TCB March 18, 2021 — Foul Play: The ACC Tournament, Take 2

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point March 18-24, 2021 triad-city-beat.com

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Foul play One year later, COVID-19 strikes ACC Tourney again.

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Police drones PAGE 6

Stop Asian hate crimes PAGE 5

Those purple lights PAGE 2

March 18-24, 2021

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Against the dying of the purple light

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he light is No. None of these things. a brilliant The same social media channel that purple, deepened the mystery of the purple light and I also provided my answer. These beautiknow you’ve seen ful arrangements of photons are nothing it just as I have more than the result of shoddy workmanseen it, perhaps ship and pedestrian corner-cutting. not noticing it “The purple lights are caused [by] a

by Brian Clarey at first, but then manufacturer defect we have identified in looking for it everywhere you go. some LED lights we have installed around It first truly registered, for me, on a the Carolinas,” a rep from Duke Energy drive home down Yanceyville Street, tweeted. “The issue causes the lights to when, as I passed Revolution Mill, I found transition from white to purple over time.” myself bathed, for just a moment, in an The he gave a link where customers ethereal, salubrious, deep-purple glow, so could report these faulty bulbs, marking quick I thought I may have them for replacement. imagined it.

And it all feels like a Two subsequent drives cosmic joke on me and the That it means later, I realized: This was a things I love. lone streetlight, just one in I went out there again toso much to a long series of them, that night, not to rage against the me is reason gave off this unearthly radidying of the light, but to just enough for ance. Maybe it’s a promotion stand under it, to feel it was that RevMill came up with, I over me and to look at the someone else to thought. Brilliant, and so very world through it in all its lush, want it gone. cool. soothing, royal purpleness But then. before someone puts it on A friend in Carrboro a list and another someone posted a photo of his car under a streetunceremoniously removes it. light giving off that same velvety hue. “No That it means so much to me is reason filter,” he noted on the post. Friends in enough, in my mind, for someone else to Charlotte captured similar images. want it gone.

I had to know. I had to know.

But I noticed, on my drive down YancWas this a statewide stealth campaign, eyville Street, another purple streetlight the purpose of which to be revealed later? gracing the parking lot of an affordableWas the purple shade to raise awareness housing complex, and another even for domestic violence, or to underscore further down. I saw perhaps a dozen other the political demographic of the state? brilliant white streetlights already beginCould it be a public art project like The ning to ripen into that deep lavender sea.

Gates in Central Park? Did Nido Qubein There’s a lot more of them than I somehow arrange this as a promotion for thought. And they’ll never get them all.

High Point University?

1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336.256.9320 BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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CONTRIBUTORS

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COVER

— North Carolina head

coach Roy Williams during the 2021 New York Life ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro.Wednesday, March 10, 2020. (Photo by Sara D. Davis, the ACC)

March 18-24, 2021

CITY LIFE March 18-21

by Michaela Ratliff

THURSDAY March 18

Saint Joan @ UNC Greensboro (GSO) Online

FRIDAY March 19

History Lunch Break: Ella Baker — Six Decades in the Making @ Greensboro History Museum (GSO) 12 p.m.

SATURDAY March 20

March Market @ Winston Junction Market (W-S) 11 a.m.

Up Front News

Grab a bite to eat from Urban Street Grill Food Truck while shopping with more than 40 local artists and makers selling handmade jewerly, repurposed furniture and more. Visit the event page for more information.

Willingham Story Slam @ MUSE Winston-Salem (W-S) 7 p.m.

In partnership with Willingham Theater in the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center, MUSE Winston-Salem is excited to announce this virtual storytelling event with the theme of “Never saw it coming,” with storytellers reciting tales of surprises, rethinking and more. Guests of the night include Katherine Perry, executive director of Leadership Winston-Salem, and emcee LB the Poet. Visit Eventbrite for free registration.

Opening the Vault: Highlights from 24 Years of Student Films @ UNC School of the Arts (W-S) Online The UNCSA School of Filmmaking is showing on-demand screenings from their archive of student films from the past 24 years. The curated list of student films includes some created by notable alumni, such as producer David Gordon Green, when they were in school. The films will be available to view until the 21st. For more information, visit UNCSA’s website.

Kick of the first day of spring at SouthEnd Brewing Co. Enjoy the sounds of country band Cumberland Drive while indulging in new beer flavors and a new food menu.

Culture

During the Sit-In Movement of the 1960s, Southern Christian Leadership Conference member Ella Baker, with students from Shaw University, organized the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Dr. Lea E. Williams is hosting a virtual discussion dedicated to the life and work of Ella Baker.

Register on Zoom.

Opinion

The UNCG School of Theater presents Saint Joan, a story that highlights the determination of Joan of Arc, for on-demand viewing through Saturday.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the School of Theater’s website.

First Day of Spring Celebration @ SouthEnd Brewing Co. (GSO) 12 p.m.

