“In the area of diversity in hiring, Asheville is just as segregated, racist and unequal as it ever was, and while whites promote Asheville as a tourist and artistic mecca, African Americans are still cleaning rooms in expensive hotels instead of front desk or management positions and not being hired in banks, restaurants and trendy bars in downtown, Biltmore and West Asheville.”
“This program feeds scores of area residents from all walks of life, five days a week, offering a wide range of rescued and repurposed food from some of the finest restaurants of the city, grocery stores, retirement communities, hospitals, caterers and others in the food-service industry.”
“Can we suggest it to local businesses to start a gingerbread display for anyone who wants to enter or anyone who wants to come see it?”
“The womensmarch.com website does not indicate that a march is scheduled for Asheville. How is this possible in the most progressive city in Western North Carolina?”
“I would like to celebrate the 40 young members of Sunrise Movement Asheville who had the courage to exercise civil disobedience on Dec. 6 by occupying Asheville City Hall.”
“With the rise in ‘off-market’ options, it is important to understand what these plans do — and don’t — provide. These plans are not required to meet key federal requirements that ensure customers get the level of coverage they need over the long term.”
“Reading supports all aspects of education and life opportunities. I have seen firsthand the difficulties struggling readers experience.”
“Although it takes conscious effort and practice, these simple changes in our language make big shifts in our community of Asheville, which must also work to reconcile our own legacy of slavery.”
“We are writing this because we believe that we all should change the way we speak about slavery.”
“Upon reading an article from The New York Times and the 1619 Project, we realized that the use of the words slave, slave owner and plantations are dehumanizing to the descendants of enslaved people and continue the institutional racism that was propagated back then to justify slavery.”
“I have no doubt CBD can be useful … but in its current state with lack of regulation as well as testing, it’s very problematic, especially for those prone to dissociative or psychotic states.”
“President Trump is a true patriot, who has made America stronger and done more in his first three years than many presidents do in eight years.”
“This kind of denial of how tourism has negatively impacted people who live here will only infuriate them more.”
“In order to house, clothe and feed your family with an income that insulting, you need support from subsidized housing, subsidized transport, food banks and other charities.”
“There can be no justification for the willful and arbitrary cancellation of an election.”
“In the final analysis, the dehumanizing discourse of ‘removing undesirables,’ which has become sadly normalized and increasingly vicious as of late, is irreconcilable with achieving the county’s stated goals.”
“I pray that more people are as moved as was I to give.”
“Cutting down a tree unnecessarily is like throwing the original ‘Mona Lisa’ into a fire. There is great urgency to save the Ravenscroft acreage.”
“I find what’s happening is unbearable to people of Western North Carolina, and we need to talk about what’s happening. We need to continue to be educated.”
“Teachers, parents and all of us need to insist that our schools foster and support our children’s capacity to be playful, joyful, spontaneous, loving, creative and compassionate while developing their intellectual curiosity.”
“If Asheville is to maintain its extraordinarily vital art scene, it needs to maintain the critical mass of artists who comprise the heart and soul of that scene.”