And their misplaced fears and prejudice were wrapped up in that carpet:
But recently some of my friends and I were commenting on the fact that a not inconsiderable number of people in high places here are not from around here. Phil Berger, president pro tempore of the N.C. Senate, was born in New Rochelle, N.Y. John Fennebresque, former UNC Board of Governors chairman, is from Oyster Bay, Long Island, and a graduate of Choate, a Connecticut prep school. Gov. Pat McCrory was born in Columbus, Ohio. Bob Rucho, former chairman of the N.C. Senate Redistricting Committee and former co-chairman of the Finance Committee, is from Worcester, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Northeastern University. Thom Tillis, recently elected to the U.S. Senate, was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and attended Chattanooga Community College. He is reported to have moved about 20 times. My friend, the writer Fred Hobson, calls these men “neo-carpetbaggers.”
Just an anecdote, but probably not a rare one: Several years ago a virtual stranger unloaded a whining rant in my ear, centered around the fact two African-American families had moved into houses on his street. Because I'm a white male with a barely-kept-in-control Southern accent, this happens more often that you'd think. Dude was from Long Island, and he actually said to me, "The main reason we moved down here was to get away from that crap." Not trying to imply the South would be prejudice-free in the absence of such racist immigrants, but, you know. We don't need any help perpetuating that nonsense.
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