Carrboro Ditches ‘Alderman’ Name Over Gender Sensitivity

CARRBORO – Seriously. The governing body formerly known as the Board of Alderman will now be referred to as the Carrboro Town Council because the word ‘alderMAN’ was too offensive for the woke sensibilities in this corner of Orange County.

From the Daily Tar Heel in Carrboro’s sister city…err..sibling town of Chapel Hill:

“Motivating the name change, Board of Alderman member Randee Haven-O’Donnell said, is a desire to make the board’s moniker gender-neutral. 

“Some of us who’ve been sitting on this board felt the pinch of being referred to as Aldermen, and I’m saying that because folks don’t realize that the gender neutral matters,” Haven-O’Donnell said. […]”

The board members felt like the term was exclusive. Naturally they followed up the vote for a gender neutral name change with a discussion on diversity. The change to ‘town council’ is not overly significant in itself — they can call it whatever they want — but it is emblematic of the deepening trends in different pockets of North Carolina. The more consequential political elements of those trends cut decidedly against much of the rest of the state. That’s the divergent concurrence  that will continue playing out in state politics; manifesting struggles between Democratic governors beholden to the deep blue pockets of the state, and a Republican legislature with a more ‘diverse’ cause representing the rest of the state.

Read more on the group formerly known as the Board of Alderman here.