In North Carolina, same-sex marriage goes to church

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CHARLOTTE — Standing ovations, applause, the sounds of tambourines — and rainbow colors everywhere, on banners and flags and adorning the stoles around the shoulders of clergy celebrating the fact that same-sex marriage is now legal in North Carolina. In a city known for its churches, Holy Trinity Lutheran hosted an interfaith service that resembled a party, as a crowd of 250 – including many same-sex couples and their families — filled seats downstairs and in the balcony.

Though on Tuesday a federal judge said Republican state legislators had the right to challenge the ruling that said North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, on Monday night at Holy Trinity, the mood was joyous.

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Oct162014 TAGS: , ,

Is the South really as bad as a report says it is?

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CHARLOTTE — When the headline is “Why the South is the worst place to live in the U.S.,” it’s an invitation to trash talk. But isn’t that what makes stories like this one in The Post so much fun? They are bound to unleash regional pride and get the blood flowing and the stereotypes flying in the comments section.

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Oct092014 TAGS: , , , , ,

NFL meeting with black women’s groups on domestic violence a ‘productive’ beginning

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Representatives of the Black Women’s Roundtable said a meeting with NFL executives on Wednesday was productive, and just the start of a conversation. The roundtable had requested a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after the league announced a domestic violence advisory panel that included no women of color.

“We agreed to have a meeting with commissioner Goodell in the next 30 to 45 days,” Melanie L. Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and  convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable, told She the People.

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Oct022014 TAGS: , , , , ,

Black women’s groups to meet with NFL on lack of diversity in domestic violence panel

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A meeting has been scheduled Wednesday between the National Football League and representatives of the Black Women’s Roundtable, which had questioned the lack of diversity on a domestic violence advisory panel.  Members of the group are scheduled to meet with NFL executives Anna Isaacson and Troy Vincent at the league’s headquarters in New York City, according to Edrea Davis, communications director for the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the Black Women’s Roundtable. However, the group still wants a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“The women will urge the NFL to add black women experts in domestic violence and sexual assault to the NFL’s recently established domestic violence advisory board,” Davis told She the People. “They will also discuss other issues related to diversity and cultural sensitivity, eradicating the culture of violence within the league, and the date of the meeting they requested with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.”

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Sep302014 TAGS: , , ,

Fans and domestic violence survivors find common ground on an NFL weekend

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Though Carolina Panthers fans can’t be happy with the Sunday night thrashing their team took in a nationally televised game against Pittsburgh, they didn’t mind thinking about football – just football. But even as Steelers and Panthers fans exchanged some pre-game trash talk while enjoying a meal in the Carolina sunshine, they had some things to say about the issue of domestic violence, one that has enmeshed NFL leadership and the team that plays in Charlotte.

In some ways, their sentiments were not that different from members of a panel of survivors of domestic violence the day before – both groups were critical of the NFL’s reaction to the Ray Rice episode but grateful that the issue is in the open. On Saturday, at a meeting of the Charlotte Area Association of Black Journalists, three women added dimension to the image of victim. And fans and survivors found common ground.

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Sep232014 TAGS: , ,

Message in letter to Roger Goodell: NFL women’s advisory panel needs diversity

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Amid the controversy and charges of too little, too late hurled toward the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell after publicity involving charges of domestic violence against players, one move has been praised – the announcement this week that the league has named four women to shape new policies on domestic violence and sexual assault.

But while the Black Women’s Roundtable views the step as positive and “appreciates the fact that the NFL has established an advisory group of women,” it also points out what it views as an omission. In a Sept. 16 open letter to Goodell, the roundtable offers words of praise, then states: “However, your lack of inclusion of women of color, especially Black women who are disproportionately impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault; and the fact that over 66% of the NFL players are made up of African Americans is unacceptable.”

