Archives for November 2023

Equal Time: What’s at stake for communities of color in the global climate crisis?

Dr. Beverly Wright has been a leading voice on the impact of the global climate crisis for decades, spreading awareness, working on solutions and educating the next generations. As executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, an organization she founded 30 years ago, and a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, she is the heart of the environmental justice movement.

With the Biden administration’s rollout of billions to help communities combat the effects of climate change, and the United Nations Climate Change Conference convening in the United Arab Emirates through Dec. 12, the spotlight is on the issue and efforts to help vulnerable countries cope with the crisis.

At COP28, Dr. Wright is sharing her organization’s work and amplifying the voices of those most affected: communities of color and indigenous people, particularly those in the Global South. She joins Equal Time to discuss her mission and her message.

Carter funeral, Rustin biopic show lives getting deserved reexamination

In an ideal world, those who promote peace are heralded, those who elevate nonviolence held up as examples to imitate. In real life, not so much. In recent weeks, grown-up men challenging other grown-up men to fights have shown that acting out faux manliness and toughness is the quickest way to generate all-important buzz.

That doesn’t mean those who choose to follow the golden rule are unicorns. Throughout American history, time after time, leading with kindness demonstrates the truest image of strength.

This week, the rich and poor, the powerful and not-so, the old and young, are paying tribute to Rosalynn Carter, former first lady of the United States. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, former presidents and first ladies attended a memorial service, paying respects to Rosalynn Carter’s life and achievements.

BLACK ISSUES FORUM: Local and National Topics Leading to 2024 Elections

A look at topics impacting our decisions for 2024 elections. Plus, renewed debate about monuments and our country’s history of slavery raises a question: are we’re preserving history or our future? Host Kenia Thompson discusses these topics and more with Immanuel Jarvis, chairman of the Durham County GOP; columnist Mary C. Curtis (Roll Call); and Brett Chambers, lecturer at NC Central University.

Local News Roundup: CMPD responds to viral video; CATS names new management company; new fines for illegal parking; drought continues in NC

A viral video of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers punching a woman restrained by several officers during an arrest surfaced earlier this week. CMPD released a statement saying that the woman was resisting arrest and Chief Johnny Jennings released his own statement.

Charlotte City Council voted unanimously this week to raise the fine for illegal parking in uptown. We’ll bring you up to speed on that and other city council news.

The Charlotte Area Transit System has announced the name of the company it has chosen to operate the Charlotte bus system. National Express Service would now run CATS, instead of RATP Dev. Council will vote later this month to make it official.

Fires continue to spark in western North Carolina, as drought and higher temperatures persists.

And after a disappointing fall so far for pro sports in Charlotte — the Queen City has a new team. The Carolina Chaos Lacrosse team joins the Premier Lacrosse League.

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those stories and more, on the Charlotte Talks local news roundup.

GUESTS:

Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV reporter
Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”
David Boraks, WFAE climate reporter
Alexandria Sands, reporter with Axios Charlotte

Is it that hard to be a leader for all Americans?

It’s “so-called Islamophobia,” at least according to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who used that label to deride President Joe Biden’s efforts to counter every kind of hate in a diverse America. Mr. Governor, please tell that to the family and friends of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a child of Palestinian descent, born in the good old USA, who was stabbed 26 times, allegedly by his landlord and neighbor.

In the last debate of Republicans who hope to be their party’s presidential nominee, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was asked about Wadea’s murder, and the violence that has spread from the Middle East to America. It was right after DeSantis, doing his very best Donald Trump impression, had delivered his “tough guy” pronouncement about which Americans deserve protection.

It gave Christie a chance to distinguish himself among those on the stage, acknowledging that intolerance knows no limits, especially in times of war. Christie described his post-9/11 efforts, after he was tapped on Sept. 10, 2001, to be U.S. attorney for New Jersey, to tamp down “explosive” emotions in a state with citizens who did not look nor worship the same, and may have had different views on life and politics.

It’s not that Christie doesn’t support Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wholeheartedly, and endorse the country’s right to defend itself after a surprise Hamas terrorist attack. Christie’s words that night, and in a subsequent visit to Israel, have only reinforced this notion of backing whatever actions Israel views as necessary. His answer only sounded tame when compared with the four others on the stage, full of bluster and slogans for Israel to “finish the job.”

How could they ever hope to govern a country that is a lot more messily diverse than the Garden State, full of Americans whose opinions don’t fit into neat categories?

The rhetoric sounded far less nuanced than what you can read in the pages of Israel’s Haaretz. Its columnists, while steadfast in their condemnation of the horror and brutality of the terrorist attack and the taking of hostages whose fate remains uncertain, have not been shy about criticizing the actions and tactics of prime minister Netanyahu, before and after Oct. 7.

I was reminded about another debate, one I witnessed in a divisive time, with a lineup of GOP presidential nominee hopefuls that included Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, playing to a South Carolina crowd. When the moderator asked about a hypothetical terrorist attack on America, all conjured up scenes of torture, invoking the tactics of then-popular TV hero Jack Bauer, who, in the show “24,” regularly extracted information in the most gruesome way possible.

Except, that is, for the late Sen. John McCain, the only one on the stage who had been tortured, for years, in a Vietnamese prison. “It’s not about the terrorists, it’s about us,” he said. “It’s about what kind of country we are.”

It’s not easy to take an unpopular stand when emotion and an understandable desire for payback pushes in another direction. And in 2007, while the others were bathed in cheers, McCain’s remarks were greeted with silence.

Isn’t that what leaders do, though: express thoughtful opinions that might not be popular in the moment?

Today, it is possible to condemn the Hamas attack on Israelis, demand the release of hostages who must be experiencing unimaginable terror and express empathy for innocent Palestinians, many of them now-orphaned and injured children, suffering without food, medicine, water and fuel, huddled in hospitals and United Nations shelters in Gaza. You can admire the brave medical personnel in Israel and Gaza. You can fight both antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiment.

Does Speaker Johnson realize some of his best constituents are Black?

“Some of my best friends are Black” is a phrase that has become cliché, and deservedly so, since it is essentially a dodge. Folks uttering those words are looking for a free pass, credit for knowing what it means to be Black in America without doing the work.

By now, most people know that proximity does not equal understanding.

Most, but not all.

The new speaker of the House, GOP Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, has been known to showcase the Black child in his family’s life over two decades, usually when his empathy on matters of race needs a boost. Johnson controls the narrative. He doesn’t want to infringe on the privacy of a now-grown man with a family, he says, so he won’t go into too much detail.

Just enough, though, to show he gets it.

I have nothing against any person of any race who wants to foster, mentor or teach any young person in need of guidance. I applaud the realization that all parties on both sides of such relationships have opportunities to learn and grow. At the same time, I think it’s fair that reporters question just how formal the relationship between congressman and child has been, and why this child is conspicuously missing from family biographies and photographs.

I also wonder about any story cut from the same cloth as “The Blind Side,” with its simple tale of a wealthy white family “adopting” a deprived Black child, rescuing him from an ignoble fate and smoothing his way to football glory in college and the pros. That “just like a movie” story, which has been cited by Johnson as a template, was far more complicated, as the world has come to learn.

Johnson’s tale seems to be similar in many ways, with one particular problem common to these kinds of inspirational parables. They almost always place the white benefactor front and center, instead of the person who was a person before being molded by a Good Samaritan.