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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March 18-24, 2021

Coronavirus in the Triad: SUNDAY March 21

Up Front

Fred Moyer Virtual Concert @ High Point Theatre (HP) 4 p.m.

(As of Wednesday, March 17)

Documented COVID-19 diagnoses NC 889,310 (+11,546) Forsyth 32,728 (+337) Guilford County

40,144 (+546)

Opinion

News

COVID-19 deaths

In partnership with the High Point Community Concert Association, High Point Theater invites you to view a livestreamed concert of professional pianist Frederick Moyer, who has performed from Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Recital Hall. View live from HP Theatre’s Facebook page.

NC

11,757 (+162)

Forsyth

357 (+5)

Guilford

533 (+15)

Documented recoveries NC

852,732 (+1714,908)

Forsyth

31,253 (1,332)

Guilford

38,543 (+598)

Current cases Culture

NC

24,821 (-2,524)

Forsyth 1,123 Guilford

1,067 (-67)

Shot in the Triad

Hospitalizations (right now) NC

1,002 (-73)

Forsyth

*no data*

Guilford

56 (-5)

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Vaccinations

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NC First Dose

1,974,455 (+245,295)

Fully vaccinated

1,250,577 (11.9%) (+205,261)

Forsyth First Dose

70,441 (+8,223)

Fully vaccinated

51,746 (+11,259) (13.5%)

Guilford First dose

106,073 (+24,508)

Fully vaccinated

57,387 (+10,114) (10.7%)

Up Front

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News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

n Tuesday evening a white man when there is a shooting of an unarmed went on a killing spree in AtlanBlack person, and that’s to be expected. ta, shooting up three massage My experience as an Asian person is not parlors, murdering eight indithe same as the experience of a Black viduals — many of them Asian. It was the person in this country, but it does hurt. most recent and visible instance of Asian We are here. In fact, we’ve been here hate crime that has been on the rise since since the 1800s. We built a lot of the last year, when Trump dubbed COVID-19 infrastructure that led to this country the “China virus.” According to Stop AAPI becoming what it is today (see California Hate, a coalition that tracks incidents of railroads). violence and harassment against Asian All I — and other Asians, I suspect — Americans and Pacific Islanders in the US, are asking is for people to see us. Really approximately 3,800 incidents have been see us. reported in the past year.

An odd thing has been happening lateSo, on Tuesday, I cried. ly, or really for a large portion of my life I cried when my friend, who lives near — I forget that I am Asian. Not like I think Atlanta, messaged me first thing that I’m white or some shit like that. In that if morning out of the blue to ask, if I, here I’m out hanging out with non-Asians and in North Carolina, was okay. I cried when then I pass a mirror, I’m like, Oh yeah, I’m they told me that they were going to text Asian. And honestly, I don’t know what their roommate when they left their apartthat’s about. The simple answer is that I ment to make sure they were okay so they still have some deep-seeded self-hatred can check in one another. They are Asian. somewhere that I have to work through.

I am Asian.

But the other possibility There’s a certain is that I’ve made myself invisibility to being invisible due to the realiThere’s a certain Asian in this country. We ties that come with existinvisibility to being oscillate, existing in the ing in this country as an Asian in this country. in-between of Black and Asian. Every time I was white. At times we’ve met with a racist remark, We oscillate, existing been demonized and a question of ,”Where in the in-between of made to seem unworthy are you from? No, where Black and white. of being in this country are you reallyyy from?” (see Chinese Exclusion The insinuation that I am Act and the Japanese “other,” the narrative that internment camps and the Muslim ban); I do not belong, that my race, my identity, other times, we’ve been lumped with white I, am something to be demonized and folks in an effort to bring down other thus erased, has long been a part of my people of color, namely the Black comstory as it has for so many other POCs. munity (see model minority myth).

So. please talk about this. We matter.

Growing up, I would fall asleep praying Don’t just give a shit when Kamala Harris that I would wake up white. That I would makes history for becoming the first Asian wake up with “normal” sized eyes. That my woman VP (did you even know that?) or hair would be blonde. That I would have when you get excited about the new Thai white skin. As I grew up, I came to appreplace around the corner. Reach out to ciate, love and take pride in my Japanese your Asian friends and make sure they’re heritage. It is me. It will be my children. It okay. Ask them about their identity. Just in is everything. general, give a shit. Honestly, it’s all we’re And yet, when hate crimes against asking for and all we’ve been asking for, Asian and Pacific Islanders started hapfor a long, long time. pening last year due to the pandemic and To all my Asians out there, I love you. I racist rhetoric, and again this year, I didn’t love us. I love me. I see you. hear that much from the people around me — honestly, the non-Asian people To learn more and support Asian comaround me — about it. We’ve been reachmunities, visit stopaapihate.org. ing out and supporting each other, sure.

