Remembering The Winston-Salem Black Panther Party Chapter

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Fifty-one years ago this week the Black Panther Party was formed in Oakland California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The Panthers have experienced a new appreciation in recent years, with numerous articles, books, and documentaries praising their activism in the late sixties and early seventies. The Black Panthers were a radical resistance movement that opposed police oppression and economic exploitation in Black communities. Where the civil rights era’s leaders came primarily from church pulpits, the leaders of the Black Panthers came from the streets. Often misunderstood, and miscast as thugs with guns by their detractors, the Black Panther Party was an important political movement in the late 1960s and into the early 1970s.

Winston-Salem City Council Meeting, August 7, 2017: Notes And Commentary

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Monday’s meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council wasn’t too eventful. After taking the month of July off the city council eased back into session with a relatively light agenda. A few zoning requests were heard, several appointments/reappointments were made to various city government committees, but no public comments were heard. Waughtown Cemetery received approval to rezone some property it had recently purchased adjacent to its existing property. The Gallery Lofts apartments received approval from the council to expand downtown without any opposition or much debate.

Unable To Get Anywhere Near Trump, Triad Activists Publicly Shame Pat McCrory

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Early Friday morning Triad activists gathered at the Central Carolina Worker Justice Center to begin the long trip to D.C. Two vans and a bus organized by the Greensboro branch of the International Socialist Organization (GSO ISO), filled with students and community activists determined to make their voices heard at Trump’s inauguration left Greensboro at 2 a.m.

Inaugurations typically don’t attract large protests. They’re supposed to be happy occasions. We haven’t seen large inaugural protests in D.C. since George W.Bush took the oath of office in 2001. But Trump is unprecedentedly unpopular. According to a recent Gallop poll, just 4 in 10 Americans support Trump.

Winston’s Bus Service Has Many Challenges, Novant And Baptist Should Chip In

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2017 has been a bad year thus-far for our city’s bus riders. The Winston-Salem Transit Authority implemented sweeping changes to established bus routes on January 2nd. WSTA and the Winston-Salem City Council spent a considerable amount of time last year planning and reviewing the new bus routes. But the new bus routes are a bust. They’ve sparked outrage amongst Winston’s working-class.

Darryl Hunt And Donald Trump

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I was standing outside of Donald Trump’s political rally a couple of weeks ago, protesting hate, misogyny and xenophobia-when my thoughts turned to Darryl Hunt.  Standing at the corner of University and Deacon Boulevard, my gaze was on the other side of the street. Across University Parkway, to the College Plaza shopping center, where Darryl Hunt tragically took his life earlier this spring. Between anti-Fascist chants, I thought about the common denominator between Darryl Hunt and Donald Trump; the Central Park Five. Before Donald Trump was condemning Mexicans as rapists and Muslims as future terrorists he called for the execution of the Central Park Five.

Black Lives Matter Protesters March Through Downtown Winston

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Saturday hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters marched through Downtown Winston before rallying at Corpening Plaza. The well-attended protest appears to have spread spontaneously through social media. Local ministers and civil rights groups were not the ones who brought these young activists out and onto the streets. It’s really been a hell of a week. On Tuesday, July 5th Alton Sterling was killed outside of a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by two white cops.

Winston-Salem Artists Rock And Rail Against HB2

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Last Sunday a laundry list of local and regional musicians played a day long benefit concert, rocking and railing against North Carolina’s infamous HB2 law (and supporting the victims of the Orlando mass-shooting). This was the second concert in a series of statewide concerts organized to publicly rebuke HB2. The first Stand Against HB2 concert was held in mid-May in the Triangle. Upcoming concerts are scheduled in Asheville, Charlotte and Wilmington. Winston residents can be proud that it was Winston that got the honor of hosting the Triad’s Stand Against HB2 concert and not Greensboro.

Winston’s Really Really Free Market Celebrates One Year Anniversary

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Roughly a year ago Food Not Bombs Winston-Salem held its first Really Really Free Market at 110 3rd Street. Every last Saturday of the month from 10AM-1PM for the past year folks have gathered in the shadow of the Pepper building to give away items that they don’t need and to take items that they do need. The Really Really Free Market is a market without the constraints inherent in markets. First and foremost that means that no matter how great the need, if you don’t have the funds, you’re shit out of luck. By contrast the Really Really Free Market is an exercise of creative redistribution, where need is stressed instead of greed.