Graig's blog

ACTION ALERT

NC STATE BOARD OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES

In September, the State Board of Community Colleges agreed to allow undocumented students into NC Community Colleges with certain conditions after nearly two years of intense debate. However, this will not take effect until this policy proposal goes through a “Permanent Rule-Making Process,” which could take 6-12 months. This process begins with a Public Hearing, an opportunity for community members to express their opinions on the issue.  This is an essential step in ensuring that the State Board of Community Colleges continues to do the right thing by allowing all students to enroll in any NC community college. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

OFA's Healthcare Reform Bus Tour is coming to Raleigh this Thursday, September 3rd. Let's take this opportunity to show how support and force for health care insurance reform. This is something you can do and we need you at this critical time in health care reform!

FINAL STOP RALEIGH!!!

If you're like me, you're wondering what we can do to support the President we elected. And it feels very strange to think that advocacy and activism might result in real change rather than just preventing bad things from happening. I’ve been watching the developing relationship between the White House, the DNC, Organizing for America, and local organizing activities. All of that inspired me to think about what role BlueNC should play during an Obama presidency.

David Young has been elected the new chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. He was elected with a majority of the vote on the first ballot, and his election was affirmed with a voice vote. He replaces Jerry Meek, who did not run for re-election.

Bev Perdue must have been reading my post from Sunday. She wants us all to know that "The buck stops with me." That is, even with North Carolina's convoluted educational hierarchy, the governor is the one responsible for successfully educating our children.

What about our Constitutionally mandated and elected Superintendent of Public Instruction? Well, Perdue says "I don't believe an elected statewide official is a figurehead and I resent that on behalf of June Atkinson and the voters of North Carolina." That's not what she her actions indicated. Today she suggested creating a new position of Chief Executive Officer for the Department of Public Instruction. When there's a CEO, what's the Superintendent supposed to do? Perdue has asked her to lead a special commission on career development and workforce issues.

Sure sounds like something you ask a figurehead to do...

Today's N&O frontpage features an issue that I've been meaning to write about for a while... The wacky way North Carolina manages our public education system.

In our strange system, responsibility for education is distributed across at least seven levels. The titular head of our education system, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, has the least power of anyone.

The North Carolina Public School Forum lists this as one of the top 10 education issues of 2009. It's one of those complex issues that has never really been addressed because none of the power brokers have a vested interest in making it better. You can guess at who might suffer from their inaction.

Here's my take on how it works, and what we can change.

As he did last year, Rev. Dr. William Barber of the North Carolina NAACP gave his Christmas Message on the steps of the North Carolina Community College System. Rev. Barber reflected on Luke 2:7, in which Joseph and Mary are told there is no room in the inn. He called on the leaders of our state to have the courage to "open up these doors and let our children come in."

Don't you think that innkeeper might look back and wish that he had let Jesus into his his inn? Do we want to make the same mistake?

On Facebook the other day, my friend Calvin posted a question:

Should you vote your party even if you despise your party's candidates offensive ads about immigration and undocumented students?

Ugh, I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. Beverly Perdue and Kay Hagan have been broadcasting ads that show how tough they are on illegal immigrants. Perdue slammed the door on children on undocumented immigrants that want to attend our state’s community colleges.

That’s why I was so heartened when Barack Obama gave an interview to a local radio reporter and addressed immigration head on.

This week I've heard nothing but worries from Barack Obama supporters.

I'm here to tell you to quit worrying... we're going to win.

If you're like my Uncle Gordon, you're thinking that I've been brainwashed by the insider wining and dining of the Convention. Not so. Hear me out, and think about what you'll need to do if you want to win rather than worry.

Forget about Palin, pundits and polls. Focus on television and turnout. Help bridge generational and racial divides.

Lots more below the fold...

