing field, the same old stick carriers will continue the antics that from the cheap seats look and feel like repression and regression.

    One of these days, when the arc of justice reaches the edge of the culture, we can hope for the better day when everybody has a fair chance to live the abundant life we all hope for. Until that day, we continue to hope and pray for elected people to work for the common good. Without that, perhaps we all need to get a bull horn and go down to the legislature and speak our piece. That ought to get a few headlines.

    Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader and hosts the website: avirtualchurch.com. She welcomes comments at libcam05@gmail.com.