The message to the NFL is “you are headed in the right direction, but you have missed the mark,” Melanie L. Campbell told She the People on Wednesday. Campbell heads the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and is convener of Black Women’s Roundtable, an inter-generational network of women leaders representing black women and girls from across the country. “We want to be supportive and helpful.” Goodell needs to know, she said, that “you have to do it right, and make sure you have a diverse group of women working with you and your team.”

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Sep172014 TAGS: , , , ,

Patricia McBride, Kennedy Center honoree, is no tragic ballerina

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CHARLOTTE — “Ballerina” is hardly the profession that comes to mind when one thinks of work-life balance or “having it all.” The women in the spotlight conjure images of beauty, but also sacrifice, single-minded devotion and lofty standards, impossible to reach. It’s a story line abetted and reinforced by films from “The Red Shoes” – with its angst-ridden conflicts between love and art – to the dark mother-daughter histrionics of “Black Swan.”

But then there’s Patricia McBride, the New York City Ballet icon who has been awarded a Kennedy Center Honor. (The 2014 honorees also include Al Green, Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin and Sting.) In a three-decade long dancing career, McBride brought to life the works of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins (both already honored by the Kennedy Center) with a list of partners that included Edward Villella, Arthur Mitchell, Jacques d’Amboise and Mikhail Baryshnikov (all with Kennedy Center awards, as well).

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Sep152014 TAGS: , , ,

Rep. James Clyburn: ‘The country has topped out to the right’

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If anyone can take the long view of history, it’s U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.). The assistant minority leader of the House has lived it, from his childhood in segregated Sumter, S.C., through the civil rights movement that benefited him, sometimes in unexpected ways — he met wife-to-be Emily in jail after both were arrested for protesting for civil rights — to his election to Congress in 1992.

Clyburn, 74, tells his story in “Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black.” He and Emily recently spent an evening at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in Charlotte, greeting admirers, posing for photos and adding signatures to personal copies of the book.

At the Gantt Center, he shared his thoughts on the pace of change in America: “The country from its inception is like the pendulum on a clock. It goes back and forward. It tops out to the right and starts back to the left — it tops out to the left and starts back to the right. I can tell you the country has topped out to the right, and the country is moving back to the left.” And remember, he said, it “spends twice as much time in the center.”

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Sep052014 TAGS: , , , , ,

Obama visit adds heat to contentious and crucial North Carolina Senate race

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About the only thing that’s certain about North Carolina’s crucial Senate race is that it’s close. Polls show a tight contest, with Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan and her Republican opponent Thom Tillis exchanging slim leads. It’s not even clear what the November midterm will be about.

Is it a nationalized election, with Hagan tied to a president with low approval numbers? Will Tillis, speaker of the North Carolina House, be weighed down with dissatisfaction over a sometimes dysfunctional state legislature? Will the economy be the ruling issue or will education, health care and the environment, major North Carolina concerns, rise in importance? What role will social issues — abortion and same-sex marriage — play in turning out the base in both parties?

If this past week was an indication, the answer is maybe – or perhaps, all of the above.

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Aug292014 TAGS: , , , , , ,

So, black teens who aren’t angels deserve whatever they get?

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CHARLOTTE — While playing with my 2½ -year-old great-nephew was a joyous distraction from the events of Ferguson, Mo., this past week, it was also a reminder that the shelf life for innocence is short when you are a black male — and there is no room for error.

Everywhere the family went with my adorable toddling guest — touring a transportation museum and riding the train there, playing in the kiddie pool at the Y, taking a walk down the street — we were greeted with smiles. Even when he tried to plunge into the fountain reserved for pennies and wishes, his indiscretion elicited smiles, not stern glances.

I wondered how long he would get the benefit of the doubt and not the side eye. It was a question on my mind when I raised my now-grown son – a good man but no saint. He played by the rules and still had his unwarranted traffic stop that resulted in a ticket he fought because he was just that angry. He thankfully controlled his frustration in his interaction with official authority, a lesson I taught reluctantly, figuring a bit of damage to his spirit was preferable to any other sort.

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Aug192014 TAGS: , , ,
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