Is this anything?
Hagan lives on Meadowbrook Terrace in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her property is just down the street from the Greensboro Country Club. She and her husband have lived there since 1984. Charles, her husband, is a legacy member of Greensboro Country Club.The Country Club didn't allow black members until at least 1995. According to Michael Riley, writing in Time on June 25, 1990, ""Signs of separation persist in the city's neighborhoods, nightclubs, gazes and words. A perspiring black man, nattily dressed in suspenders, white shirt and a hat, pushes a mower across a lush lawn just yards from the elite, whites-only Greensboro Country Club."
Jack Scis, writing in the News & Record on April 6, 1995, noted, "Greensboro Country Club may join other clubs in admitting African-Americans."
This year, in The News & Observer, Kay Hagan told Rob Christiensen, "The Hagans sent their children to the private Greensboro Day School and the family is a member of the Greensboro Country Club, which she said is racially integrated."
Hagan just failed to leave out that she and her husband were members well before the County Club started letting black people through the front door. And you can get on Nexis yourself. You'll find no record of Kay Hagan ever standing up publicly against the policy.
The post also mentions Hagan attending a fundraiser with Godless Americans PAC, which I wrote about here.
So is this anything? Does the policy of a country club that changed 15 years ago and that Hagan belongs to make a difference in your mind? Or is this just so much chaff in the campaign?
(By the way, I think Red State is quote from a column by Jack Scism - not "Scis" - a fixture here in our paper's pages, who writes a history column for us these days.)
Update: My boss also points out that the post in question misspells the name of News & Observer writer Rob Christensen.
Comments (5)
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I don't know whether it is anything or not, but you are the reporter. Go and investigate it.
Posted on October 21, 2008 2:19 PM
Stormy: There's not a lot of to investigate. The facts are what they are. The larger question is whether they mean a whole lot. Does the fact that Hagan belongs to a country club that once excluded African American members mean anything to you, will it influence your vote? Or is it irrelevant to the campaign.
To put it another way: do you care?
Posted on October 21, 2008 2:22 PM
I find it disconcerting, but I'm willing to hear Hagan's explanation -- that's what is to be reported, IMHO.
Posted on October 21, 2008 5:05 PM
People should care, namely the large number of African-American voters that will be likely to vote for Hagan. She bashes Dole for being beholden to "big oil" and "fat cats", yet she belonged to a segregated club for years; a club that caters to the "old money" set. If her family disagreed with this exclusionary policy as they claim they did, why didn't they resign from said club? I guarantee you if Hagan was a Republican, the N&R would be all over this story. But, since she is a Democrat, they conveniently dismiss this as irrelevant. Typical.
More of the "let them eat cake" attitude from liberals and their enablers in the liberal media.
Posted on October 28, 2008 7:22 PM
I care. I'm deeply concerned that Hagan has not responded to this herself - she certainly didn't produce an ad in response as she did to the claim that she's "Godless."
Allowing racism and policies that stem from racism to exist and to benefit from those policies/practices, in my opinion, makes you just as guilty as those who implemented them. I mean, we're talking 1995 before the first blacks were admitted to the club, not 1965 -- a mere 13 years ago. That is deplorable.
Unfortunately, the alternative is much worse. Another term with Elizabeth Dole (not)representing the people of NC would be senseless. Hagan is, for me, the lesser of two evils!
Posted on October 31, 2008 4:09 PM