From vast pastures to sprawling cityscapes, North Carolina has significantly changed its panorama. This past Wednesday, Sept. 24, Ferrel Guillory, UNC Chapel Hill professor and director, gave a lecture to a group of 22 attendees entitled “The Evolving Context of N.C. Politics.” 

As an expert in Southern politics and communications and as a 20-year veteran in the field of journalism, he presented a comprehensive lecture on N.C. politics, insight into the media, and the metropolitan migration and expansion.

Guillory broke the ice with humor: “I’m not here to talk about football.” He then segued into his presentation. He began by creating a line of history for listeners based on his personal residency in N.C. He moved from Louisiana to N.C. in 1972, when Jesse Helms first took office, the industries of textiles and tobacco were big sources of wealth, and more than half the population lived in rural regions of the state. 

Now:  the textile and tobacco industries have been outsourced, Charlotte is the second largest banking center in the U.S., and the state population is 9 million, with a majority located in metro areas. His point was that N.C. has undergone a dramatic transition from an agrarian society to a metropolitan society, within 36 years. 

Then he highlighted the recent buyouts and layoffs at the Charlotte Observer. “This is not good for our democracy,” he said. “We need a media [as] robust as our societies around us.”

With the regression of local newspaper staffs, state and local governments are getting less attention. This is due to the shift from local ownership to out-of-state chain ownership, which means policy discussion is happening across state borders. Guillory said that this shift feeds the increasing problems with journalism today, influencing how journalists report on politics and the promotion of democracy.

Moving back to his main point, a metropolitan state, he said that cities have become “economic engines.” Guillory rattled off some reasons for this transformation: the passing of the G.I. Bill, development of higher education, collapse of the Jim Crow structure, creation of banking laws, and water, road and airport infrastructure.

“N.C. looks more and more like Charlotte every day,” said Guillory. Also, he said the centralization into the metropolitan area continues to break down regional division.

With this transformation, cities are grappling with new stressors. “We have a set of tensions and conflicts,” Guillory said. The population of N.C. is projected to be 12 million in the next 20 years. Plus, with higher education, the gap between the poor and the wealthy is quickly increasing, not just in N.C. but all over the country. 

Moving on, Guillory hit on the topic of immigration and stated the recent statistic that there are approximately 70,000 Latinos in Charlotte. N.C. has transformed from a bi-racial state to a multi-ethnic society.

Further on the subject of immigration, later in Q-and-A time, an audience member asked how, with the growth of the state and separation of ethnic groups, we can embrace this new community?

Guillory said that we must understand how we govern and live in the area, and can learn some lessons from other states. He mentioned how New York City has Chinatown, where an obvious divide can be seen, but how other people of the city embrace that area.

 As a solution to this converging of people and growth in the metro area, he said that N.C. tion of neighborhoods, and future planning.

His presentation ended with audience applause, and afterward members were welcome to cookies and lemonade.

For some student perspective after the presentation, Chase Little, political science major and senior, was asked if anything stood out in Guillory’s lecture. He said that the most poignant point was how more people keep migrating from the North, and how Southern residents are competing for jobs. He made the analogy to this year’s campus parking problem, with limited parking at certain times in the day in specific parking areas.

 He further went on to perceive the positive future for our generation in the job market by saying that “the baby boomers are about to retire, this should open up jobs for us.”

Overall, the Guillory’s viewpoint for the future of N.C. and its citizens looks to be positive with proper focus and assessment of the present problems facing our communities.