Andre Knight’s Response To Answering The Question Of $47.000 At City Council 2-23-26

There is a name for Councilman Knight’s kind of response, it is called whataboutism, the practice of deflecting a direct question by introducing unrelated grievances.

Councilman Knight said he would be glad to answer the question of his utility bill of $47,000 when his questions were answered. For example: Why were black people inslaved in America against their will? Why were 3 little girls bombed in a church in Alabama?

It isn’t that a list of American history’s wrongs don’t deserve serious reflection, but they do not settle a present-day obligation or explain an unpaid public bill.

Accountability works best when we answer the question actually before us.

In Rocky Mount, leadership is not measured by which questions we can redirect, but by the clarity and responsibility with which we address our own.