TCB July 9, 2020 — Outta Here! by Triad City Beat

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point July 9-15, 2020 triad-city-beat.com

GREENSBORO EDITION

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OUTTA HERE! Confederate statue taken down in Greenhill cemetery

Dave Plyler, WTF?! PAGE 5

Watermelon hater PAGE 11

PAGE 8 POC farmers market PAGE 12

July 9-15, 2020

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Some like it hot

by Brian Clarey

It’s getting hot, man. Sauna hot. Oven hot. Heat so hot it smothers you, pushes you down, keeps you from leaving the house because it’s

just so damn hot. I was just out there in it, and I can tell you it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Yes, it’s North Carolina — it’s supposed to be hot. Always been hot in that long stretch of summer that hits after the Fourth of July. Hot in the morning. Hot at night. Hot all day. I drive a black car, with a black interior; it’s so hot when I climb into the thing that it feels like an expensive spa treatment. Because also, I kind of like it. I can handle the heat. I lived for more than 10 years in Louisiana, where on hot July days a walk through the French Quarter can feel like swimming in a steaming tray of water. The heat makes your shirt stick to your back and curls up your hair. It activates every sweat gland in your body until the

stuff runs in invisible rivulets down to your socks. You need a damn good reason to go out in heat like that. And unless you have access to swimming pool, a beach house or reliable air-conditioning, there’s little respite from it. There are techniques for surviving the deep heat: Drink lots of water, especially if you’re drinking drinking. Find the shady side of the street. Wear white clothes to take some of the edge off the sun. A hat can help. One summer, the heat got so bad, I could barely stand it. And then, all of a sudden, I could. It was mostly a matter of accepting the heat, working within its parameters, respecting its ability to shut you down while still waging slow, steady war against it. The heat will change you. It’s supposed to change you. Heat melts candles, softens asphalt. Heat is what turns a bag of dried grains into a bowl of rice. Because heat is a catalyst. The heat promotes growth. And you can hide from it poolside or in air-conditioned rooms. But the rest of us are out here in the hot, hot heat, letting it work its magic upon us.

It’s hot in the morning. Hot at night. Hot all day.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “It’s disingenuous and intellectually dishonest. It’s gaslighting Black and Brown people. —Chad Nance pg. 5

BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green jordan@triad-city-beat.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336-256-9320 Cover images SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR Nikki Miller-Ka GREENSBORO: niksnacksblog@gmail.com By Monday afternoon, ART Greensboro parks and recreation ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette workers had moved a toppled robert@triad-city-beat.com Confederate monument into storage. By Carolyn De Berry SALES

KEY ACCOUNTS Gayla Price gayla@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, Matt Jones, Michaela Ratliff

WINSTON-SALEM: Plyler as 2-Face Illustration by Robert Paquette

July 9-15, 2020

CITY LIFE July 9-12, 2020 by Michaela Ratliff

THURSDAY July 9

The Morning After Food Truck @ the Beer Growler (W-S) 4 p.m. The Morning After will be at the Beer Growler ready to satisfy your breakfast cravings! Check out the menu on their website.

Bountiful Land Food for All Farmers Market @ 1901 McConnell Rd (GSO) 10 a.m. The Bountiful Land Farmers Market aims to bring fresh affordable food to local food deserts by selling fertilizer-free, pesticide-free, and herbicide-free produce. Visit the event page for information about available produce and volunteering. Open Stages @ Elsewhere (GSO) 6 p.m. Elsewhere is hosting a series of Open Stage events, encouraging local and traveling talent to perform. This is not just an open mic. This is a space for musicians, painters, dancers and more. Visit the event page for more information about how to sign up and admission costs.

Puzzles

More eats! The brewhouse and Lobster Dogs are inviting you out for an evening of great food and great fun. The staff asks that guests respect social distancing and tap room protocols, which can be found here.

Cookie Walks @ Barber Park (GSO) 10 a.m. Get Your Cookies, a women’s empowerment group, invites you to join them on the second Saturday of each month this summer for a Cookie Walk, 30 minutes to an hour of walking to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Find more information on the event page.

Shot in the Triad

Lobster Dogs Food Truck @ Natty Greene’s Brewhouse (GSO) 5 p.m.

Don’t miss this opportunity to receive a job offer on the spot! Recruiters will be interviewing those interested in working a temp-to-hire position at least 40 hours per week.

All Hands on Deck: Party for Democracy! Zoom Meeting @ Indivisible Guilford County NC (GSO) 2 p.m. Join NC Sen. Michael Garrett for a virtual discussion about why the upcoming election is the most important in our lifetimes and for ways to get involved in protecting his seat in the Senate. The Zoom meeting ID is: 860 6618 3885. Email Indivisible for the password.

Culture

FRIDAY July 10

Drive-Thru Job Fair @ Debbie’s Staffing Services (W-S) 9 a.m.

Opinion

Sonic the Hedgehog and Knives Out @ Winston-Salem Fairgrounds & Annex (W-S) 8:30 p.m. Enjoy Sonic or Knives Out from the comfort of your own car with this drive-in movie experience! Food and beverages will be delivered directly to your car to encourage social distancing. Advance ticket purchases are encouraged and can be found here.

