Emotions were strong in Varick Auditorium Thursday during Livingstone College’s annual Founders Day Convocation. The first female governor of North Carolina was giving her first college address. She did so with passion, reminding her predominantly African-American audience that neither she nor they got where they were the easy way. “Somebody’s blood lies across this grass,” she said.
She told the crowd that when she witnessed Barack Obama’s inauguration just days after her own, “tears rolled down my face for the promise of America finally being fulfilled.”
If Perdue inspires half the admiration statewide as she did at Livingstone last week, she can count on eight years in the Governor’s Mansion.
And North Carolina can count on having a forceful leader as its chief advocate.
The fact that Perdue was even on the Livingstone campus just weeks after her inauguration made a strong point. As Bishop George Battle noted, some politicians know you when they want your vote; only the committed ones visit after the votes are counted. Perdue is committed to education and equality, and she underscored that with her presence, her words and her ease at Livingstone.
She was, after all, among friends. She has known Dr. Jimmy Jenkins, the college’s president, since his days at Elizabeth City State in eastern North Carolina. And she was urged to appear at Livingstone by a college trustee who goes way back with her in the General Assembly, Rep. William Wainwright of Havelock ó or, as she said after his eloquent introduction, “Bishop-wannabe” Wainwright.
Voters in this part of the state may have been so taken with the likeable Charlotte mayor, Pat McCrory, in last year’s gubernatorial race that they underestimated Perdue. On Election Day, nearly 61 percent of Rowan voters supported McCrory, a Republican who painted Perdue as just another Raleigh insider. She certainly has connections. But Perdue is an old-style politician in a good way ó a way that North Carolina has been missing for several years. She believes in getting out among the people, doing what she said she would do and being a person of action, not just reaction.
The day after she visited Livingstone, Perdue visited the Raleigh JobLink Career Center unannounced to talk to the director, employees and, most important, the unemployed people there to be served. That same day, she went to Williamsburg, Va., one of four governors invited to address congressional Democrats on the stimulus package. She’s pushing for passage to help North Carolina balance its budget and put people to work on such projects as a new Yadkin River bridge ó an issue she took time to discuss with local leaders on her first day in office.
Local voters didn’t give Perdue much support at the polls, but that’s history. Bev Perdue represents all of North Carolina, Rowan County included, and she represents us well.