CHAPTER 1
THE DECISION
As I gazed at the sheen on the surface of the water, my mind flashedback to the words of the greatly admired, silvery-haired, smoothSouthern-speaking professor of Speech Communications at the Universityof North Carolina in Chapel Hill: "If you attain your law degree andbecome a successful lawyer, all doors will be open to you and no racialfactor will deter you from your goals; you will possess instant credibilityin most households."
This reassuring reflection was punctuated seemingly by a screamingseagull diving into the serene, turquoise waters of the Cape Fear Rivera few feet in front of me. The calm current of this narrow section of theriver barely created a tremor on the floating section of the dock on whichI was standing. Even the tugboat about 100 yards away barely causeda discernible ripple to reach the shore. The stark beauty of the momentbelied the intense, tumultuous skirmishes, which had transpired here inthe past and provided no clue of the unfathomable events to emerge inthe ensuing weeks. One fact was certain, however, I knew I had made thedecision to run for Congress in this southeastern area of North Carolina.
The seductive promise of this opportunity and my heightened,unbridled optimism about the prospects for success was tempered bythe realization that this was the same region of eastern North Carolinawhich had been plagued by racial strife throughout its storied history. Ireminded myself what the 20th Century philosopher, George Santayanaonce expressed: "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed torepeat it." Nevertheless, I felt an exhilarating sense of hope, excitementand expectation because I trusted that the contemporary reasonableperson would give good-faith consideration to my message.
To enable the commencement of a campaign for this federal publicoffice, the best job I ever held must be relinquished. It was the type ofemployment which had allowed me to grow as a person, and I thought,gain credibility as a dedicated professional in the community. For nineyears, I had successfully directed an anti-poverty program and engagedin or initiated a raft of innovative community enhancement projects.Every dime (allocated to the program or garnered through extensivefund-raising efforts) was appropriately and conscientiously utilized. Theorganization grew a reputation of sterling integrity. This poverty-fightingprogram itself was a component of a network known as Legal Servicesa.k.a. "Legal Aid" which provides free civil legal services to the poor andeconomically disadvantaged.
During my tenure as Director of this seven-county Legal Servicesoffice, we had achieved some truly remarkable results. This job, in myopinion, was the poetic, substantive response to a comprehensive,external, systematic social condition which did not necessarily have thebest interests of poor people in mind. The directorial authority of thisposition had afforded me the discretion to marshal resources to target andrectify some of the residual inequities, many of which existed for multiplegenerations.
While practicing law in this capacity, me and my colleaguesrepresented the poor and otherwise disenfranchised people in their day—to-daysurvival needs, and gave them access to the courts and the muchneeded chance to win on some major law reform issues. Our effortsextended beyond the 9 to 5 working parameters. Along with communityvolunteers and a diverse, capable staff, we constructed 79 units of housingfor the elderly and handicapped in collaboration with the local CatholicChurch; I personally chaired a fundraising committee which purchasedand helped to revitalize an old 84,000 square foot inner city school foruse as a community center or hub for recreation, health care screening,computer training and for exposure to youth and senior activities; I servedas the organizing technical advisor when we founded a CommunityDevelopment Corporation which facilitated low-interest financing andbuilt single-family homes, while conceiving and constructing a thrivingbusiness incubator (which consisted of twelve 1,500 square feet, businesscondo units); our legal staff thwarted the re-segregation of the publicschools and undertook successful voting rights redistricting cases—openingthe electoral process to sizeable numbers of freedom lovingpatriots who had not enjoyed the real effect of the full panoply of theirrights as citizens (e.g. the opportunity for minorities in Columbus toelect candidates or be elected themselves to public office for the firsttime in one hundred and thirty-two years). As Attorney Director, I couldexercise authority and legal persuasion to raise public consciousnessand rally public opinion to confront, if not pro actively attack from alegal vantage, serious systemic disparities. Was I going to relinquish thisessential tool, and the best professional leverage I ever had, for a politicalpipedream? What would become of the organization upon my departure?More personally, what would happen to my family financially if I fail?Politically speaking, had the past accomplishments of the program undermy leadership actually catapulted me into a zone of credibility for provencompetence or conversely, did it create enmity with those who routinelyvote against and have philosophically opposed the very work that I hadundertaken? In order to win the campaign, my analysis must be trueand accurate. In an ironic way, I felt fortunate to be able to have theluxury of thought about such a dilemma. The conventional, antitheticalsociological forces had not destroyed my confidence, my vision of thefuture or sense of justice. Neither did they intimidate me or impair myhealthy self-image. So what if I lose? If I were to fail in my effort to runfor U.S. Congress in southeastern North Carolina, I would continue towork hard, in whatever capacity the Lord encouraged me to pursue. As Ibecame prone to express on the campaign trail, "Day will follow night,birds will stay in flight, and this young man will be alright ..." Indeed,the potential prospect of failure left me undaunted when I pondered thememorable quote from Michelangelo: "The great tragedy of life is not thatpeople set their sights too high and fail to achieve their goals but they settheir sights too low and do."
I was no stranger to hard work. Given that I had been reared inLumberton, in southeastern North Carolina, I understood the valueof the dollar and the immeasurable quality of the job that I wouldimminently be surrendering. In my first job, at age ten, I worked fulldays at the tobacco barn "handing" that leafy crop to the "stringer."At age twelve, I had cropped tobacco (i.e., walked and stripped thetobacco leaves from the stalk and loaded them into containers pulledby the mules or tractors) from dawn to dusk. The pay was $6.00 perday which frequently included hanging tobacco in the barn late into theevening. Yes, I was cognizant of the financial dimensions and worst caseconsequences of the decision to resign my job and engage in politicalwelfare.
My previous personal experience running for public office was limitedto one statewide effort.
Four years earlier, at age 37, I...
