Charlotte residents are entering a state of apathy after a period of progress
Lowe worries that Charlotte residents are entering a state of apathy after a period of progress in race relations and education. He takes an even-tempered approach to this disturbing trend, however, and is content to wait until voters rediscover their energy
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Charles M. Lowe, March 20, 1975. Interview B-0069. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- MOYE:
-
Along that same line, in a lot of the referenda on the various bond
issues concerning, perhaps, urban renewal, civic center, the sales tax,
not really the sales tax, in some school board elections and whatnot
seems to be a fairly strong bloe, at least on occasions, of Southeastern
precincts and black precincts. Was one idea behind consolidation to
extend this voting strength to the county level in any way? Not only, in
other words, were a lot of whites moving into the suburbs, but there
were a lot of white areas that had opposed the civic center, had opposed
the sales tax, had opposed liquor-by-the-drink. They were raising hell
about the public housing. In other words, to some extent, challenging
the leadership programs.
- LOWE:
-
No question about it. You have seen a change. I remember
in '62, '63, '64 county
and city government had good relations. Had the good will of the
majority of the people, white or black. We were making progress in race
relations. We were making progress in schools. We were making progress
economically. People did kind of look up to the government and business
leadership and go along with it. They thought this was right. Then, it
became more into a state of apathy, and then it became a state of almost
armed revolt, and then it came into a state of "Damn you, if we
can't go out in the streets and beat you, we can sure as hell
vote you out." We have seen this change. I feel in time the
pendulum will begin to swing back the other way. You think, sometimes,
that the thing just keeps on going and going and going. It's
just like the rainy weather we've gone through, but the sun
always comes out. You do have warm days. You do have pleasant nights.
You do this in an economy. People thought things would be good forever,
and now they've gotten bad, and they think "Hell,
it's going to be bad forever." But,
they're not. It'll swing back. I think
it's just a cycle we're going through. I think the
long-run trend is always up whether it's business or politics
or confidence of people or what. It's just part of the cycle.
The pendulum's just been swinging the other way. We have to
admit it and face up to it. But, it sure is rough while it's
happening.