The film “12 Years a Slave” is one of great beauty about a great horror. Director Steve McQueen’s account of the American slave business – and it was an American economic institution that trafficked in flesh, blood and human suffering – is not particularly easy viewing, though you can’t look away. I saw it a […]
Could a movie cure politicians of their slavery-metaphor addiction? Read More »
CHARLOTTE — Visitors to Charlotte often travel from the airport to the city center via the Billy Graham Parkway. It can startle the first time, seeing a public roadway named for a major religious figure. But you get used to it once you’ve lived here awhile. You realize how much the region takes pride in
Billy Graham’s legacy and the thin line between church and state Read More »
When a reporter asked the question, it was startling because everyone is so used to the interpretive dance around the “r-word,” race, particularly when it comes to describing opposition to any move by the administration of President Barack Obama. After Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a vote on the nomination of Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.)
A question of race is raised Read More »
CHARLOTTE – The confident, composed and extremely successful businesswoman sitting beside me at the “Women Helping Women” lunch was also the face and voice in the video, the one talking about how to move on and grow stronger after experiencing domestic violence at the hands of a partner who professes love. The event called attention
The end of domestic violence awareness month, but not the problem Read More »
CHARLOTTE — Republicans were busy in North Carolina and Washington on Monday. Did the activity in the courts and on a conservative stage have the effect of muddying the welcome mat the GOP rolled out for minority voters in the state? Earlier in the day, Republican state officials filed to urge a federal court to dismiss
GOP launches minority outreach in N.C., defends voter law in court Read More »
Being thrown off the ballot was the best thing that ever happened to Montravias King. The national coverage that rained down on the Elizabeth City State University student when a local elections board in North Carolina rejected his initial City Council bid surely helped him break out from the field of candidates. He got the
As Nobel Prizes are handed out this week in the sciences, it’s fitting to take note of a woman whose accomplishments in the field of chemistry – as complex as any – made life easier for so many and liberated homemakers from the ironing board. Dr. Ruth Benerito died Saturday at 97 in her Louisiana
Ruth Benerito’s important legacy: Better laundry through chemistry Read More »
You really could see this one coming. When Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday announced that the Justice Department would sue North Carolina over a controversial new voting law Holder says discriminates on the basis of race, no one was surprised. Those on both sides were ready – some cheering and others defensive — as
Familiar lines drawn as Justice sues N.C. over voting law Read More »
The story was about one particular case — a sad one, to be sure – but one that involved individuals, each with a name and story. When Jonathan Ferrell was killed in Charlotte, N.C., nearly two weeks ago, it shattered his family –which is now planning his Saturday funeral in Tallahassee, Fla.– and forever affected
Is fear of a black man justified? Read More »
CHARLOTTE – Sadness in the faces of the crowd of about 50 gathered Monday at the government center here did not mask the frustration and anger. “No justice, no peace” — the chant was familiar — as speaker after speaker at a news conference asked for answers and demanded change. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are piecing together
