Peak Woke Idiocy? Progressive Durham Political Leaders Hold Press Conference….to Smear Critics and Colleagues as Racists

DURHAM – This article published in the Raleigh News & Observer is one of the more painful things to read if you attempt to take it seriously. That’s because it simply cannot be taken seriously, as anything other than an absurd embodiment of what Woke Cultural Revolution and its sycophants have become.

The article is titled, Black political leaders address racial bias at Durham County:

“The debate about racial bias in Durham County government grew louder Wednesday when more community leaders and organizations weighed in. […]

Members of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and the Friends of Durham spoke at a news conference outside county offices on Main Street. Joining them were leaders from the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Durham, Durham Clergy United, and the city’s Racial Equity Task Force.

“We are watching Durham get progressively ill,” said Elaine O’Neal, former chair of the Racial Equity Task Force. “We see this as a perpetuation of a culture of anti-Blackness.” […]”

Mind you, this is Durham, The Bull City, one of the most homogeneously progressive Woke cities in the State of North Carolina. So if the Wokies think it is getting “progressively ill” with an anti-black movement, what does that mean? Is the KKK marching through Durham?

You may not be surprised to learn that this press conference was not called for anything remotely that serious. It’s merely this (emphasis added):

“Two of the city’s political groups joined Black faith and political leaders pushing elected officials to address county employees’ allegations that some county commissioners are racially biased against them. […]

The allegations arose last year after the county hired Duke University law professor James E. Coleman Jr. to investigate alleged racial bias and unfair treatment of county employees.

The Durham Committee sent the county a letter last month, citing the bias allegations and asking that Commissioner Heidi Carter recuse herself from any discussion about County Manager Wendell Davis’ contract.

Davis accused Carter of racism last year.

“It is our fundamental belief that no employee should be subjected to a toxic work environment,” said Antonio Jones, chair of the Durham Committee. “Furthermore, it is time to stop disrespecting, scapegoating and gas-lighting Black county employees for political appeasement.”

Last February, Davis accused Carter of having a racial bias against him and other people of color after Carter criticized him at a public meeting for how long it was taking staff to plan school construction projects.

In a letter to Carter published by local media, Davis wrote that Carter had once told him, “You work for the Board, and when we tell you to do something, you’d better grin and bear it.”

Carter, a former Durham school board member, was seeking re-election. She called the accusations “baseless” and claimed Davis was trying to sabotage her campaign. She later apologized for her role in the conflict.

Davis’ letter led to two independent probes.

▪ An oversight committee for county managers reviewed the matter after getting an anonymous complaint.

▪ The county spent $29,343 to hire Coleman as a legal consultant to investigate the claims.

WHAT DID COLEMAN’S REPORT SAY ABOUT RACIAL BIAS?

In his nine-page report, Coleman said the tension between the commissioners and manager, and between commissioners, has put Durham County government in “a state of periodic dysfunction.”

Coleman interviewed county commissioners, the county manager and staff members. He found:

▪ A lack of collegiality among some commissioners and a lack of trust between some commissioners and the manager.

▪ Some employees felt micromanaged by Commissioners Wendy Jacobs and Carter, the only white members currently on the board.

▪ The manner and tone in which some commissioners asked Davis and staff questions could be perceived as “disrespectful of their expertise” or “biased.”

▪ Staff were often caught in the middle of disputes between the board and the manager.

Coleman found no evidence of intentional or conscious racial bias. However, his report stated both the manager and his staff “reasonably could have perceived” Carter’s criticism of Davis last year as racially biased, at least implicitly so. […]”

So Woke.

The illness in Durham is not one of anti-blackness. Durham is absolutely infected with a plague of progressive thought that holds to the Woke Dogma that any minority is above reproach simply and directly because of the color of their skin.

Accountability? That’s racist. Expecting you to do your job? On time? So racist. Any criticism, at all, of a minority, from a white person? You guessed it; must be racism.

The “racist bias” documented here is nothing more than struggle typical of any organization, especially ones involving politics. But the press conference and the anti-racist hysteria here is revealing of other troubling things. Consider this statement from the Chair of the Durham Committee, Antonio Jones:

“It is our fundamental belief that no employee should be subjected to a toxic work environment. Furthermore, it is time to stop disrespecting, scapegoating and gas-lighting Black county employees for political appeasement.”

It’s pure, unadulterated projection.

How toxic an environment is the Durham local government for white employees in the midst of these mock struggle sessions, constantly being accused of racism, and under the weight of Woke domination that holds white people in the special light of Critical Race Theory?

Who is being disrespected, scapegoated, and gas-lighted for ostensibly political purposes, if not the the white employees being publicly shamed as racists for something no reasonable person could construe as such?

Reading this whole account, might actually make a person dumber. Despite the painfully stupid perspective of those holding this press conference, the implications here aren’t quite as amusing. This is a serious cultural problem, that culture pushed by Woke ideology and animating everything as race-based power schemes is wreaking havoc on communities to the extent it is embraced.

Durham is getting progressively ill; and it’s the people holding and promoting that press conference, the ideology motivating them, that represent the disease. It appears terminal.

Read more absolutely asinine whining about racism in Durham County government here.