But there isn’t that same sort of rage like

March 18-24, 2021

Stand up for your fellow Asians now

by Sayaka Matsuoka

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WSPD joins other local law enforcement agencies in acquiring drones

by Sayaka Matsuoka

Opinion

News

Up Front

March 18-24, 2021

NEWS

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

The Winston-Salem Police Department has acquired four drones, two of which have infrared technology.

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he Winston-Salem Police Department now has drones.

During a public safety committee meeting on Monday, Assistant Police Chief Wilson Weaver led a presentation in which he outlined how and when four new drones would be used by the department.

The drones, which are called small, unmanned aircraft systems or sUAS, were acquired by the department through city funds and a partnership with the Winston-Salem Police Foundation. The total cost came to about $10,000 for all four drones. Each drone has at least one camera; two are equipped with infrared technology and two cameras each. According to Lt. John D. Morris of the Special Operations Division, which will oversee the drone unit, the program went live on Tuesday.

While the department addressed privacy concerns about the usage of the drones, some members of the community say they believe the drones will do more harm than good.

Weaver started the presentation off by

immediately acknowledging concerns from the community.

“We understand that our residents may have concerns of the law enforcement use of this technology,” Weaver said on Monday. “We are aware of community concerns of potential invasions of privacy…. The [drone] program will not be utilized as a general surveillance platform…. We will not be flying into our residents’ backyards, looking into their windows to invade their privacy.”

Instead, Weaver noted that the drones will be used primarily for crime-scene documentation, traffic-scene documentation, to help aid in searching for missing persons, large-event monitoring and during severe-weather responses. During the presentation, Weaver and others with the police department explained that the drones could be used any time of day, even at night, but each one can has a maximum battery life of about 25 minutes. The flight range for each drone is about 3.7 miles and only officers trained and licensed through the Federal Aviation Administration will be allowed

to operate them. The drones do not have microphones, and thus cannot capture audio.

During the meeting, almost all of the committee members expressed outright support for the new technology.

“I’m very much in favor of this,” said Councilmember Kevin Mundy of the Southwest Ward. “I feel like we need to be in front of the technology curve rather than behind it.”

Mundy’s enthusiasm was echoed by other committee members such as John Larson who represents the South Ward and Barbara Burke of the Northeast Ward.

“I’m excited about the position that it will put the police department in to be more efficient with the job that you’re already doing,” Burke said. She immediately followed up that sentiment by encouraging the department, again, to stress to the public how the technology would not be used for surveillance.

“I just want to say that I know, with the messaging, you will be careful to make sure that the public understands

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without a doubt that this technology will not be used in any way as a surveillance platform,” Burke said.

Despite the councilmembers’ reiteration and the police department’s insistence that the drones will not be used for surveillance, some members of the community remain concerned about the new technology.

“Our initial response is that we’re disappointed and don’t want to have this in our community at all,” said Bailey Pittenger, a member of the Triad Abolition Project. “It’s an invasion of privacy.

This is an example of mission creep.

Although there is an outline for what the drones can be used for, there’s no guarantee that that’s all it will be used for.”

Pittenger pointed out the capturing of data and footage by the drones.

“Where are these videos going?” she asked.

During Monday’s presentation, Capt.

Brian Dobey explained that data from the drones would be stored in the department’s Axon evidence files. Morris

Cont. on pg. 8

‘Drones’ cont. from pg. 6 March 18-24, 2021 Up Front News

Only officers trained and certified through the FAA will be allowed to operate the drones, according to the police department.

mostly for things like crash reconstruction investigations and search warrants, according to Public Information Officer Ron Glenn.

LaShanda Millner-Murphy of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office explained that “if there are grounds to believe that the [drone] will collect evidence of criminal wrongdoing and/or if it will be used in a manner that will intrude upon an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy, we will obtain a search warrant prior to conducting the flight.”

Because the use of drones by police is a relatively new phenomenon, not much comprehensive data has been gathered on how the technology has been applied. And with limited data and lack of oversight, Pittenger said she’s concerned about the effects drones will have on communities.

Puzzles

“It doesn’t make our communities safer,” she said. “When we expand policing, we’re expanding more profiling of our Black and brown communities…. It’s just going to supply more demand for policing and more people in the jail. It’s important to understand that policing isn’t just the police brutality aspect, it’s also the systemic aspect of mass incarceration.”

Shot in the Triad

suspicion that… swift action is needed to prevent imminent danger to life or serious damage to property….” The drones can be used to “photograph gatherings to which the general public is invited on public or private land” as well.

Opponents of drones say there is potential that exceptions like these in state laws will allow police to use drones to infringe on rights like free speech. Last year, police in Arizona used drone footage to arrest three Black Lives Matter protesters whom they say were stopping traffic outside a bookstore. In California, some law enforcement agencies are using drones that have AI technology, allowing them to operate without pilots, much like self-driving cars. Instances like these, while they have yet to take place locally, are causes for concern, Chicurel-Bayard said.

“Innocent people may fear punishment if they exercise their First Amendment rights on issues where they disagree with the government,” they said. “While some reasonable restrictions generally provide some limit for the use of drones by law enforcement, allowing the use of drones in areas where the public is invited to gather, on public or private land, certainly raises privacy concerns.”

In Greensboro, drones manned by the police department have been deployed approximately six times since last year,

Culture

ately infringe upon the rights of Black and Brown community members,” said Dustin Chicurel-Bayard, the director of communications for the ACLU of North Carolina. “The adoption of drones can be seen as another way our law enforcement agencies are militarizing. Our communities expect law enforcement to respect civil rights and civil liberties.

Spending taxpayer funds on drones is another example of why there is strong community support for divesting municipal funds from law enforcement agencies and reinvesting that money in community support programs.”

Another concern by activists is the lack of uniformity drones usage by law enforcement agencies nationwide. Despite their growing popularity, currently no national law dictates how drones can be used by law enforcement. In NC, GS 15A-300.1 outlines rules of how drones can or cannot be used. The law bans the use of drones to “conduct surveillance of a person or a dwelling occupied by a person… without that person’s consent.”

The law makes a number of exceptions for drones used by law enforcement. Among them include the use of drones to counter terrorist attacks and to conduct surveillance “in an area that is within the law enforcement officer’s plain view.” Officers can also use drones if the agency “possesses reasonable

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Opinion

with the WSPD replied to an email by TCB that the data would be “stored as per departmental policies and rules of evidence” but did not specify how long the data would be stored for.

Like body-worn camera footage, the data collected by police drones is not public record and is restricted in the state of North Carolina. In February, state Sen. Paul Lowe of Forsyth County filed SB 109, which would allow city officials to view police footage without a court order. The bill passed its first reading and was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations.

With its acquisition on Tuesday, the Winston-Salem Police Department becomes the fourth law enforcement agency in the area to own drones. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office currently has four drones, and the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has five, two of which were purchased this year.

The Greensboro Police Department has two drones for daily use and one for training purposes. TCB could not confirm whether the High Point Police Department has drones at this time.

According to data collected by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in 2020, the number of drones being used by law enforcement agencies across the country is on the rise. Based on their report, at least 1,578 state and local safety agencies in the US have acquired drones. In 2018, that number was closer to 1,000. Currently, 70 percent of drones are being used by law enforcement agencies like police and sheriffs’ departments versus other safety agencies like fire departments. In North Carolina, close to two dozen law enforcement agencies currently own drones.

Law enforcement officers and public officials who support the usage of drones say that they will help ensure public safety and enable officers to be more efficient. According to research by Purdue University in 2019, drones were shown to be more effective and safer in crashmapping car highway accidents than conventional methods.

Civil rights advocates are voicing concerns that the usage of drones is an expansion of policing in an era when national conversations around law enforcement have been on the rise since the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

“Given how racism is deeply rooted in the criminal legal system, it’s not hard to imagine that law enforcement could use drones in ways that disproportion-

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On March 9, in collaboration with FEMA, the COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center at the Four Seasons Town Centre opened. It will operate seven days a week with the capacity to provide up to 3,000 vaccinations per day, with options for drive-thru service in the parking lot and service at an indoor clinic.

Photos by Carolyn de Berry.

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Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

March 18-24, 2021

FEMA COVID-19 vaccine site at Fours Seasons Mall in GSO

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Diana Giraldo of Wake Forest, NC gets her COVID-19 vaccine at the FEMA-supported mass vaccination site at Four Seasons Town Centre.

Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

o one is talking about would be enough to trigger a new the next Constitutional convention, as there is no time limit on Convention — that arcane the Convention of States application. process by which states Just 18 more need to pass it, and we can bypass Congress to create new will have yet another historical first. amendments for our nation’s most Naturally, North Carolina has a important document.

House bill sponsored by Republican No one, that is, except state legislaleadership: House Majority Leader tures — 43 of them — who have filed John Bell, House Whip Jon Hardister, or passed or are considering legislaRep. Dennis Riddle from Alamance tion requesting one.

County and Rep. Jason Saine of LinSome explanation may be in order. coln County. It passed its first reading Article V of the US Constitution last week. describes the amendment process, It’s possible that the next Constituallowing just two ways in which they tional Convention is not a Republican may be altered. The first, more plot to wrest control of the nation conventional before the party method, requires becomes unable a two-thirds vote to win an election It’s possible that the from both houses of — remember, a next Constitutional Congress, at which Republican presitime the proposed dential candidate Convention is not a amendment must has won the majorbe ratified by ity vote only twice Republican plot to three-fourths of the since 1988; both wrest control of the states. That is the were Bushes. only method that There are a nation before the has ever been used number of blue since 1789, when the party becomes unable and purple states Constitution kicked interested as well. to win an election. in as the law of the Washington, land.

Virginia, Vermont, The other method is the states’ Maine and New Jersey all have applicheck against this federal power, cations in the pipeline this year. That’s and it sort of works in reverse: If because Congressional term limits two-thirds of the states — that’s 33 of have become the biggest rallying cry them — agree to hold a Constitutional for the new convention.

Convention, they can write and ratify And it is time to address gaps in amendments right there, without the our governing document that have need for Congressional approval, as emerged as American life has gotten long as three-quarters of the states more complex — the last time a new agree — that’s 38. amendment was added was 1971, the Since 2014, 15 state legislatures 26th, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. have already written and passed what But after Trump’s Insurrection, it’s is known as the “Convention of States hard not see this as another coup application.” Eleven of these bills attempt by the right, another method have passed since Donald Trump was of circumventing the will of American elected in 2016. All of them are red voters to further their dying agenda. states Trump.

Twenty-one more states are weighing this legislation right now. This

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www.cheesecakesbyalex.com

Constitutional Convention or Trojan horse?

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336.893.8118

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March 18-24, 2021

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March 18-24, 2021 Up Front News

CULTURE One year later: The ACC Tourney Take Two

by Brian Clarey.

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t starts with a flashback: March 12, 2020 — Day 3 of the 2020 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, back in Greensboro for the first time since 2015.

That’s when ACC Commissioner John Swofford halted Florida State’s pregame drills, called the media onto the court and sent everybody home. And there it was: a line of demarcation, a clear point between the before and the after. For many of us, it was the day that the coronavirus became real.

This is why, probably for the rest of my life, when I think about the coronavirus, I will think about the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

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***

ast year’s ACC tournament was a big deal for the Greensboro Coliseum, which was also set to host an early round of the NCAA Final Four Tournament the next week; it was a big deal for the city of Greensboro, too — a chance to dig out those “Tournament Town” banners and remind the overlords of college basketball why our city makes a great host for these events.

The opening of a new, coliseum-led downtown performing arts center was set to coincide with the NCAA rounds, and a slate of events had been booked downtown.

It was a big deal for Triad City Beat, too. I hadn’t covered the tournament in years, but I had secured a credential and enlisted photographer Todd Turner to shoot the thing. I was going to file something every day for both tournaments, and I had lined up sponsors, a posting schedule and a bracket contest for the readers with a cash prize.

People were talking about the coronavirus on that first day. I didn’t see any masks, but I had never seen so many members of the media washing their hands after going to the bathroom. That afternoon, news trickled through the media center that Coachella had been postponed.

But by Day 2 of the tournament, cases had been popping up across the country.

That afternoon, the NCAA announced that forthwith, all college sports for the rest of the year would be held without fans. The UNC System moved all classes online at all of its schools. Later, at halftime during the Carolina-Syracuse game, the ACC told us this would be the

last game of the tournament with fans inside the coliseum. That night, the NBA suspended its season until further notice.

The media enclave lit up with the news. No fans! A cameraman remembered a baseball game in 2015 between the Orioles and White Sox that was played without fans because of unrest on the streets of Baltimore after the police killing of Freddy Gray.

None of us knew how prophetic this memory would be.

On Thursday morning, legendary News & Record sports columnist Ed Hardin pulled me aside.

“We’re not playing these games today.”

Overnight, the SEC, Big 10, Big 12 and Big East had canceled their tournaments. The Ivy League had never even started theirs. And there was no one I trusted more with this than Hardin.

Sure enough, not 60 minutes later there we all were, standing shellshocked on the court while Swofford awarded the ACC trophy to Florida State, the regular-season champs, their ticket to the NCAA Final Four Tournament set to start in a week.

“If there is an NCAA tournament,” Swofford Carolina’s Armando Bacot (5) battles for a loose ball with Notre Dame’s ROBERT said. “We hope there will be. We can’t assure Cormac Ryan (5) during the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum.WILLETT/ACC there will be.”

There wasn’t. coliseum on that day in 2020, picked up my kids from school and started working at my dining room table. *** Everything is different. The little media village, usually relegated to some rooms off the coliseum floor, had been moved have been covering the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournato a swanky part of the concession ring. Press Row, usually ment in some manner since 2003, when my editor Jeri a couple rows of tables on one side of the court, was now Rowe had me spend the night in the coliseum watchL-shaped, with spots along the end zone, and the reporters, ing the crew lay the basketball court atop an ice rink, once crammed together shoulder-to-shoulder, spaced six feet back when they still held hockey games there. apart.

The first time I sat at Press Row — the line of courtside There were fewer reporters by at least half, no corps of vestreporters’ stations for working media — was 2006. I remember ed photojournalists rotating out of the spots under the nets, I had the last seat in the line, the absolute worst, bottomno looky-loos — those who secure credentials just to get great of-the-barrel slot. Scott Yost of the old Rhinoceros Times had seats for a game — and no long table of printed press materia better spot, and he wasn’t even writing anything. This was als that I’ve used for every tournament I’ve ever covered. No before smartphones, and not every reporter had a laptop back press conferences, no locker-room access, no in-person interthen. I did, but I covered that tournament with a notebook views with players or coaches. No swag bags for media, either. and a pen. There were piles and piles of printed pages with Usually we get a pin or a hat or something. Last year it was a game books, school programs, roster sheets and more availwireless phone charger with the ACC logo on it. able on a long table to all working press. I used those, too.

More than that: There were no cheerleaders, spirit bands or This year, I had halfheartedly applied for credentials and dance teams; no halftime show; no concessions or merchanwasn’t particularly surprised that I had been turned down for dise; no little kids volunteering to push sweat mops under the an in-person seat, though with a “virtual credential” I’d have baskets; no long-winded presentations by corporate championline access to all the games, the post-game press conferons; no time-out promos; no T-shirt cannon; no mascots; and ences, pool photography and all stats and data. But a couple very few fans — few enough, that first game to count them: I days later, Gov. Roy Cooper eased coronavirus restrictions, saw 33 people seated in the lower deck, all masked and sensiallowing for some fans into the coliseum for the games, and, bly spaced. presumably, a couple more reporters. So I kept asking, and I These early games, for the lowest-seeded teams in the got cleared for a credential on the morning of the first day, tournament, can be tough to watch but Tuesday held enough just a few hours before the first game started at noon. drama to keep everyone interested. For one, 13-seed Miami I didn’t even have a seat assigned on Press Row, but I conupset 12-seed Pitt in what would become a damn good run sidered myself lucky to be a part of the skeleton crew covering through the tourney. Also there was Wake Forest, a 14 seed the event while Ed Hardin was not, laid off in September 2020 that, had they been able to get a couple rounds deep, could with a few other members of the N&R sports crew. have been the focus of this entire article. The Triad’s only ACC Also, I hadn’t really been anywhere in a year, since I left the team lost in miserable fashion on Tuesday by holding the lead

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March 18-24, 2021

against 11-seed Notre Dame for the first 35 minutes of the game, at times by as many as 15 points, only to lose on a 3-point buzzer-beater by Notre Dame’s Trey Wertz.

And then there’s Duke.

The perennial darling of college basketball, the Duke Blue Devils came in a 10 seed this year, with a dismal regular-season performance that had them considering the possibility of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995. Jasmyn Fritz of the Triangle’s Sports Shop Radio figured that Duke didn’t have to win the ACC Tournament to get to the Big Dance, “but they have to get all the way to the championship game.”

Every reporter in the scrum had keyed in on this storyline: This Duke team would have to win at least four games to avoid being the one that broke Coach K’s legendary streak, one of the best in sports.

On that first night, Duke obliged by smashing 15-seed Boston College 86-51 with strong play from freshman guard DJ Steward, who put up 17 points, and freshman center Mark Williams, who was good for 13. I knew the game was over when there was still 14 minutes left. ***

Opinion

Florida State’s RaiQuan Gray (1) heads to the basket as Carolina’s Armando Bacot (5) defends during Florida State’s 69-66 victory in the semifinals of the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Puzzles

2, knocking out 5-seed Clemson in a close one, after a monster second half by sophomore guard Isaiah Wong, who turned in 13 of his 20 points and two of his six rebounds. Final score: 67-64.

But the only person in the arena who cared about the Hurricanes was a student journalist from the university, who was sleeping on his cousin’s couch in Greensboro while covering the team.

That left Duke and Carolina, the last two games of the night and the two teams for which the ACC was made. A couple more wins by either team, and we’d see a classic Tobacco Road face-off in the semifinals.

For so many ACC fans, this rivalry is what it’s all about; it’s what every journalist, TV producer, ACC staffer and casual fan wanted to see.

It didn’t look good for Duke. They’d already lost twice to Louisville in the regular season, and during warmups they looked small and young, which they were.

I am a sucker for an underdog, plus the storyline: Could the Blue Devils come off a mediocre season to win ACC? Or, at least, continue their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances, which could only happen after a couple more wins?

Everyone who watched that game knows Duke gave an inspiring performance, pulling ahead early in the first half and never really giving it up. Two players, sophomore forward Matthew Hurt and freshman center Mark Williams, put up more than 20 points apiece. Williams snagged an incredible 19 rebounds in that game; not a record — that honor goes to John Richter of NC State,

Shot in the Triad

the grievances of Black folks, after livestreaming dozens of hours of protests, writing and editing thousands of words’ worth of stories, after Winston-Salem was occupied and Free Dope Major shut down the highway and the protesters got arrested at the Confederate monument in Graham, after everything I, personally, have learned in the last 12 months, I see it.

I see it.

I had high hopes for this North Carolina storyline, too, sweetened by NC State freshman starter Cam Hayes, who was a star at Greensboro Day School before committing to the Wolfpack. Syracuse, NC State’s opponent for the first game of the day, also had a local angle: Head Coach Jim Boeheim has talked a bunch of shit about Greensboro in the past, specifically about its status as host for the ACC Tourney.

It’s worth mentioning here that the ACC was founded in Greensboro, at the Starmount Country Club in 1953, 60 years before Syracuse joined the conference, and that this was the 25th such tournament to be held here, if you count last year, which I do.

But Hayes had a lackluster performance in his hometown ACC debut: just 9 points, two of them threepointers and one of them a free throw. No assists. In my notes, I gave the player of the game to Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim, the coach’s son, who put up 27 points, with five assists and a few rebounds thrown in. It wasn’t close: Syracuse pulled ahead halfway through the first half and NC State never caught up, losing 89-68.

I considered the Miami storyline — after the previous day’s upset of Pitt, they took down a big dog on Day

ETHAN HYMAN/ ACC

Culture

ad Wake Forest managed to hang onto their lead against Notre Dame, Day 2 of the ACC Tournament could have been known as North Carolina Day, with games from Duke, UNC and NC State on the docket.

By now, UNCG had won the Southern Conference Tournament and App State won the Sun Belt, giving each a berth in the NCAA Tournament. NC A&T looked pretty good too, with a shot at winning the MEAC Tournament, which had just started. NC looked to be ably represented at the Big Dance, which would also be very different this year: The whole thing will be played under a bubble in Indianapolis, spread among several event spaces and culminating at Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts play football, before a limited number of fans.

That’s the plan anyway. By the end of the day, everything seemed much less certain than it did at the beginning. At the beginning, things were rosy.

The day before, North Carolina registered fewer than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time since autumn. A COVID relief bill had passed the House, with a huge raft of provisions for poor and working people.

Like approximately one in four Americans, I had taken my first shot of the vaccine the morning of Day 2. And though my name wasn’t on the official list of Press Row seat assignments, I finagled a seat in the north end zone and snapped a couple photos with my phone to make my college roommates jealous.

A lot has changed over the years on Press Row, but the view is always spectacular.

I was one of the younger reporters when I started covering these games, back when the press corps for just about any high-level sport was overwhelmingly male and white, even for basketball, which is the Blackest sport.

It’s changed: more women and people of color sit on Press Row, more Black-owned media companies have access. But still most of the people covering these games look a lot like me.

I always knew this, but after the deaths of George Floyd and John Neville in the last year, after listening to

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March 18-24, 2021 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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who in 1959 grabbed 23 in an overtime win against South Carolina — but one of the best overall performances of the entire tournament.

Duke took the win, 70-56.

Carolina, a 6-seed this year, did their part in the last game of the night by destroying Notre Dame 101-59 in a painful blowout. But Duke was the story of the day, two games into their possibly historic run with at least two more to go. Tomorrow they’d face 2-seed Florida State, last year’s champion. It would be Florida State’s first game of the tournament, while Duke was coming in with strong momentum. It would be one for the ages.

Or so we all thought.

I

***

n 2020, there was no Day 3 of the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament. That was the day we all got sent home. Personally, it was the first day that I started to understand the scope of the impending pandemic. It was the first time I was afraid.

This year, Day 3 offered a stark reminder that the coronavirus is not done with us yet.

Members of the press corps got the announcement in our inboxes: Duke was out following “a positive test, subsequent quarantining, and contact tracing within the Duke men’s basketball program,” according to the missive.

There would be no historic run for the Blue Devils in this ACC Tournament. The NCAA streak would be broken. Duke was out. Florida State would advance to the semifinals without stepping on the court.

Beat reporters scrambled in the hours before tip-off on Day 3 to nail the story down, grab quotes from Duke and ACC officials, calculate the effect this would have on the rest of the college basketball season.

Locally, NC A&T had pulled out of the MEAC Tournament due to a positive coronavirus test. Duke University put a stay-in-place order for its students after the outbreak there. Though the vaccines had started to flow, as many as 2.5 million a day in the United States, the coronavirus still posed a clear threat.

I spent the early part of the day wondering if I had been caught up in a superspreader event, and how much protection that first vaccine dose afforded me.

I suppose Day 3 of this tournament is always about fear in one way or another. It’s the day that any surviving lower seeds must face top-seeded rivals. Courtside, you can really see the difference between a 1-seed like Virginia and an 8-seed like Syracuse, the first game of the day.

Syracuse looked great against NC State, but Virginia benefited from the presence of a true big man, 7-foot1 Jay Huff, a senior from Durham who could rebound, shoot and even sink free throws, which is hard for 7-footers to do. Something about the angle and the arc.

Despite the mismatch, this proved to be one of the most exciting games of the tournament yet: five lead changes, all of them in the second half. Syracuse, led

by Buddy Boheim, in an inspired scoring performance, managed to tie the score from six points back with just 29 seconds on the clock. Freshman guard Reece Beekman put Virginia ahead 72-69 with his only score of the game, a 3-point buzzer-beater We didn’t know then that this was the last we would

see of Virginia.

Later, 4-seed Georgia Tech would end Miami’s ACC Tournament run with another burner, reaching a final score of 70-66 only after eight lead changes and despite a late run of scoring by Miami senior guard Kameron McGusty.