SATURDAY July 11

Yappy Hour @ World of Beer (GSO) 11 a.m. If you ever wondered how to get a complimentary pretzel from World of Beer, it’s as easy as going to happy hour and letting the staff pet your dog! Drink specials for you, and $5 chicken and rice bowls available for your good boy or girl.

News

Virtual Non-Fiction Book Talk Zoom Meeting @ High Point Public Library (HP) 7 p.m. Maxine Days from the HP Public Library will be hosting a virtual book discussion, encouraging readers to ask themselves, “Why or why wouldn’t I recommend that book?” with the book of their choosing. Email Maxine Days for the Zoom meeting link.

SUNDAY July 12

Up Front

Where Do We Go From Here? Zoom Meeting @ YWCA High Point (HP) 6:30 p.m. Join the YWCA’s and Resilience High Point for part three of their panel discussion about racial equity and possible solutions to racial injustice. Register for the Zoom meeting here.

Head Over Heels @ Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance (W-S) 8 p.m. Head Over Heels is a new musical comedy from the visionaries that brought you Avenue Q and Spring Awakening. Guaranteed to make you laugh out loud and dance in your seat, it’s set to the music of 1980’s band the Go-Go’s. Visit the event page to purchase tickets and view future showtimes.

July 9-15, 2020

Coronavirus in the Triad:

News

Up Front

(as of Wednesday, July 8, compared to last week)

Documented COVID-19 diagnoses NC

77,310 (+10,797)

Forsyth

3,450 (+373)

Guilford County

3,275 (+384)

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

COVID-19 deaths NC

1,448 (+76)

Forsyth

37 (+2)

Guilford

118 (+3)

Documented recoveries NC

55,318 (+9,780)

Forsyth

2,133 (+181)

Guilford

1,803 (+155)

Puzzles

Hospitalizations

994 (+93)

Forsyth

35 (-20)

Guilford

381 (+22)

NEWS

Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

a white female police officer during a traffic stop. Reached by phone on Tuesday, Plyler said, “I probably made a mistake with that. My purpose is, that is abhorrent. That should never have happened…. It had nothing to do with race.” “All lives matter” has become an epithet thrown at Black Lives Matter protesters that functions as a negation of any grievance against systemic racism. When an angry white man confronted a protest against racism in Graham on July 4 by saying, “It’s all lives matter, if you got God,” protest leader Rev. Gregory Drumwright responded, “Somebody tell me one day in American history where a white life didn’t matter. Tell me one day in American history when a blue life didn’t matter. SCREENSHOT Screenshot of the Facebook post that Dave Plyler shared on his page. Every day of my life white lives have matthe Q ,” he said. “I didn’t even know it tered. Every day of my life, police have was in there. There is no meaning. It has demanded respect, and gotten it. This no meaning at all.” day is about Black lives mattering.” Nance said the juxtaposition of the In an interview with TCB, Plyler indiwords “all lives matter” with video of a cated he has no interest in hearing why Black person assaulting a white female the slogan “All lives matter” is offensive. police officer is particularly harmful. “If you take offense at it, fine,” he “That is 100 percent propaganda said. because, show me the statistics of Adding further intrigue around the white female officers being attacked by “All Lives Matter” video, Plyler comAfrican-American suspects compared to mented in his post: “Thanks qqqqqqq.” police brutalizing African-Americans,” The comment caused Nance and he said. “What he’s doing there is using others to question whether Plyler was our natural empathy towards women to making a nod to QAnon, an internet justify police brutality, because this one subculture organized around a far-right single incident of an African-American conspiracy theory about a supposed suspect attacking a white police officer secret plot by the “deep state” against does not warrant what we see every day President Trump. with the fishing expedition that police ofPlyler did not offer any explanation ficers subject Black and Brown people to beyond downplaying its significance in a during traffic stops. It’s disingenuous and voicemail to TCB. intellectually dishonest. It’s gaslighting “There is actually nothing to say about

News

The image of three people who appear to be Indigenous giving the middle finger to Mount Rushmore that appeared at 4:26 p.m. on July 4 on Forsyth County Commission Chairman Dave Plyer’s Facebook page appears like a jarring party-crasher in an otherwise soothing stream of content he posted to celebrate the holiday. Plyler’s July 4 timeline includes videos of patriotic numbers performed by the US Army Band, US Navy Band, and US Air Force Band; 1970s nostalgia trips with the Bee Gees, Abba and Neil Diamond; more recent performances by Whitney Houston and Tina Turner; an inspirational Fourth of July message from Arnold Schwarzenegger; a threeyear-old photo of Plyler in a parade; and, somewhat disconcertingly, Christmas music. The photo of the Indigenous people giving the finger to Mount Rushmore is a re-share of a Facebook post originally made by talk-radio host Steve Sanchez, which includes the caption, “Hate America? GET THE HELL OUT!” The Facebook page for “The Steve Sanchez Show,” based in Arizona, describes Sanchez as a “nationally syndicated radio host, jewel of the American Southwest and unabashed nationalist who puts country and people before politics.” The outcry in response to Plyler’s post was almost immediate, both on his page and on the Winston-Salem Facebook group page, and within 24 hours it disappeared from Plyler’s Facebook page. Chad Nance, a local filmmaker who previously operated the Camel City Dispatch news site, called out Plyler on Nance’s Facebook page. “It’s clearly racist,” Nance told Triad City Beat. “It tells a group of Indigenous people upon whom we committed genocide that the desecration of their holy mountain is something they should get over. Dave Plyler is telling people whose ancestors have been reduced to a handful compared to what they used to be that they need to love it or leave it. It’s unconscionable. If anyone has the right

