most votes Tuesday 54.535.
Griffin got 50,0421 votes; Rembert, 42,259. Challengers Larry Gauvreau got 40,216 and Larry Haisley got 38,068. Average turnout was about 30 percent, higher than usual in a
non-presidential election, elections officials said. But it was clear that many whites stayed home while blacks voted in large numbers, as high as 48 percent at East Stonewall AME Zion
Church (Precinct 16) and 36 percent at West Charlotte High School (Precinct 25). The percentages were 39 at Lincoln Heights Elementary School and 35 at Briarwood Elementary;
37 percent at the McCrorey YMCA and 36 at Hidden Valley Elementary School. Blacks used words like "elated" and "we kicked butt" to describe the sweep of local races by
moderates over conservatives.
Black Political Caucus chair Eric Douglas could barely contain himself in the wake of the
victory. "A lot of statements were made in yesterday's election...across racial lines," Douglas said Wednesday. "The community said 'we will not tolerate divisive politics.' We have done it
two years in a row. "We have a long way to go, but this is something we should be proud of...the whole community should be proud the white community who supported and voted for
Arthur and Wilhelmenia." The school board election became a referendum on community support for or opposition to a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Potter ordering an
end to busing for integration and creation by August of a neighborhood school system.
And while blacks seemed to accept neighborhood schools, there was much concern for
equity in a system where aging inner city school building stand in stark contrast to the many new, state of the art school building in the suburbs. "I thought yesterday's election was simply
superb," said Bob Davis, chair of the state Black Political Caucus and a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg principal. "I think black folks and others of goodwill heard our plea
and responded accordingly. Through Eric Douglas and others, we set out to do two things - re-elect Arthur Griffin and Wilhelmenia and to take over city council. We accomplished our
goals." "Blacks were afraid that Gauvreau and Haisley, part of Bill James & Co., were trying to take us back to the 19th century, not the 21st century. We wanted to make sure they knew
black folks are serious about not turning the clock back. Many recalled almost 100 years ago, when we went from progress to Jim Crow . We were doing well and within a matter of
10 years after the period of Reconstruction, it turned into a nightmare and we didn't want to go that route again."
Voters Tuesday re-elected school board chair Griffin and Rembert, a Winthrop University
administrator who was appointed to the board last year. And while Lassiter was re-elected, two conservatives Haisley and Gauvreau lost bids for the school board. Gauvreau was
one of the seven white parents who sued the school system, winning Potter's ruling.
Lassiter, Haisley and Gauvreau promised to vote to rescind the school board's appeal of
Potter's ruling. Griffin called his and Rembert's campaign a community decision to stay the course on the appeal. Democrats took control of the city council by holding onto Council
District 1, despite a well-financed Republican challenge to incumbent Sara Spencer by John Tabor. And, in a stunning upset in District 5, Democratic newcomer Nancy Carter unseated
Republican incumbent Tim Sellers, who many considered a shoo-in before Tuesday night. In at large council races, Susan Burgess and Joe White easily beat out conservative Republicans
Mike Jackson and Rick Hood to win two open seats on the council. Republican incumbent Lynn Wheeler, the council's mayor pro tem, was the top vote-getter in the at large races
Tuesday, while fellow Republican Rod Autrey placed fourth. Democrat Al Rousso and Republican Don Reid both chose not to seek re-election, opening the door for Burgess and
White. Reid campaigned openly for fellow conservatives Jackson and Hood to no avail. Ted Arrington, chairman of UNC Charlotte's political science department, called the results a clear
expression of the black community's will, but also an indication that whites too favored stability over drastic change.
"You've got to believe, given Nancy Carter's win, that turnout in the black community was
very high compared to the white community," Arrington said. "It was very high compared to the white community. But Arrington noted that Griffin did better than expected among white
voters. "Arthur did well in a lot of white boxes...Wilhelmenia, too," Griffin said. "Whites did not vote significantly for Gauvreau and Haisley. That bodes well for the community. The
people who brought the suit were not representative of the white community. The vote was some kind of endorsement of what (the school board) did or at least the feeling on some
people's part that they needed some stability on the school board."
