First Black Commissioner Named for Buncombe County

ubran-news-photo_bcdp_img_0116Staff reports

In a historic move, Buncombe County Democratic Party leaders met on Monday, Dec. 5 to name a popular retired banker and long-time civil rights activist to the Buncombe County Commission.

Al Whitesides, who will be the first African American commissioner in the county’s history, was chosen to serve the final two years of the term of Brownie Newman, who was elected commission Chairman on Nov. 8. Because Newman is a Democrat, his party had the right to fill the seat for the remainder of his term.

Whitesides was one of four African American candidates for the District 1 seat, which meant that whoever was chosen would reflect a historic change in the Commission’s makeup. The other candidates were Jacquelyn Hallum, MAHEC’s Director of Health Careers and Diversity Education and the former chair of the Asheville City School Board; Terry Bellamy, a two-term mayor of Asheville who now works for the city’s public Housing Authority; and Keith Young, who was elected to his first term on City Council a year ago, in November 2015. All are natives of Asheville who expressed a commitment to serving their hometown and county.

Whitesides began his activism early in life when, as a student at Stephens-Lee High School, he cofounded A-SCORE (Asheville Student Commission on Racial Equality). Beginning in 1960, the local civil rights organization was instrumental in peacefully desegregating Asheville’s lunch counters, libraries, swimming pools, and parks. [See: https://theurbannews.com/generation-now/2012/ascore-members-inspire-leadership-in-todays-youth/]

He served in the U.S. Navy and earned his undergraduate degree from NC Central University, where he was elected president of the student government association and as a member of the board. His career in banking spanned more than 35 years, during which time he was active on many community boards and committees and used his access to the financial community to help aspiring businesspeople and homeowners. Currently he serves as a board member of the UNC Asheville Bulldog Athletic Association (BAA), having served as president of both the BAA and the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees, and as chairman of the Asheville City School Board.

Whitesides promised that, with forty years of experience in finance, “I know what budgets are, I know how to make them transparent so anyone, the public, can understand them.

Each candidate was nominated by fellow party activists. In the most moving moments of the evening, longtime Precinct 1 Chairman William Young nominated his son, Keith Young for the seat. Afterwards, the younger man spoke with heartfelt appreciation for his father as a man, a mentor, and a devoted Democrat. Explaining that his father is facing serious health issues, Keith Young noted, “I never had the opportunity to say thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me.”

Hallum spoke eloquently of her service as an educator who has reached more than 16,000 area students in her work at MAHEC, helping lead many into health careers and an awareness of the need for quality education and quality, affordable healthcare. She is currently on the Board of Trustees of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and has served on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Prayer Breakfast Committee for more than 30 years.

The voting process was somewhat arcane, with each precinct chair and vice-chair having an equal number of votes for that precinct. That precinct’s total votes reflects its voting history: each precinct gets one vote for every hundred votes cast in that precinct for the Democratic candidate for governor in the previous state election. So a precinct that tallied 800 votes for Walter Dalton in 2012 had eight votes, four each to be cast by the chair and vice-chair. On each ballot, the candidate with the fewest votes was eliminated.

The votes on the first ballot were Whitesides, 97; Hallum, 62.5; Bellamy, 53, and Young, 47. On the second round, totals were Whitesides, 126; Hallum, 87.5, and Bellamy, 46. In the final ballot between Whitesides and Hallum, Whitesides earned 145 votes to 102 for Hallum. Upon the announcement of the results of the final ballot, Jacquelyn Hallum made a motion that the election be made unanimous by acclamation,  the motion was seconded by Keith Young, and approved by voice vote.

Whitesides was announced the winner by incoming Commission Chair Brownie Newman, who will swear in his new colleague at the Commission meeting Dec. 6.

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