to flip the finger at Mount Rushmore, it’s Native Americans. It was put up there as an F-U to them.” In his various responses to people questioning the post, Plyler has suggested he’s as mystified as anyone else about how it happened. Plyler has given shifting explanations with confusing wording that makes meaning hard to pin down. Responding to Nance on the post before he took it down, Plyler replied with a non-sequitur: “You have no idea nor do I have speculation only adds fuel to the fire. The only thing I can think of at this moment is there is an election in four months that plays a role in it or not I don’t know.” Nance said he thought Plyler was suggesting that his Facebook account had been hacked. But responding to TCB in a Facebook message on Sunday, Plyler offered a somewhat different although equally opaque explanation. In a message rife with spelling and punctuation errors, Plyler wrote: “Its abhorrnt to m to me as well.I saw I yesterday paid little or no attached to it at all . I did spend a lot of time yesterday sharing music by: USAF band, Army band, navy band and other patriotic pieces. Since we had no public celebrations of the Fourth of July I wanted to share the Rich material available on the Internet and that included pictorial scenes.” Further elaborating, he wrote, “I probably shared over two dozens Shared patriotic Most without regard to written content.” Plyler resisted an overture to clarify the matter. Responding to a characterization by TCB that he “shared the post without paying any attention to the family at bottom of the frame or the commentary below it,” Plyer demurred: “I’m not swearing to your statement I’m just responding… I don’t do things like that on purpose.” And responding to a message indicating that his statements didn’t clarify much and were contradictory, and that it seemed futile to press further, Plyler wrote, “I agree.” While the dust was still settling over Plyler’s Mount Rushmore post, he aroused renewed anger by sharing a video headlined “#ALLLIVESMATTER” that shows a Black man punching

Up Front

David Plyler, the most powerful elected official in Forsyth County government, shared social-media posts over the Fourth of July weekend that disparage Indigenous and Black people. He can’t explain how it happened.

July 9-15, 2020

Forsyth commissioner offers little explanation for social media posts attacking Indigenous people and Black Lives Matter by Jordan Green

July 9-15, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Black and Brown people.” Plyler, a Republican who lives in Kernersville, was first elected to the Forsyth County Commission in 1994 and consistently draws the highest number of votes among candidates for the four seats in District B, which forms a suburbanrural doughnut around Winston-Salem. Commissioner Ted Kaplan, a Lewisville Democrat who holds the one atlarge seat on the board, defended Plyler. “I have never known Dave to be anything other than honorable, nice and warm to just about anyone who comes up,” Kaplan said. “I’ve never known him to be a racist.” Commissioner Don Martin, the position of vice chair and like Plyler part of the moderate Republican faction on the board, declined to comment on his colleague’s social-media posts. Kaplan said he didn’t see the “All lives matter” post, but he chalks the Mount Rushmore post as an honest mistake. “As honest as I can be, his eyesight isn’t what it used to be,” Kaplan said. “When I saw it on my phone, it looked like three people pointing at the Black Hills. The Dave I know, I’m certain he never meant to cause harm.” Commissioner Tonya McDaniel, one of two Democrats who represent District A in Winston-Salem, told TCB she is “very disheartened about the social media post, if true and factual. “I am awaiting a response from Commissioner Plyler about this matter,” she said. “I pray he has some reasonable explanation, if any. I will also share [that] I have never witnessed any racist behaviors from him in my presence. He actually supported the Black and Brown communities when I’ve asked. I was most excited when he disclosed his membership in the National Alumni of [Winston-Salem State University]. I am baffled and hopeful for a response.” During a 50-minute phone interview on Tuesday, Plyler did not apologize or express any regret for the two socialmedia posts. “I’m being tried and treated like a criminal; that’s unfortunate,” he said. “The problem with this society is all you have to do is look the wrong way, and it becomes suspicious.” During the interview, Plyer warmed to the topics of his career as a broadcast journalist and signal moments in the history race relations during the 20th Century. The wide-ranging discussion touched upon personalities and events in the Triad that would be familiar to anyone who has heard a campaign speech from the county commissioner.

Among his notable achievements as a budding journalist was recognizing the significance of the 1960 Woolworth’s lunch-counter sit-in. Then in his early twenties, Plyler said he went to see what was going on after his father warned him to stay away because Black men were sitting at the lunch counter and demanding to be served. When a reporter for the United Press International news agency told him he was going to send the story out to markets across the Southeast, Plyler said he got the idea to call CBS, NBC, ABC Radio Network and the Mutual Radio Network and pitch the story. “And I fed them stories, and they would call me back and get updates,” Plyler recalled. “I started getting calls from as far away as Michigan and Florida.” That same year, Plyler joined WSJS, which became WXII 12 News, where he served as a reporter, assignment editor and eventually news director. He recalled the segregated programming, with a program called “Shades of Ebony” that focused on issues in the Black community and how the station hired its first Black reporter, John Blunt, in 1968. Plyler was born in southern California and said he recalled attending first and second grades there with Black, Asian and Latinx children. That changed when the family moved to North – Dave Plyler Carolina where Plyler’s father had grown up. He said his first friend was a Black child, who eventually told him his mother said they couldn’t play together anymore because Plyler was white. Plyler described the experience as his “first lesson in segregation.” He would observe segregation in Greensboro when he sold popcorn at Greensboro Patriots baseball games and saw that Black patrons were consigned to a particular section of the stands. As a student at Greensboro Senior High School in the 1950s, Plyler also landed a job at WGBG, where he hosted a program called “Music for Lovers Only.” There, he struck up a friendship with Cirt Gill, a popular Black DJ who spun records by R&B acts like Clyde McPhatter, Brook Benton and LaVern Baker under the on-air moniker “JamA-Ditty.” Plyler said after finishing his

