Archives for February 2017

‘Charlotte Talks’ News Roundup

This week on the Friday News Roundup: Former Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones loses his battle with cancer. Charlotte immigrants are nervous in the face of ICE arrests.  Governor Cooper strikes out with his HB2 compromise. Mike Collins and area journalists discuss those stories and more.

Is There a Reward at the End of the Democrats’ Long Slog?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The HKonJ protest this past weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina, may have been the largest such event, but it wasn’t the first time that thousands, with causes as diverse as the citizen-marchers themselves, showed up. For 11 years, with messages for both Republicans and Democrats, the faithful gathering at Historic Thousands on Jones Street have persisted.

There is a lesson for the dissatisfied, new to activism, who are now crowding town halls and filling the streets: Victories may never come, or may be incremental, at best. Each goal accomplished could be followed by a setback.

Are the protesters of 2017 in it for the long haul?

Turmoil in the Trump Administration

CHARLOTTE, NC– Michael Flynn is out as National Security Adviser in the Trump administration. Investigation reveals that a number of other top Trump aides also had constant contact with Russia during the campaign. What was the motive behind the conversations? What are the next steps for the Trump administration? WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis is weighs in.

GOP Seeks a Safe Space From the Words of Coretta Scott King

For a party and an administration that ran on being tough guys, afraid of nothing and no one, and disdainful of “PC culture,” whatever that’s supposed to mean, Republicans are, like President Donald Trump, proving to be poster boys (and, yes, the crew is testosterone-heavy) for the perpetually offended, perfect pictures of bullies who crumble when one of their targets dares talk back. – See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/gop-seeks-safe-space-words-coretta-scott-king#sthash.JZ7IqwAt.dpuf

So What About the I-77 Toll Lanes?

CHARLOTTE, NC —  The battle over the I-77 toll lanes project heads back to court today. A three-judge panel will hear Widen I-77’s appeal against the tolls running on 77 from Charlotte to Lake Norman. WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis weighs in.

NBCBLK28: Simone Manuel: Breaking Myths and Making History

When she was younger, Olympic gold-medal swimmer Simone Manuel found inspiration in Venus and Serena Williams. The beaded, braided tennis phenoms were Black and excellent, inspiring children the world over with their total domination of a sport usually seen as reserved for white people.

Fast forward to now. Kids the world over are still finding inspiration in the Williams sisters. And Manuel.

Said the Olympian: “I think it’s pretty cool that someone else can see me and realize, ‘hey, this is something I can try, this is something I can be good at,’ just to not set limitations on some of the goals they may have.”

Black History Month Lessons for ‘Trump World’

Every year, when February rolls around, you hear the same questions: Why do we need a Black History Month? When is White History Month? (The answer to that second question is January through December, by the way.)

For the answer to the first, look no further than the movie that just picked up the top award from the Screen Actors Guild. “Hidden Figures” is about the African-American female mathematicians who helped propel the U.S. space program, and who were mostly left out of the history books and previous film accounts of NASA and the talents who made it soar. (John Glenn wouldn’t leave home without their trajectory equations.)

When people of color and women play more than token roles in the telling of this nation’s history, there will no longer be a need to remedy omissions with a designated month here and there.

In 2017, we are far from that moment.

 

Will Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch, run into Senate roadblocks?

CHARLOTTE, NC —  The White House is paving the way for Constitutional Conservative Neil Gorsuch to fill the open spot on the nation’s highest court. Right now, it doesn’t seem like Democrats will put up much of a fight over his Supreme Court nomination. WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis weighs in.