Background: Lee County delegate Jim Womack attended the 2016 NCGOP Convention. As with the past two state conventions, the agenda and program were tediously protracted, with little actual business being accomplished. Credentialing was painfully slow and many delegates departed the convention hall out of disgust with the procedural problems and perceived manipulations of the central governing body. Peaceful protests were sprouting up all across the convention hall.
The Allegation: Jim Womack was one of about a dozen people alleged to have worn paper bags on their heads during certain periods of the 2016 convention.
The Truth: Delegate Jim Womack and about a dozen other grass roots activists did indeed wear paper sacks on their heads in peaceful protest each time the convention chairman or central committee staff were perceived to be manipulating the proceedings to disadvantage grass roots candidates running for office, or when resolutions and platform changes were being suppressed. Rather than leave the convention hall in disgust, Womack and others chose instead to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with convention dysfunction, disorganization, and manipulation by wearing a paper sack on their heads. This was a much more constructive and less disruptive means of showing disagreement than by leaving the hall and losing the ability to vote on important convention matters.
Conclusion: Sports enthusiasts understand the humor and subtle mockery of a franchise’s authority when its fans wear paper sacks on their heads. Such gestures are intended to draw attention to the deficiencies of an organization and its leadership, without being disruptive. So too are political protests of this type. NCGOP members who shell out hundreds of dollars to participate in state conventions have every right to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with party leaders in an organized, orderly and peaceful manner.
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Learn more about Jim Womack here.