program, he would often stop at the Gill house on Ross Avenue, where Gill’s wife, Margaret, would serve him refreshments while her pinochle club was meeting. “The bottom line is Margaret Gill did that for years, and her family kind of looked after me,” Plyler said. In other ways, Plyler’s life continued to intersect with eminent Black institutions and figures through the 1970s. He studied political science at WinstonSalem State University, a historical Black institution. Around that time, Plyler developed an admiration for George Black, a son of former enslaved persons who came to Winston-Salem and became a brickmaker, eventually receiving an appointment by President Nixon as an emissary to Guyana to teach brickmaking. “I always thought: Here’s a guy who is somebody you should look up to,” Plyler said. “He’s a perfect example of achieving the American Dream when everything is stacked against you.” Plyler would go on to raise money for a statue of George Black, who is the grandfather of state Rep. Evelyn Terry, that stands outside the Forsyth County Government Center. Plyler said it’s the first life-size statue of a Black man in Forsyth County, the second being the statue of Simon G. Atkins on the Winston-Salem State campus. While Plyler has spent his entire life in proximity to Black culture, he expressed a sense of antipathy towards the current uprising against systemic racism sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “They’re tearing down pieces of property that they have no right to,” Plyler said. “If you’re having protests, that’s not a problem, but it is a problem when you’re going to pillage and loot. I remember when Martin Luther King Jr. was around. One of the things he said is, ‘You don’t break the law.’ That’s the bottom line. I don’t know who the leaders are today.” Later, in the interview, Plyler conceded that in fact King and the Black students he covered during the Woolworth sit-in modeled civil disobedience against unjust laws. “Sometimes you’ve got to do that to

‘I’m being tried and treated like a criminal; that’s unfortunate.’

get what you want,” he said. “And that’s what they did.” But asked to consider the parallels between the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter movement today, Plyler articulated a kind of “all lives matter” philosophy that frames race relations as a matter of equivalency and denies the existence of systemic racism and white supremacy as driving forces in American life. “The basic premise is transparency and the feeling of Blacks versus whites,” Plyler said. “That’s historic. It goes back before you and I were born…. Racism is not just a white problem; it is a Black problem, as well. If you’re honest with yourself, you know what I’m talking about.” He went on to discuss his experience as a “minority” at Winston-Salem State University. But his reflections undercut rather than supported the discredited notion that Black people can practice racism towards whites: “And WinstonSalem State loved me. I was on the GI Bill using federal money to pay my way through.” And revisiting his childhood experience, Plyler said, “When a little Black guy told me he couldn’t play with me because I was white, I was the guy who was being discriminated against.” Nance said he has admired Plyler both as an elected official and veteran journalist, but that’s all the more reason to hold him accountable. “Dave Plyler has always been kind and courteous to me,” Nance said, “but in this year of reckoning, which is what I believe Black Lives Matter and this moment is, if you want to be a white ally, one of the most uncomfortable yet important parts of that is calling out overt racism and white racism when you see it in other people, whether it’s your uncle or your mom, or your grandma, or someone professionally like Dave Plyler who you’ve admired. “I did it almost as an object lesson for other white people because we’re having a conversation about how to be allies,” Nance continued. “To be kind of Stan Lee about it, with great power comes great responsibility. We have a responsibility to stand up against white supremacy, no matter what. It’s part of good citizenship. This isn’t cancel culture; this is good citizenship.”

July 9-15, 2020 Up Front

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Shot in the Triad

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July 9-15, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Confederate monument toppled in Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro by Jordan Green A Confederate monument was toppled at Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro last weekend, and is now in storage. A monument that marks the mass grave of about 300 unknown Confederate soldiers in Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro was toppled over the Fourth of July weekend. The monument, a stamped copper statue featuring a soldier gripping a musket, was found lying on the ground on the morning of July 4 or July 5, said Jake Keys, a spokesperson for the city of Greensboro, which operates the cemetery. Keys said parks and recreation employees put the monument in storage, and the city has reached out to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which owns the statue. The burial plot and monument is privately owned and maintained, although it is in the middle of the city-owned cemetery, Keys said in an email to TCB late on Tuesday. “I can’t speak to how it came to be, and am not sure who even knows the origins, but yes, while this resides in Green Hill Cemetery, it was on a plot that was privately owned and maintained.” Keys clarified in a follow-up email that the city cuts the grass in the cemetery, but the monument and “its hard-scraped area” are maintained by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A plaque at the base indicates that the monument was most recently restored in 1984 by Col. John Sloan Camp 1290 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Greensboro. Calls and emails to officers of the organization were not returned at publication time. Keys said he doesn’t know who toppled the statue. The Confederate monument at Green Hill cemetery was erected in 1888, according to an entry for the Commemorative Landscapes website, which is maintained by the NC Department of Cultural Resources and UNC-Chapel Library. Photo courtesy of Rusty Long via Commemorative Landscapes The entry indicates that the majority of the soldiers buried at Green Hill Cemetery fell at the battle at Bentonville, which took place in Johnston County in 1865, and died after being evacuated to a Confederate hospital in Greensboro. The Greensboro Ladies Memorial Association originally interred the soldiers in a piece of land near a church on Ashe