When Barack Obama finished his historic speech, I stood looking up, staring at the fireworks, and crying as thousands of people stood around me cheering. I had spent the last four hours cheering, singing, dancing and yelling. I was surprised to learn that hope could lead to tears, that joy could be so quiet, that a week of activity could leave me so still.

I came to the 2008 Democratic National Convention not knowing what to expect out of the final night’s big event. I was unsure whether Sen. Obama could meet the high standards of the occasion. I thought that his speech would have to harness fire and send fireworks. While Obama certainly showed his fire, the speech was more measured than I expected. In some ways, it was more presidential. When I could finally speak after its conclusion, I turned to Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Jack Sanders and said, “We have to go home and do this.”

More below the fold...

This is my final mutual interview from the convention. It's kind of a human interest story.

Joan Tao was a law student at the University of Chicago in the mid-90's (I was at the social work school there about the same time), and she took a constitutional law seminar with Barack Obama. Now she's a lawyer in Greensboro, and one of the Obama campaign's top fundraisers in the state.

Watch these clips to hear us talk about Barack Obama the professor, our experiences with fundraising, Joan's hopes for an Obama Presidency, and my connection between practicing social work and supporting Barack Obama.

Here's part 1:

Not all of my conversations at the convention were about issues. On Wednesday night, I sat with George Chunn from Raleigh. We ended up having a great conversation about integrity in politics. Specifically, we talked about what it means to see Barack Obama as a husband and father. Just as my conversation with Jan Roller reminded me of how important it is for white people to talk about race, this conversation reminded me of why men need to talk with each other about fidelity. We tried to recapture some of that here.

You'll also get to hear George talk about what's happening to organize Raleigh. He asked me about what I've been doing in Chapel Hill (hint: we have great parties for Obama!). And he got personal, so I had to tell him some about why my kids like Barack Obama and what I think about a political future for myself. That's a little bit more than I expected to share about myself in these vlogs, but anything is possible in a mutual interview!

Here's part 1:

On Wednesday night at the Convention, there was some time to kill after the Roll Call Vote and before Bill Clinton’s big speech. I wandered over to the Ohio delegation and found an old family friend.

Jan Roller is delegate from Cleveland and one of Ohio’s leading Democratic Women. She seemed like perfect person for an interview about what’s happening in Ohio. As we all know, they’re a battleground state. Ohio also has some striking similarities to North Carolina. Ohio has three major metropolitan areas and lots of rural land. For the most part statewide democratic victories rely on strong turnout from a relatively small number of the state’s 88 counties, especially those with a heavy African-American population. Sound familiar?

Jan told me about what’s happening in Ohio to organize a democratic victory, how Democratic women are organizing, how work is being done across urban-suburban-rural divides , and why she hopes an Obama presidency will positively impact American race relations.

Jan asked me about the role that race is playing in the election in North Carolina, what I enjoyed about the convention, and how tough the race is going to be in North Carolina.

Here’s part 1:

At the Spiritual Progressives meeting I was interviewed by Kelly Nuxoll, a freelance writer with some great NC connections who is here writing for the Huffington Post. She posted an article about that meeting which quoted me. I reposted the article here and she linked the HuffPost article to BlueNC so people could see my vlog!

We reconnected on Wednesday to talk about new media and old media at the Democratic National Convention. Doing a mutual interview with a real journalist meant I had to step up my game! It turned out to be a fascinating conversation about outsider stories at the DNC, how new media is changing the convention, and the role that young people can play in our political landscape.

Here's part 1:

James Andrews is the president of the AFL-CIO. He got us riled up at Monday's breakfast with a great speech. Then on Tuesday morning I heard him talking with a reporter. His answers were so good, I knew I had to get him on tape. Our interview went so well that it stretches 14 minutes. So I split it in two.

Watch the clips to hear his take on the impact of race on the issue and how we're going to engage white voters across North Carolina. He also asks me some great questions about how young people look at labor organizing, social security, and health care.

Here's the first video:

Part 2 is below the fold.