After meeting with Mount Airy Mayor David Rowe and hearing him apologize for recent published statements deemed racist, local NAACP officials now want to work with Rowe to improve black-white relations.
A statement released this week by Surry NAACP President Faye Carter — to make public the group’s position on the matter — indicates that while Rowe’s Washington Post comments are not appreciated, it isn’t calling for his resignation as some have.
Three members of the local branch’s executive board met with Rowe last week, and the group subsequently released a summary of its position this week.
“It was expressed to the mayor that we had experienced disbelief when we read the article,” Carter says in the statement regarding the Jan. 5 Washington Post story exploring how small predominantly white and Christian communities aided Donald Trump’s victory.
The piece also touched on race, with Rowe quoted as saying that African-Americans often bring hardship on themselves, specifically mentioning young black men.
“When you’re my age and you see an African-American boy with pants at their knees, you can’t appreciate them,” Rowe says in the article, adding that he never would employ someone at his construction company wearing that attire.
“I’m worried about when a person chooses to dress like that, what kind of effect will that person have on society.”
Meeting with mayor
Due to its nature, the situation with Rowe demanded an official inquiry by the NAACP and a response, and Carter said Tuesday the public should be assured that this is what happened.
“We as the Surry County branch did address it,” she said, which included sending a letter to Rowe requesting the meeting with him.
That session between the NAACP executive board, Rowe and City Manager Barbara Jones — to which the press was not invited — was arranged in keeping with the NAACP’s mission. It involves ensuring “the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.”
“We expressed to the mayor that the comments which were made were not appropriate or acceptable from an elected official and leader of the city of Mount Airy,” Carter says in the statement released this week, “that there should be transparency and accountability for the office of mayor.”
The concerns expressed during the meeting were not limited to assessing the impact on the local community, the statement reads.
“We also emphasized the seriousness of the implications and how they affect people of Mount Airy and Surry County as well as others outside of Surry County.”
The mayor expressed his regret during the meeting, and also during an annual Martin Luther King Day Luncheon on Jan. 16 and at a city council meeting Thursday night, when Rowe additionally made it clear he would not be resigning.
Thursday’s meeting was dominated by comments from dozens of citizens during a public forum, which ranged from several people demanding that the mayor step down to others who were upset by the published remarks but are willing to forgive Rowe. Some said the incident could be a catalyst for improving racial harmony in the community.
The latter position is largely the one embraced by the executive board of the local NAACP — which had no one officially commenting on its behalf at the Thursday council meeting.
“After many words of apologies and remorsefulness from Mayor Rowe, we asked the mayor to meet with the city council to devise types of events or programs that will involve youth and all diverse groups that we might come together in unity,” says the statement prepared by Carter.
“The Surry County NAACP is willing and ready to work with the city, county and communities to resolve the differences,” it adds.
“We hope to have other meetings with the town council,” Carter said Tuesday, as well as special activities.
“Of course, Black History Month is coming up and we hope we can do something that will involve different people.”
Not harsh enough?
Carter acknowledged Tuesday that some members of the black community who are demanding Rowe’s resignation might not be satisfied with the approach the NAACP is taking.
But she said its executive board chose, while expressing dismay with the mayor’s comments, to look at the long view and use the incident as a vehicle for positive change, as reflected in its official statement:
“As we realize, there will be supporters as well as some opposition (to the Surry NAACP’s stance). However, diversity on common ground will generate good rather than evil.”
The statement says further that “we have to let our voices be heard in order to understand one another and to find a solution through action, love and forgiveness, not hate.”
Carter reiterated Tuesday the need for diverse groups in the community to come together and generate better relationships among them, saying she thinks there is an opportunity to do so.
“It takes a lot of us coming together.”
Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.