By Monday afternoon, Greensboro parks and recreation workers had moved a toppled Confederate monument into storage.

Street in the late 1860s, according to the website. When the church graveyard was abandoned in 1884, the soldiers were re-interred at the newly created Green Hill Cemetery. Paul Ringel, a historian at High Point University, said the timing of the monument’s erection complicates any narrative that would suggest its sole purpose was to honor war dead. “That’s when white North Carolinians are trying to seize control,” Ringel said. “We’ve had Reconstruction. All the Union troops are out of the South by 1876 and 1877. By 1888, we’re starting to get into this moment where Jim Crow is starting to creep in. A lot of people mark 1890 as the date it started. The

Mississippi state constitution in 1890 is seen by a lot of people as the birth moment of Jim Crow. They started putting in literacy tests and poll taxes.... This is the first time we see white Southerners try to constitutionalize Jim Crow. “My guess is that if this statue goes up in 1888, it’s a lot more about trying to establish white supremacy than mourning Confederate soldiers,” Ringel said. “1888 makes it more problematic than 1865.” Ringel said if the city is helping pay for the upkeep of the Confederate monument in the cemetery, that is also problematic. Confederate monuments have been toppled by protesters or removed by local governments, including the “Fame”

Keys said he doesn’t know who toppled the statue.

CAROLYN DE BERRY

monument last night in Salisbury, as part of the wave of protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. This is not the first time the Confederate monument in Greensboro has become the object of protest. In 1969, during a period of unrest that saw the National Guard deployed in response to protests by students at NC A&T, vandals broke off a gun and hand from the statue, according to the Commemorative Landscapes website. And on Aug. 16, 2017, four days after antiracist Heather Heyer was murdered by a white supremacist during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., someone threw soiled male underwear at the statue.

Up Front News Opinion

The “Divest” mural was painted on the sidewalk outside of the Guilford County jail on July 4.

‘This is active. It’s a policy request. That’s a major distinction.’

Puzzles

then being handcuffed and escorted away from the sidewalk. No assault could be seen on the footage provided to TCB. Chief Deputy Steve Parr, who is listed as the victim of the assault in a police report, declined to comment on the incident. The individual who was charged with the assault did not respond to requests for comment in time of publication. Now, the organizer said that they want all of the charges against those involved dropped. “The city needs to listen to the people and the demands that was listed,” they said. “This is a moment where the city has an ability to set an example of what it means to really defund. Money and budgets are ultimately a reflection of priorities…. We’re in this larger political moment that’s part of a movement that’s been going on since 1492…. Greensboro is a majority-minority city. It needs to act like it. It needs to show us that it cares…. The policy and where the money goes does not reflect that. It needs to take appropriate action.”

Shot in the Triad

reads. “Investment is being pushed as deputies responded to the call. policy change, transparency and actual At first, the officers just stood nearby power for checks and balances to keep and watched them paint, the organizer the people safe from police misconduct. told TCB. It’s your move, Greensboro.” Then things quickly changed about 10 Both the mural and the demands minutes later when one of the officers come after weeks of protests for Black told some of the activists that they would lives have taken place across the counhave to remove the paint, or they would try after the killing of George Floyd in be arrested. At that point, the organizer Minneapolis at the hands of police on said they tried to get as many people out May 25. of the area as possible The group decided but that a handful of to paint in broad daypeople were arrested. light for their safety, “We were told that but knew it would everybody regardmake them more visless of our level of ible. involvement would be “It was a race arrested,” they said. against time,” said the “They didn’t give us organizer. any time, they just An incident report started moving in. It – Mural organizer by the sheriff’s departwas so chaotic.” ment states that a In video footage deputy reported that provided to TCB, two the jail was being vandalized when a people can be seen falling to the ground “large group of vandals defaced public as they are arrested. It is unclear whether property by painting the sidewalk with they tripped or were forced to the concrete stain.” ground by officers. Nearby, a person lies According to public information offace down on the sidewalk as they are ficers for the Greensboro police departhandcuffed with arms behind their back. ment and the Guilford County sheriff’s Another individual, the one charged office, 15 police officers and 16 sheriff’s with assault, can be seen tripping and

