NOT QUITE THE ATTENTION NORTH CAROLINA WANTED

Recent news plays into stereotypes about host of Dems’ convention

By Franco Ordoñez MCT News Service
12:01 a.m., May 27, 2012
Updated 7:25 p.m. , May 25, 2012

WASHINGTON — When civic leaders boasted that having the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte was a chance to showcase the great things about living and working in North Carolina, they probably didn’t have recent events in mind.

A planned Ku Klux Klan “cross lighting,” a misinformed teacher who suggested that her student could be arrested for criticizing President Barack Obama and a pastor who wants to round up gay people and leave them to die have played into stereotypes that the Tar Heel State has long sought to leave behind.

“Recent national coverage has not been particularly flattering at a time when the state is supposed to be reveling in national attention,” said Andy Taylor, a professor of political science at North Carolina State University. “What it isn’t good for is it seems to reinforce some stereotypes that perhaps the rest of the country has about North Carolina.”

North Carolina is in the spotlight. The Democratic National Convention is coming to Charlotte in September. It’s the most politically competitive state in the South. The president, a member of his family or a member of his administration is in the state every few weeks. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in the state two weeks ago.

The state likes to bill itself as a forward-thinking, economically and culturally vibrant place where people and companies should want to move.

Many do.

For the past two decades, the state’s biggest metropolitan areas, around Charlotte and Raleigh, have been some of the fastest-growing parts of the country. Newcomers from the Northeast and around the country have been flooding in, seeking finance jobs in Charlotte or high tech and pharmaceutical work around the Research Triangle — not to mention great weather, beautiful mountains and long beaches.

But it’s still the South — and 85 of the state’s 100 counties are considered rural, according to the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center — and therefore it shares some of the region’s strong beliefs in religion, guns and skepticism about the government.

Plans for a KKK cross burning this Saturday on private property about an hour north of Charlotte in Harmony capped a tough week. On Monday, a Rowan County teacher was suspended after she was caught on video warning a teenager that he could be arrested for criticizing the president.

On Tuesday, another viral video captured a Catawba County pastor preaching about homosexuality who says he’s figured “a way out.” He suggests building a 150-mile-long fence and putting all the gays and lesbians inside it.

“And have that fence electrified till they can’t get out,” he says. “Feed ’em. And you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out. Do you know why? They can’t reproduce.”

Each case made national news and drew attention to the Tar Heel State.

The response on Twitter has been harsh: “Come on North Carolina! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT REPRESENTING YOUR STATE?! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!”

Protesters will hold a demonstration against the pastor’s church on Sunday.

“I think a lot of people have looked down on our state,” said Laura Tipton, who’s helping to organize the event. “People need to know that not everyone in North Carolina thinks like this. Not everybody supports these messages and this way of thinking.”

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