We hope the Buncombe County commissioners listened carefully to the messages of the many college- and high school- age people at their Dec. 5 public hearing on the rezoning of Biltmore Farms land for further development. Their words courageously called out the complicity in an ongoing atrocity. But their voices carried an even more powerful message: We are angry. We are sad. We are in despair at and in this world.
These young people and many elders, too, see before them a disaster unfolding. They see the unnecessary killing and mistreatment of innocent Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank. They see world governments looking the other way and our government enabling the disaster with words and weapons. They see a world that will likely be unlivable in their lifetime and that of their children. They see a system that bows to corporations and neglects people. They see elected leaders who appear not to care. They see blank faces, technical rules and obscure procedures. They see a system that lacks authentic engagement.
Are they radical? You bet they are. Do they shout, chant and bang pots for hours outside their meeting? You bet they do. They must, as there seems to be no other way to make their voices heard. And even then, they are silenced or pushed aside as inappropriate.
Like all of us, these young people want to see true democracy, wherein there are systems and places for active engagement. Unfortunately, the commissioners’ meeting was not an example of that. Public hearings are a farce. After the comment period where so many spoke passionately, the commissioners had no discussion, and they offered no evidence or authentic rationale for their decision. Their silence sent a strong message. Public hearings are required, but decisions are made secretly, and opinions of citizens don’t really matter.
What are young people learning about government from these practices? What are they learning about the integrity of elected officials? Where, leaders, are these young people to engage? What, leaders, are they to do? We know what they will say: They should engage actively in the processes of government. Be on a board or commission. Write letters to the editor. Join a political party. We know very well that institutions marginalize certain voices and use technical rules and prescribed procedures to limit engagement. The young people at the meeting on Dec. 5 learned that lesson.
What we learned from our research into how the 2020 tax incentive deal for Pratt & Whitney came down with so little public knowledge or engagement is that economic development deals, among other decisions, are deliberated about and negotiated out of the public eye. Consequential discussions are held behind closed doors. Landowners, corporations, the Chamber of Commerce and elected officials are more important than the general public.
And, to truly engage, a citizen must be very knowledgeable, must be able to navigate the morass of bureaucratic workings and must stay with the process for the long haul. Where do college or high school students learn any of this? What efforts do county officials make to educate the public, especially young people, about how to engage in the political process?
The Buncombe County commissioners should be happy that 30 angry voices engaged at their Dec. 5 meeting. They should be proud that an additional 100 motivated people spent hours in the cold outside yelling and banging pots. Because these days, that is what democratic engagement has to look like.
— Melody Shank and Anne Craig
Retired educators and Reject Raytheon AVL organizers
Swannanoa and Asheville, respectively