COURTESY PHOTO

Culture

They worked in the heat of the day under the rays of the sun. While the rest of the city celebrated July 4 with cookouts and pool parties, a few dozen activists, organizers and artists traded spatulas and sparklers for paintbrushes and chalk to create a new mural next to the Guilford County jail. The mural was the third work of art to be painted on Greensboro streets since the city began authorizing projects led by the community in the name of public art. However, the new mural outside of the jail was not authorized by the city. Five people were arrested after dozens of Greensboro police officers and Guilford County sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene towards the end of the mural painting. Four were arrested for injury to real property and one of them was also charged with assaulting Sheriff Chief Deputy Steve Parr. The four individuals were released on written promises to appear while the one individual who had the added assault charge was released on a $50 bail. Triad City Beat is not releasing the names of the individuals arrested because of concerns for their safety. “Divest,” reads the black painted letters on the wide sidewalk outside of the building off Edgeworth Street in downtown Greensboro. One of the organizers, who wished to remain anonymous for their personal safety, said painting the mural outside of the jail was intentional. “Nationally, people are painting on roads,” they said. “We were able to see that play out in a way that’s largely milquetoast here. There’s nothing wrong with a ‘One Love’ mural, and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ mural is great, but just five years ago, the city was completely opposed to this idea…. These things are nice, but they aren’t demanding or asking anything. They’re just statements.” This new mural, the organizer said, is different. “This is active,” they said. “It’s a policy request. That’s a major distinction.” The group, which was organized by mostly Black and Brown individuals, also released a list of demands that correspond with the mural. Among the demands are an increase in funding to Black communities in east Greensboro, divesting from the police and ending arrests for marijuana. “Investment in Black futures, in Black life, is being demanded,” the statement

July 9-15, 2020

New Greensboro mural comes with a demand — ‘Divest’ by Sayaka Matsuoka

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Up Front

July 9-15, 2020

OPINION EDITORIAL

The boards downtown A quick drive along downtown vandalism that ran through downtown Greensboro’s Elm Street reveals a city over two nights in May — many of the that’s still taken aback by the events that boards remain. transpired there in the wake of George Taken together, they’re a fine thing to Floyd’s death at the hands of Minnesee, Black excellence on display, sprung apolis police. from ground fertilized by the stains of On the last two nights of May, while an age-old conflict. hundreds of people flooded this street, Symbolism is important. And the Greensboro police deployed tear gas artwork is indeed transformational. But and fired pepper balls while windows the boards downtown still allude to their got smashed and some stores were true purpose: a barrier against Black looted. rage. What happened in Street protests have response was — eventumoved to areas like The boards ally — quite beautiful. Battleground Avenue Boards placed across and Friendly Center. downtown still vulnerable storefronts with defined allude to their true Protests became elements in a purpose, like the weekly themed art show, much Monday vigil outside purpose: a of it work from Black Melvin Municipal Buildbarrier against artists, bringing people ing for Marcus Smith, or to the space, reminding even the “Divest” mural Black rage. them of what happened, that sprang up on the and why. sidewalk outside the jail, A lot of these boards have been have made their cases without smashing taken down — one, a mural of Floyd by any windows. Greensboro artist Jenna Rice is headed But still, the boards. for the Smithsonian while many of the The boards say that the city is still rest are earmarked for local museums, on the defense, that things are not to be featured in a future exhibits. the same as they were. They’re a tacit But now — even five weeks after the prediction that the worst might possibly last window was shattered in downtown be yet to come, one more barrier to the Greensboro, the protests have moved sort of equality we seek. to more targeted areas and have been But the boards can’t stay up forever, executed without any of the sort of right?

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July 9-15, 2020

Nik Snacks Watermelon hater: My relationship with summer’s most popular fruit am a grown, Black woman who cannot stand to eat watermelon. And I don’t want to hear about

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I don’t care for the scent, color or texture of the melon. Just the sight of the verdant rind by Nikki Miller-Ka sends me into a frenzy. With or without seeds, I derive no joy in munching on the juicy, crisp cubes of summer’s most succulent fruit. I don’t remember the first time I had the fruit, but I do remember the last. Four years ago I was tasked with bringing snacks to the neighborhood pool to hang out with some friends and their children. Allergen-free foods were the only items allowed and that left nothing but hummus and fruit. I created melon skewers for the kids and soaked the rest in tequila and sprinkled it with homemade lime salt for the adults. The tequila changed the texture of the melon from grainy and watery to smooth and slick. The salt made the fruit tangy while the zest gave it zing. It made it better. I understand that not everyone shares my hatred for the fruit. I understand that the ruby-red flesh (and in the case of some varieties, a golden yellow) is one of the most desirable parts of summer, for some even the personification of summer itself. But not me. If I liked watermelon, I’d put salt on it — iodized or kosher, liberally sprinkled on cut slices with reckless abandon. The contrast of the salt would somehow make the melon sweeter. And I’d save the rind for chopping and pickling — the sugar-and-salt solution renders the hearty rind palatable and looks good on charcuterie picnic spreads. I’d make it upscale with the addition of briny feta-cheese crumbles, peppery leaves of arugula and drizzles of thick and dark aged balsamic vinegar. I would blend chunks into margaritas and milkshakes and make fruit salads more vibrant and diverse with the introduction of this melon into the bowl. But I don’t do these things. Because I don’t like NIKKI MILLER-KA If you like watermelon, there are all kinds of things you can do with it. If you like it, that is. watermelon. Culinary uses aside, the watermelon has a varied hisof white supremacy with negative, historical connotawage earners, it was not long before this type of entretory and mixed connotation in America. No fruit, with tions. But hey: Enjoy your watermelon. preneurship was seen by white people as a threat, and the exception of the apple Eve got blamed for consumthey turned the watermelon against us. ing, has been infused with such negative overtones. American media of the late 19th and early 20th cenWatermelon once symbolized self-sufficiency among How to pick a watermelon: turies thrived on the idea that Black Americans had a African Americans newly freed pathological weakness for under the guise of the EmanThe goal is to pick the sweetest, most ripe watermelon. cipation Proclamation of 1863. To try Nikki’s watermelon melon in the bin at the store or the farmers The trope spread throughout Following emancipation, many skewers recipe visit niksnacksonmarket. The rind color should be fairly dark and the late 1860s and supported Southern blacks grew and line.com/2016/06/melon-skewersdull but uniform overall, with a dull the post-emancipation argusold watermelons. The melons patina. Field spots are okay, but be sure the ment that Black people were grew wild and free, became with-lime-salt spot is orange. White spots are an indication of lazy watermelon-eaters. gigantic under the Southern little to no flavor inside. Pick one that is heavy So while for some the sun, and it became a symbol of for its size and sounds solid when you thump it watermelon is the ultimate symbol of summer, rising our freedom. with your thumb and forefinger. temperatures and the freedom to enjoy outdoors At the same time, unencumbered, others see the watermelon as a symbol as freed people entered the free-market economy as

