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Haywood School Board decides fate of superintendent

Nolte offers explanation for posting racially insensitive meme

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT S TAFF WRITER

After a social media post regarded by some as racially insensitive, Haywood County’s superintendent of schools has been temporarily relieved of his duties.

On July 11, Dr. Bill Nolte reposted a meme to his personal Facebook page — black-and-white historical photo of six white children in raggedy clothing standing in a cotton field, sacks slung over their shoulders. The text above and below the photo reads, “Poor children of every color picked cotton. Open a book and gain some knowledge.”

The post was taken down by Nolte not long after he made it, but not before parents of students and other community members shared screenshots and expressed outrage on social media.

“A statement such as that, with no context, really negates the history of different groups of people in this country,” said Dr. Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, a Western Carolina University professor and Waynesville resident with children in Haywood County Public Schools. “While you have this picture of impoverished white children picking cotton, slaves were not simply poor. They were property. That’s quite a distinction.”

In a subsequent apology, Nolte said he made the post in support of Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, who was allegedly the target of demeaning comments made by an ABC News executive during contract negotiations back in 2018.

As first reported in the Huffington Post on June 13 of this year, senior ABC talent exec Barbara Fedida was in opposition to Roberts’ request for a raise and responded Dr. Bill Nolte accepts the HCS superintendent position in July, 2018. Cory Vaillancourt photo

by saying something along the lines of, “It’s not as if we’re asking her to pick cotton.” Fedida has since been placed on leave.

“I thought [Fedida’s] comments were appalling,” Nolte continued in his apology. “My repost was intended to point out that picking cotton was done by many white people, including my family. Unfortunately by [sic] attempt to address a racist comment has been interpreted as racist. Again, my sincere apology to anyone who was offended.”

Hinnant-Crawford, who holds a Ph.D. in educational studies from Emory, doesn’t think Nolte’s meme was an appropriate way to defend Roberts.

“The problem is, it paints this picture that everybody’s the same, that everybody’s had to do this. Bad things happen to all of us, and while everyone has their unique experiences, we cannot overlook systemic historical policies and systems that disenfranchised some groups and not others,” the Goldsboro native said. “That’s what makes the meme problematic.”

Nolte’s apology drew further ire when he mentioned that his first college roommate was a dear friend from high school who was black.

“I do find that line to be problematic for a number of reasons,” said HinnantCrawford. “Whenever people — and this is beyond Nolte — do something that is offensive to a minoritized group or a marginalized group, the first thing they want to do to escape culpability is to say what their ties are to this group. So, you know, ‘I have a black friend, I’ve got a gay cousin,’ and by

Four Haywood School Board seats up for election in November

While many are aware of November’s high-profile races for president, Congress, the North Carolina General Assembly and various county-level positions, there are also four positions on the Haywood County School Board up for election this year. The races haven’t garnered much publicity as yet, because they’re non-partisan and not subject to a Primary Election like the one previously held on March 3.

As of press time July 14, Chairman Chuck Francis had signed up to run for reelection to his seat, as had Beaverdam representatives Ronnie Clark and David Burnette. The Waynesville seat held by Ann Barrett is also up, however no one’s yet to sign up for it.

The sign-up period for candidates interested in running ends at noon Friday, July 17. For more information on how to run for office, visit www.ncsbe.gov or www.haywoodcountync.gov/173/Elections.

that tie suddenly what they have done will be less offensive.”

Racism, according to Hinnant-Crawford, isn’t simply a “you are or you aren’t” proposition, which means that good people still sometimes engage in racist acts because of the extent to which racism is embedded in American society.

“Instead of saying, ‘I have this friend or this cousin or this college roommate,’ or whatever, what you could do is deconstruct what you did and acknowledge how it was problematic instead of saying, ‘Look, I’m this kind of person,’ where you’ve tried to speak more to your character than through your actions,” she said.

For his part, Nolte concluded his apology by saying, “I have spent a lot of my life trying to bring people together and hate that this well intended re-post has added fuel to the fire.”

Of the 90-some comments on Nolte’s Facebook apology, the overwhelming majority of them were in support of Nolte; some commenters said they F

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