At first glance, the hundred or so teens who’ve come to a conference called “Youth Days for Independent Living 2000” seem typical enough. In a campus building at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, girls do morning touch-ups in a bathroom, applying lip gloss and trussing hair. Meanwhile, boys in baggy jeans mill about the […]
Afefe L. Tyehimba
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Brutal in Blue
The jagged scars on Marena Robinson’s left knee are concealed beneath a long denim dress, but the emotional pain is written all over her face. “We put the police on such a high pedestal,” the 27-year-old single mom says, gesturing skyward, “and we don’t want to think they’re out to get us because they’re the […]
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Black and blue III
A sampling of cases involving police brutality in Durham over the last 15 years: · Porter vs. Kelly: A woman’s finger is broken during arrest. Settled out of court for $12,500. · Craig vs. Cleary: A man is beaten with a flashlight and repeatedly pepper-sprayed. Case on appeal. · Winstead vs. May: A man is […]
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Black and blue I
When we hear the words “racial profiling,” we probably don’t think about incidents happening in our own back yard. Cities like New York and Washington, D.C., have problems with police unfairly targeting black citizens, but not Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill. Sure, there are isolated problems, but this kind of thing is rare, right? Think […]
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Black and blue II
· In April of this year, Tomika Walker was pulled from her car while waiting at a stoplight in Raleigh. Police officers pushed her against the car, pulled her arms back and put handcuffs on her. When they began addressing her as “Yolanda,” Walker informed the officers that they had the wrong person. But the […]
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Wonders to perform
Like many black Southerners, Wanda Floyd grew up viewing the church as a natural extension of her family. Every Sunday, you could find Floyd and her two brothers in Henderson’s Shiloh Baptist Church, ushering or singing in the choir. But while she was encouraged to build on her faith, Floyd was discouraged from doing certain […]
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Hustling for the Good Life
It’s midmorning on a sunny but cool spring day, and “Janet” has just popped the cork on a bottle of chilled champagne. She does it with finesse; not a drop spills. “I used to bartend,” she says offhandedly. But her brown eyes twinkle; she’s glad you noticed. At a formal dining table that occupies most […]
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Beating the bush
The state’s new Student Accountability Standards have lots of folks wondering what’ll happen to kids who don’t pass end-of-grade exams. In the long run, they’ll fail–unless state officials, educators, parents and anyone else interested in the welfare of low achievers take steps in the short run to prevent it. Last week, more than 1,600 educators, […]
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Good as gold
I went to Raleigh Memorial Auditorium last week to see the 17th annual Pieces of Gold performance (sponsored by the Wake Education Partnership and Wake County Schools) not for entertainment, but out of a sense of parental duty. Several months ago, my 5th-grader came home dancing a jig and shouting, “We’re in! We’re in!” Her […]
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And Still She’ll Rise?
All smiles, Venita Peyton strides into a coffee shop in Raleigh’s Oakwood one sunny weekday morning and gives a cheerful greeting to the African-American proprietor. “I like to give the sister some business,” she’d said earlier when choosing a place to meet. In the few minutes it takes for the steam to dissipate from her […]