July 9-15, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

CULTURE New GSO farmers market features food for the people by the people by Sayaka Matsuoka

anya DuBois never had any intentions of being a farmer. Born and raised in New York City, DuBois grew in a jungle of concrete and convenience stores rather than open fields and fireflies. And yet, on Saturday, she points to the multitude of produce spread out across the table at her tent at a new farmers market, describing the products with care. “These are patty pans squash,” she says, gesturing to some knobby, saucerlike vegetables. “They look like flying saucers. They probably have another name but that’s what we call them in the South.” When her husband Clarence’s grandfather passed away, leaving them his farm in his will, they initially planned on clearing the land and converting it to a regular homestead where they could quietly retire. But things changed when they actually saw the plot. “Once we got down here and saw the footprint and saw what he accomplished,” Tanya says, “it made sense for us to carry on.” Clarence’s grandfather, Oscar Quick, started the farm in Rockingham near the speedway after buying the land in the 1970s. He had moved down from New Jersey and began growing and selling greens like lettuce and collards along with tomatoes — everything necessary for a hearty salad. He grew his crops and sold them locally, asking his neighbors what they would want to eat, and occasionally taking his produce to local churches. “It was more like a neighborhood type thing,” Tanya explains. “But as he started declining in health, business went down and he began to sell off some of his land.” When the DuBoises took over three acres left to them in 2012, they began clearing away shrubs and trees that had begun to encroach on the land, in hopes of restarting the farm. “We had no experience in farming,” Tanya admits. “We knew nothing…[Oscar] did an old-style of farming. Plowing the land, planting crops and then having to rotate the crops. We knew we didn’t have a lot of experience in that.” They quickly familiarized themselves with area agricultural centers and had a specialist from NC A&T University come out to help them evaluate best practices

Patty pan squash, peaches and more line the table at the Gabor Farms tent at the Bountiful Lands farmers market in Greensboro

SAYAKA MATSUOKA

for farming. not eating fresh foods. They’re eating shelf-stable foods. There “We took classes and began learning about the soil and are all these sort of traps. Most of that is people just don’t learning how to market our vegetables,” Tanya says. know anything about nutrition. I’m seeing that more and In 2018, Gabor Farms made its debut. Since then, the Dumore: People don’t have the options to prosper. You’re setting Boises have been selling produce at area farmers markets in them up for failure.” Durham and Charlotte, and to produce hubs in Raleigh which As a child raised during the Civil Rights Movement, Barnes buy direct from farmers and resell produce to grocery stores. says she remembers how dangerous life could be, but that Recently, the DuBoises added another farmers market to their having access to healthy food was not an issue. rotation. “Almost everybody I knew grew food in their yard,” she says. The Bountiful Land Food for All Farmers Market celebrated “I’m not talking about a farm. I’m just talking about in the its second week of being open this year on July 4 by invityard. Even poor people were not hungry. You might not have ing members of the community to had the newest shoes but you could come shop at two locations — one eat some squash and tomatoes for Bountiful Lands Food for All in Greensboro and one in High Point. sure.” Both locations are situated in areas By the time Barnes came back to this Farmers Market is open evthat are known as food deserts, where area in 2006, she said that was not the residents lack access to fresh fruits and ery Saturday from 10 a.m. case. vegetables. In Greensboro, the market “No one knew how to grow food,” to 2 p.m. at 1901 McConnell opened in the Willow Oaks neighborshe says. “People had no way to feed Road in Greensboro and at hood off McConnell Road. In addition themselves. People who were impovto bringing nutritional food to an erished were required to turn to food 701 East Washington Drive under-served area, another goal of the pantries or other kinds of programs in High Point. Learn more on that would feed them.” farmers market is to highlight Black and Brown farmers. Bountiful Lands is a step to changing their Facebook page. “It’s important that Black and that, Barnes says. Brown, poor, disenfranchised people “We wanted to go into a community do not succumb to the various strucwhere we refused to put a grocery tures that bind them,” says Deborah Barnes, the chair of the store,” she says. “We Black people have fed America for 400 state NAACP’s anti-poverty committee and the organizer of years. We can feed ourselves. You don’t want us to have food, the market. “We have a choice not to be destroyed by this.” it’s not a problem. We just have to go back and teach people Barnes, who also teaches at NC A&T University, believes in to do it again.” the power of food to change people’s lives. She hopes individuals who come to shop at the farmers “In the poor communities, where they only have fast food or market not only have access to fresher, healthier food, but Sheetz, they’re not eating whole foods,” Barnes says. “They’re view farming as a viable option for them or learn techniques

