Biden and Beto are like night and day — except when they’re potato-potahto

Featured at Roll Call

OPINION — It was a difference in styles and generations. In a Carolinas swing, first there was Beto O’Rourke with a town hall at a brewery in Charlotte, North Carolina — more like an informal gathering among many new friends. The next day there was Joe Biden with a large crowd at a historically black college in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

It was a day and a world apart last week, though in both cases, supporters uniformly praised a certain quality in their chosen candidate — authenticity.

Hopes for 2020 run high in these two states, and the stakes are real for both parties.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Sep052019 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , ,

Signs of a Weakening Economy?

Featured at WCCB Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Whether it’s a trade dispute with China or increasing consumer doubts, worry is increasing that America’s strong economy is slowing down.  Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis discusses the latest concerns.

Read the rest atWCCB Charlotte
Aug212019 TAGS: ,

A look at the growing disinformation wars

Featured at CNN

The right has long accused the media of bias, but now some on the left, including Bernie Sanders, are echoing accusations of media bias. New York Times media columnist Jim Rutenberg says the “Trump era forces us to be a little more aggressive” about the telling the truth because journalists are met with “so much disinformation.”But Roll Call columnist Mary C. Curtis adds that journalists have to be cognizant of their own biases, “every journalist frames their story, and we have to be honest about that.” Adam Serwer and Bari Weiss also join.

Read the rest atCNN
Aug202019 TAGS: , , , ,

Ken Cuccinelli wants to be a poet. First he needs a history lesson

Featured at Roll Call

OPINION — It happened like clockwork. Every few weeks, especially in the winter months, when snowbirds traveled to my then-home in Tucson, Arizona, from parts north that included Michigan and Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, a letter to the editor would turn up at the paper where I worked. With slight changes, it would go something like: “I stopped in a store and overheard some people speaking Spanish. Why don’t they speak English?”

It took a little bit of time and a lot of convincing to explain that the families of many of these folks had been on the land the new arrivals so expansively and immediately claimed for generations, in the state since before it was a state, which Arizona didn’t become until 1912. It also has the greatest percentage of its acreage designated as Indian tribal land in the United States. And would it hurt you to know a word or two of Spanish?

Those are facts I was eager to learn — often from those long-timers — when I moved from the East Coast, many miles and a world away. Better late than never.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Aug152019 TAGS: , ,

The lessons of Toni Morrison: Words matter, now more than ever

Featured at Roll Call

OPINION — “Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names.”

Of course, that language from Toni Morrison perfectly suits this time, when the names we give the things that scare us hardly seem enough.

It is fitting that in a week when America has been exposed to the words of a white nationalist screed shared before a man filled with hate murdered 22 human beings in El Paso, Texas, we can find some comfort in Morrison’s life and legacy, and in the power of words used masterfully by the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Aug082019 TAGS: , , ,

America’s Way Forward After Mass Shootings

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — President Trump is heading to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, after shootings left a total of 31 dead. His official message this week decried violence and white supremacy, but many also criticized his own divisive words. The division between politicians and parties continues on the best way forward and the reasons for the carnage. Is it guns, racism, mental illness, video games, or a combination?

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Aug072019 TAGS: , , , , , , , , ,

The Baltimore that raised me is America too

Featured at Roll Call

OPINION — It was one of those Baltimore row houses that have come to define the city, three stories high, with a set of white marble steps out front. I will never forget those steps, the ones I had to scrub weekly, brush in one hand, Bon Ami cleanser in the other. And when I was finished, I had to do the same for older neighbors who needed the help. But those folks did their part, my mother reminded me, watching over the neighborhood from their windows when the block’s men, women and children were away working, running errands or attending school.

That’s what neighbors do for neighbors, all over America. And yes, that includes West Baltimore, about which Donald Trump tweeted: “No human being would want to live there.”

To my fellow Americans, especially those amused by the “antics” of the president of the United States, who buy what he’s selling, imagine how you would feel if those people and places that are in your bones were judged subhuman by the person whose job it is be a leader, your leader.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Aug012019 TAGS: , , , , ,

Is a blue city in a purple state having second thoughts about hosting a red convention?

Featured at Roll Call

OPINION — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When the Democratic National Convention hit town in 2012, the dancing traffic cop made headlines for his smooth moves and entertaining approach to law enforcement. The officer captured the party atmosphere of that event, leading up to the renomination of no-drama President Barack Obama for a second term.

City leaders and residents now look back at that time with nostalgia as they prepare for the Republican National Convention coming to town from Aug. 24-27 next year to renominate a president who is all drama, all the time — as chants of “Send her back” at a Trump rally in Greenville, North Carolina, earlier this month have reminded everyone of exactly what’s at stake.

Anticipating the economic and related benefits for the city after it was chosen by the GOP last year, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority CEO Tom Murray said, “Charlotte has the collaboration, infrastructure and hospitality that will make the 2020 RNC an unforgettable experience for its attendees.”

Now, some are worrying about just how unforgettable the experience will be.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Jul252019 TAGS: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Politics of Robert Mueller’s Public Testimony

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The public will hear from special counsel Robert Mueller, a reluctant witness as he testifies before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. Will it be mostly political theater, with Democrats and Republicans trying to score points, or will substantive information be shared?

Jul242019 TAGS: , , , ,

Charlotte Talks News Roundup: Clayton Wilcox In CMS Limbo; Trump Racist Tweet Stirs Anger

Featured at WFAE

The revolving door of Charlotte-Mecklenbrg Schools superintendents appeared ready for another turn with the sudden suspension of Clayton Wilcox. President Trump, on the heels of his racist tweet, appeared in front of a North Carolina crowd that chanted “send her back,” which the president later tried to disavow.

David Boraks, reporter, WFAE (@davidboraks)

Danielle Chemtob, development reporter, The Charlotte Observer (@daniellechemtob)

Mary C. Curtis, columnist, Roll Call (@mcurtisnc3)

Erik Spanberg, managing editor, Charlotte Business Journal (@CBJspanberg)

Read the rest atWFAE
Jul192019 TAGS: , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »