The 10th Congressional District representative’s constituents challenged him on issues including climate policy, Israel-U.S. relations and the behavior of President Donald Trump at his annual Buncombe County town hall on July 31 at the Riceville Community Center.
“How despicable to think that a grown woman cannot make her own statement about her interpretation and experience regarding working with President Trump.”
“I was shocked and dismayed by the optics when, while watching the Michael Cohen congressional hearing, Mark Meadows, our own 11th District representative, paraded an African-American lady before the assemblage like a life-size cardboard cutout.”
“The only way we can ensure that everyone has the opportunity to achieve optimal health is to work together with a shared and well-coordinated commitment to improving our community’s health.”
“Somehow our country has devolved into a land that when we disagree with one another’s politics, race, gender preference or religious choice, some of us feel it’s all right to kill them. I missed the meeting when this was agreed on as a rational form of dissent.”
“There is a pretty big problem in Asheville. It’s racism.”
ASHEVILLE, NC
The third annual conference, “Bringing it Home: Building a Local Economy for Everyone,” will take place on Oct. 7 at the YMI Cultural Center in downtown Asheville.
“Very little has changed here since I was co-captain of the first integrated Asheville High football team and learned much about how Asheville has stacked the deck against nonwhites, and frankly that has not changed nearly as much as it should have over the years.”
“The monument is directly on the site of the old courthouse where the slave auctions were held. It is the exact location where blacks were sold into bondage. It has always been apparent to me, and yet I have never heard one person suggest it, that the monument be rededicated to them.”
“There is a difference between memory and celebration, and most Confederate monuments are less about memory and more about the celebration of white supremacist control.”
“I am writing this letter to ask that both readers, listeners (radio), watchers (TV), editors and owners of various area mass media look at their staffs and their coverage for bias in hiring and coverage based on a failure to diversify their hiring and coverage.”
YWCA associations across the country are holding Stand Against Racism events during April. Asheville’s Stand events, united by the theme of “Women of Color Leading Change,” run throughout April, culminating with the campaign’s multiday signature event, Stand Against Racism, which takes place April 27-30.
“Yes, my friends, all lives do matter. But until white America realizes that black children are loved by their parents the same way you love yours, we are all in trouble. There’s a gaping hole in this country created by racism, and it’s waiting to be filled by something. It is we Americans, black and white, who will decide what fills this hole.”
“Asheville has too much of a legacy of racism. Please Mountain Xpress, help this mostly white community face up to the neglect of our oppressed neighbors.”
“At what point do we as Americans connected by our living in the same country finally say we all will make sure that not another child is left parentless because of our categorical prejudices.”
“If we demand change at a local level, we can change the ethos of law enforcement agencies across the country.”
“The idea that black people and white people have distinct music and culture has its roots in racist thinking.”,” says author David Gilbert. It’s a concept he delves into in The Product of Our Souls: Ragtime, Race, and the Birth of the Manhattan Musical Marketplace. Gilbert holds a book launch and discussion at Malaprop’s Saturday, Nov. 14.
“Today many insecure men, influenced by a system that is racist, try to quell their insecurity by scapegoating people who are different in looks, gender, sexual orientation and race.”
On Saturday, April 25, at Spellbound Children’s Bookshop in Woodfin, local author Cynthia Yancey will read from her new book Zak and Niki: A First Look at Rising above Racism. The reading is one of many events featured in the YWCA of Asheville’s Stand Against Racism events.