Orange County paid thousands for activist’s talk. Will taxpayers get to hear it?
Corrected at 3 p.m. April 9. See details in the story.
Orange County spent $9,193 for fewer than 200 people to hear Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour on Sunday.
The invitation to Sarsour, the cost and the prohibition on public and media recording at the event continue to generate praise and criticism in the community and on social media.
The county had planned to post a video of Sarsour’s “Courageous Conversations” speech on the Human Rights and Relations Department website. Orange County Commissioner Sally Greene asked Tuesday night when that video might be posted.
“I just think if people could see what she said, there might be a chance that there’d be some different opinions,” Greene said. “If it’s not the whole video, then it’s going to seem like it was selective and that there were things that were hidden.”
Human Relations director Annette Moore, also a county attorney, said Sarsour’s contract only included permission to post video clips. Staff members are checking whether they can post the entire video, she said Tuesday.
The county’s contract does not say whether Sarsour requested no recording or if it was the department’s decision.
After Sunday’s talk, Moore said allowing people to record the talk might have made some audience members uncomfortable. An official with Sarsour’s booking agent, All American Entertainment, did not return calls, however, a talk Sarsour gave at the UNC Minority Health Conference in Chapel Hill in February was posted online after that event.
‘Powerful,’ ‘inspiring’
Orange County Commissioner Mark Dorosin praised the department and the county’s Human Relations Commission on Tuesday for holding the Women’s History Month event. On Thursday, he also called for posting the Sarsour video and, if possible, future speakers.
“It was powerful. It was inspiring. It was exactly the kind of presentation, conversation, that we need to be having in this community,” Dorosin said. “As many of the speakers said, I thought the program was inspiring. I was inspired. I think even the progressive side of the room was challenged. I think Linda challenged us all to be better, to do better.”
Sarsour, who co-chaired the 2017 Women’s March on Washington, has been accused of support for terrorist organizations and anti-Semitism for her criticism of Israel and Zionism, and for her association with Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan.
Her supporters say she has been maligned by conservative groups for her political views and cite her social justice work and efforts to build bridges with Jewish communities.
Orange County resident Steve Mahaley, who attended Sarsour’s talk, praised the decision to bring her and “pay more to get a speaker of her experience, eloquence and consequence.”
He also urged the Orange County commissioners on Tuesday to provide a transcript of Sarsour’s remarks.
“As a champion of dialogue, her remarks were nothing short of inspirational in highlighting the reality that while we won’t always agree, and we don’t, there is great progress that can be made when we work together,” Mahaley said.
High profile, high cost
The county budgeted $8,000 this year for Human Relations Commission (HRC) events, which include community conversations and town halls, the annual Pauli Murray Awards, and Community Read, a countywide book club. (The amount budgeted to the commission has been corrected.)
The commission paid $2,500 for the event, Moore said April 9. The remainder was paid out of her department’s budget.
The county’s final cost for hosting Sarsour was $9,193, including her $5,000 speaking fee; $2,100 in airfare, lodging and other costs; and $1,425 in overtime pay for Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies, county spokesman Todd McGee said in an email. The event attracted about 60 Sarsour protesters and supporters. (The final cost for hosting Sarsour has been corrected.)
Ten deputies worked, plus Sheriff Charles Blackwood and himself, Chief Deputy Jamison Sykes said. Police Chief Duane Hampton said one Hillsborough officer work overtime for the event — at a cost of roughly $120 — and three others were available if needed.
A review of county records since 2010 shows no more than $1,000 is typical for a keynote speaker. HRC minutes show the commission voted to support Moore’s recommendation of Sarsour at a Jan. 14 meeting. Moore also said she would check about charging a small fee. Tickets to Sunday’s event were free to a limited number of people. Moore said 191 tickets were issued but that she did not know how many people attended.
Creating dialogue
The HRC’s stated goals include fighting bigotry and discrimination, advising the county commissioners on discrimination and social-justice issues, and investigating discrimination complaints. It also is to “make recommendations designed to promote goodwill and harmony among groups.”
That’s not what the county did in inviting Sarsour, said Ashley Campbell, an outspoken Orange County conservative.
“What passes for a courageous conversation in Orange County today is Linda Sarsour talking — about where I’m standing right now — and calling people like me who are protesting her appearance ... a white supremacist and tossing around slurs like that,” Campbell said. “Things like this don’t initiate dialogue. I don’t know why people feel like they do. It just divides people further.”
In her talk, Sarsour said of the protesters: “I don’t care about people outside. I don’t care about those people down the street,” she said. ”They’re gasping those last breaths of white supremacy, and that’s OK with me.”
Commissioner Earl McKee also has been critical of the decision to invite Sarsour, saying other speakers would have been a better choice.
The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun reported that Sarsour called for a progressive movement in which people can disagree with each other. Racism and capitalism, she said, are the root causes of today’s problems.
“Hate and bigotry is not us having disagreements on foreign policy,” Sarsour said. “I am always going to be a critic of Israel as long as it violates the human rights of the Palestinian people. That’s it. Accept it. It doesn’t make me a hateful person. It doesn’t make me anti-Semitic.”
This story has been corrected to show the final amount that Orange County paid to host Linda Sarsour and the amount budgeted to the Human Relations Commission each year for programs and events. The HRC paid about 30% of the event’s cost; the rest was paid by the county’s Human Rights and Relations Department.
This story was originally published April 4, 2019 at 2:44 PM.