July 9-15, 2020 Up Front News Opinion Puzzles

look at the people who are growing the food. I can let them know, ‘Hey, we see you and support you.’ This is priceless to me. You should know about your local farms. Black and Brown people grow food too. We don’t just cook it or serve it. This is community.” Jacobs poses with a sprite melon, which she says she’ll take to her friend’s cookout later in the day as well as bags filled with zucchini, squash, onions, corn, peaches and green tomatoes. Down a few tents, Brittani and Jarold Hendrick hold their daughter Joanna’s hand as they shop at Tanya DuBois’ table. While the family lives on the other side of town, they decided to patronize the market when they learned about it on Instagram. “We’re looking for diversity in general,” Brittani Hendrick says. “We want to see America represented in the food that we eat. I would like, especially for our daughter, to see diversity in all resources.” As the first hour of the market comes to a close, most of the patrons that come to the market are people of color. But Barnes says that the market is for everyone. “The goal is to make people food secure and also importantly, it’s about food sovereignty,” she says. “For people to have the food they want to eat.”

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to start their own gardens at home. “We want people to consider food production as a career option,” she says. On Saturday, dozens of families and individuals park in the gravel lot next to the market which sits on a mound and begin to peruse the goods under the tents which give respite from the heat. The market is small but plentiful in a variety of produce from different kinds of squash to melons to plums. A resource table full of information about medical testing, free condoms and job opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals sits in the middle of the row of tents. “I live right around the corner,” says Sharon Jacobs, the assistant principal of nearby Foust Elementary. She tries a piece of what vendor Phillip Barker calls “sprite melon” before Barnes tells the vendors they can’t give out samples because of the virus. Jacobs says, “This right here is amazing. To have this on this side of town I think it’s a beautiful thing. It was quicker for me to get here than to get to the grocery store.” Jacobs, who is Black, says she likes to buy local produce whenever she can but says that she appreciates having the ability to buy from Black farmers. “This right here is a huge classroom,” she says. “I can

SAYAKA MATSUOKA

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Brittani and Jarold Hendrick with their daughter Joanna at the farmer’s market.

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1 Movie in a case, e.g. 4 $, at a currency exchange 7 Web traffic goal 13 Sign up for 15 “Insecure” star Issa 16 Wear 17 Boss of all mischievous sprites? 19 Singer Grande 20 Jazz singer Laine 21 How a typesetter turns a president into a resident? 23 “What’s this now?” 24 Nebraska’s largest city 26 Cross-country hauler 27 Reduce in rank ©2020 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 29 “Miracle Workers” network 32 Racket 33 Fanged movie creature, for short 34 Largest country bordering the Mediterranean 38 Expensive version of an East Asian board game? 41 Narrowest possible election margin 42 Neighbor of Tex. 45 NHL division 48 Numerical prefix 49 The last world capital, alphabetically Answers from last issue 51 Dove sounds 53 Roster listing 22 Like video games for the 13-19 set 56 YouTube interrupters 23 Like almost all primes 57 Removing the word before “and behold”? 25 Sparse 60 Voting rights org. 28 Dos times dos times dos 62 Certain book page size 30 Piece of cake 63 Good publicity for characters like Grimace, 31 Papal topic Amethyst, and Twilight Sparkle? 35 Devoted 66 Late WWE wrestler Dusty 36 Day-___ 67 Charlemagne’s domain, briefly 37 Stunned 68 “It must have been something ___” 39 Doc for head colds 69 “___ Rides Again” (classic western) 40 Vegetable part that can be served in a 70 “Then what?” salad (as opposed to a gumbo) 71 Vulpine critter 43 Paved the way for 44 Sit-up targets Down 45 International agreement 1 Turntablists, familiarly 46 “Well said” 2 Receipt 47 State gambling games 3 One with a mission 50 High-priority notation 4 Geller who claims to be telepathic 52 City, in Germany 5 “The Metamorphosis” character Gregor 54 A as in “Aristotle” 6 Profundity 55 Lament 7 Coffeehouse order 58 Bon ___ (“Holocene” band) 8 Innocent fun 59 Prone to butting in 9 Harvard and Princeton, e.g. 61 151, in Roman numerals 10 Came to a close 64 Color meaning “stop” internationally 11 Video game company with a famous 65 Dinosaur in the “Toy Story” movies cheat code 12 Fasten securely, perhaps 14 “Born,” in some announcements 18 Ginseng or ginger, e.g.

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July 9-15, 2020

CROSSWORD ‘Sugar Free’—let’s do away with that sugary suffix. SUDOKU