A “Bittersweet” Transition For New Mayor Pro Tempore

When Greensboro City Council member Marikay Abuzuaiter was elected mayor pro tempore earlier this month, it came with mixed emotions.

The position was held by Abuzuaiter’s friend and mentor Yvonne Johnson until her death late last year. When the vote for Johnson’s replacement became a question of race, it got even more uncomfortable.

The mayor pro tem position is essentially a vice-mayor, traditionally an at-large council member who can step in when the mayor is out of town or otherwise unavailable. Johnson had long filled that role under Mayor Nancy Vaughan, reflecting both her wide popularity across the city and, as the council’s three Black council members said, sending a message about Greensboro.

Putting herself forward for the position, Councilwoman Goldie Wells said it has been important to have Vaughan and Johnson—white and Black, respectively—seen sharing leadership.

“When you look up here, we’ve always had a Black person for the last years sitting here,” Wells said during the debate. “When you look at our leadership now, it’s not going to show that. I just believe our city should have that leadership that shows our diversity.”

The council’s other two Black members, Sharon Hightower and Hugh Holston agreed, saying having a Black member of the council in the position communicates something important about the city and its values.

In arguing for herself as mayor pro tem, Abuzuaiter said Johnson “saw no race.”

“She didn’t care if you were Black or white or brown, she would help you,” Abuzuaiter said. “That’s the way she taught me, so I will certainly try to honor her legacy by doing the best I can.”

The comments bothered some, given Johnson’s lifelong commitment to activism over issues of racial equity. As a student at Bennett College, she was part of the sit-in protests at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in downtown Greensboro. She later became a booster for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which would take over the old Woolworth’s building. Late into her life, she would be key to discussions of racial redlining in the city and its impacts—both historic and ongoing.

Hightower took exception to Abuzuaiter’s remark and to the seeming dismissal of race on council.

“Race is in every element that we do,” she said. “You cannot step away from race.”

The white members of the council—Vaughan, Zack Matheny (District 3), Tammi Thurm (District 5), and Nancy Hoffman (District 4)—argued for the importance of the tradition of an at-large member, not someone elected from a district, serving as mayor pro tem.

“I think there’s a reason why it’s been tradition that it’s an at-large person,” Vaughan said. “It’s because the mayor is the mayor of the entire city. The mayor pro tem has to be the mayor pro tem of the entire city. At this point, there’s no time to get to know areas of the city that they haven’t necessarily been in.”

Wells’ bid for the position failed in a 3-5 vote, along racial lines. After that, the council came together to vote unanimously for Abuzuaiter.

We caught up with Abuzuaiter last week to talk about her new role, the controversy, and what it means for a potential run for mayor next year in an election that will reshape the council.

Were you surprised at the debate and the controversy over the recent mayor pro tem vote?

Well, I think it was surprising and it was sad that we were even doing it. Because you know, just last month I think we all thought that Yvonne would be doing this until she retired from the council. We didn’t know we were going to lose her. It happened so quickly.

But as far as the vote, before our meeting Goldie had expressed to me that she wanted to be mayor pro tem. And I expressed to her that it isn’t, to me, just the tradition. Part of it is also, you know, the voting of the whole city. So, the at-large person is voted on by the whole city, right? And at-large, you should be able to go around and know at least a couple of the neighborhood associations in each district. You should be able to know a lot of the streets in Greensboro, a lot of the recreation centers, all of these things. And district people are primarily focused on their districts. They do assist in other areas of course and go to citywide functions, but primarily they are concerned with their districts.

Were you at all surprised at the racial element of the argument?

No, I can see what they are saying and I appreciate it. But in the last few months, more than a year really, Yvonne had been passing some of these duties over to me. If someone had to, you know, scramble fast to cover for some event or something, she would have me do that. Or even if she was supposed to run a meeting she would say to me, “You do it.” She did that just out of the goodness of her heart. I think she wanted me to have that experience. I think she trusted that I could represent all people, as an at-large representative.

Saying she didn’t see race is problematic, of course, given her history in Greensboro.

I don’t know that I should have said it that way, exactly. I didn’t mean that race isn’t important or wasn’t important to Yvonne. I just mean that as an at-large representative, as mayor when she was mayor, she really represented the whole city, everyone in the city. And like I said, I don’t think I can fill her shoes. I wouldn’t want to try. But I learned that from her and I really think I have experience representing the whole city, being everywhere in every district, and hearing everyone’s concerns.

I know you haven’t made any official announcement, but it’s no secret you’re considering a run for mayor next year.

Strongly considering it.

Given that, do you think the mayor pro tem position is a particularly strong position from which to run?

Oh, I think even just being at-large it’s a good place to observe and see and assist and be part of things. I think if you take your council position very seriously, you’re going to learn a lot of that. And, you know, I’ve watched mayors over the years, even before I was on council.

So being mayor pro tem, maybe it gives you some experience of what it’s like to step in and assist the mayor, to do some of those things. But whether you’re mayor pro tem or even if you’re mayor, as Nancy [Vaughan] says, you still have just one vote. You have to bring people together, you have to convince people, you have to be part of the whole council and understand how that works.

And even if you maybe get experience running meetings or doing other things as mayor pro tem, I don’t think you should ever get comfortable. If you get to a place where you don’t have a little bit of butterflies in your stomach speaking, presenting, running a meeting, then you should probably go because you’ve become too comfortable.

You still get butterflies after this many years on council?

Well, I think I’ve been lucky to keep doing new things, new challenges, things I’m still learning about. I have been so lucky, and I have to credit Mayor Vaughan, to be appointed to so many regional boards. And I’ve been a newbie on some of those boards.

For instance, now I chair the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation. I vice chair the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. I’m just so ecstatic that I’ve been able to chair some of these boards. And working with them like on the Municipal Planning Organization, it gives me a good idea of how other cities and counties work together. How can we all work together? That’s what you’ve got to be thinking about.

So yeah, if you are trying new things and you’re always learning then you don’t get too comfortable but you’re always growing.

Well, we’ve already written about [Former Mayor] Robbie Perkins throwing his hat into the ring for mayor. No official word from [former council member and mayoral candidate] Justin Outling yet on whether he’s going to run, but I’d be a little surprised if he didn’t. I hope when you’re ready to announce something you’ll let us know.

Oh, believe me—I will.