Followers of the beautiful game may discern that my primary reason for being in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is not to take the pulse of the American electorate. However, it is an interesting time to be anywhere in this country and to read the runes about what happens next.
Chapel Hill is a college town which goes to sleep when there are no students around. Its main drag features two reminders of relatively recent history which has acquired additional relevance to the question of who will be the next President of the United States.
In 1942, we learn from one commemorative sign, “a group of 44 African American musicians broke the US Navy’s color barrier, enlisting at general rank” in a barracks close to the town. Another sign reminds us that on this site in 1960, “nine Lincoln High School students ignited the direct action Civil Rights movement with the first sit-in at Colonial Drug”.
So sleepy old Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, actually carries a lot of history which reminds us how deep racial division ran and, by extension, why colour plays a significant part in every American election campaign. With the forthcoming anointment of Kamala Harris as Democratic candidate, that is one of the great imponderables she brings with her.
READ MORE BY BRIAN WILSON
Can Great British Energy overcome the resistance of vested interests?
Forget more powers: we need devolution within Scotland
It's high time we had respect for Scotland's colleges
North Carolina is a case study in why race........