Last Wednesday night, my husband finished editing and handed my draft for the “Hats Off” newspaper submission back to me. “You need an ‘s’ on finalists in the first paragraph, but what I really notice,” he pointed out, “is how many names are in this report.” Yes, the newspaper story submitted Thursday this week had oodles of names—but, too many?
» Read moreThis past week, Bernie Sanders got caught with his white foot in his mouth. Of the current presidential aspirants, Sanders is probably the one I admire most. I hadn’t expected such insensitivity from this consistently liberal and intelligent politician. On economic and many other issues, he represents me well. I gasped as I heard his brusque reply to the Black
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“Across the South, we have a deep appreciation of history – we haven’t always had a deep appreciation of each other’s history.” Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney (1973-2015) I’ve been driving around my hometown of Sylva as of late and have seen many men driving around in pickups flying the “Confederate” flag. Recently, President Obama visited Oklahoma and was greeted by
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I joined over 6000 people at the rally and march for voter rights in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, yesterday. This was organized by the NC NAACP to coincide with the opening of the court case against the 2013 voter law that fundamentally changed the way people vote in this state and arguably was structured to discourage people of color, people of
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Have you ever heard the national anthem of South Africa? It’s an amazing piece that integrates five languages (Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans and English) and the anthems of the black liberation movement (“Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”) and the former white-dominated regime (“Die Stem van Suid-Afrika”). I believe it’s the only national anthem that begins and ends in different keys. Listening to
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We are so encouraged by the crowd of caring people who joined us on a warm summer evening for a vigil to honor the nine souls lost in Charleston last week. That tragedy may seem far away from us here in Western North Carolina, but the gathering of about 100 residents at the fountain that night made an unmistakable statement: we
» Read moreOn Saturday, April 25, 2014, at WNC’s annual GUTM Spring festival, the Jackson NC NAACP branch presented the history of its first year—and also multiple opportunities for the public to participate. Archival displays and other information boards, such as the changes in voting rights, attracted many visitors to NC NAACP Branch 54AB-b’s latest “Come See Who We Are” presentation. Joyce
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