With no Duke-Florida State game, all that remained of the Old North State was Carolina, who after a mediocre season and middling seed in the ACC Tournament would need to make something happen tonight against 3-seed Virginia Tech.

The coliseum held the most fans I’d seen all tournament, too many to count by eye. Silver-vested ushers walked the rows with signs enforcing the 6-foot distancing rule, but many — many — wore no masks or kept them dangling underneath their chins while they shouted at the refs. Also noteworthy: Two Hokies kneeled during the National Anthem, the first I’d noticed since the Duke’s Mark Williams (15) heads up to shoot as Louisville’s Jae’Lyn ETHAN start of the tournament.

Withers (24) defends during the first half against Louisville in the HYMAN/ Carolina came in hot off a 100-point second round of the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament.

ACC performance the night before, but Virginia Tech forward Justyn Mutts, a who managed to avoid a game against 1-seed Virginia redshirt junior, and sophomore guard Tyrece Radford after winning their only game against 13-seed Miami. At dropped 14 apiece in the first 20 minutes, putting game time, the bookies gave Florida State a 4.5-point Virginia up by three at the half. The game stayed close advantage. until the midpoint of the second half, when a threeBut the Old North State angle to this story died when point shot by freshman guard RJ Davis put Carolina up the final buzzer sounded. The coliseum was largely 53-49, a lead they held until the end. empty for this final game, and though it aired on ESPN, This was a big upset, but not as big as the news that most of the media had cleared out. awaited us the next morning.

It was a fine game — a lot of points, a lot of dunks, close enough to keep it interesting until the last couple *** minutes and a rare win by an underdog: Georgia Tech prevailed 80-75. And for the first time in a life covering y now, everybody who cares about college sports, I heard a performance of the Black National Anknows that Virginia had to drop out of the ACC them, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” before the big game.

Tournament semifinals after a positive coronaBut after five days of solid basketball, half a notebook virus test from a team member, just as Kansas full of scribblings, more than a couple scary surprises University had to withdraw from the Big 12 Tournament and too many cups of reporter-grade Keurig coffee to and, locally, A&T pulled out of the MEAC. count, I felt about this game the way I felt about the So only one game would be played on Day 4, a semifipandemic: I wanted it to be over. nal match between Carolina and Florida State, now the But like the coronavirus itself, the ACC Tournament highest-ranked team left in the tourney, in their very operates on its own timeline, with no regard for me. first game of the week.

Carolina fans will be complaining for years about *** this loss: The bad call at the 10-minute mark, how much better they would have played with fans in the Epilogue: arena, foul troubles, missed shots, bad passes, the tired he NCAA Tournament brackets came out SunTarheels versus the fresh legs of Florida State, and why day night. Seven ACC teams made the cut and they probably should have been playing against Duke will play across all four regions: Virginia (4), that night anyway.

Florida State (4), Clemson (7), Carolina (8), Carolina played close right until the end, coming Georgia Tech (9), Virginia Tech (10) and Syracuse (11). within two points with just 3 seconds left on the clock.

UNCG got a 13 seed in the Eastern Division facing If the game was 30 seconds longer, they might have Florida State in the first round. App State has a play-in won it. game for a 16 seed in the West, facing 1-seed Gonzaga if And so it was that the final game of the 2021 ACC they win on Thursday night. NC A&T University lost its on Saturday night featured two teams that had played hopes of the NCAA tournament after bowing out of the just one game apiece on their way to the championMEAC. ship: Florida State, whose game against Duke was canceled before beating Carolina, and Georgia Tech,

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Yanceyville Street, Greensboro

March 18-24, 2021

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Up Front News Opinion Culture CAROLYN DE BERRY

Shot in the Triad

One of Duke Energy’s purple LED streetlights. Defect or thing of beauty? You be the judge.

Puzzles

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March 18-24, 2021 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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CROSSWORD ‘Not Quite!’—looks can be deceiving. SUDOKU

Across

by Matt Jones

1 Texting format 4 Iran’s leader, once 8 Counts with margins of error 13 Deviation in a rocket’s course 14 Prefix meaning “end” 15 Prove to be successful 16 Winter road clearer 18 Purport 19 D&D enemy 20 Grass cutter that might use a battery 22 Feeling of guilt 23 Used up 24 The “A” in PTA, for short 25 Test that might be “open” 27 Composer ___ Carlo Menotti 29 Acquire a second time 34 Mountain Dew energy drink 37 First name in fabric stores © 2021 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 38 Made a pit 39 Fu Mingxia, for one 41 Boston team, for short 42 Group in Santa Fe or Sacramento 45 “Switched-On Bach” synthesizer 46 “Mr. Robot” network 47 “Quantum of Solace” actress Kurylenko 50 Rice wine used in Japanese cooking 53 Hard work 57 Serious symptom of a cold, maybe 59 Quadruped up in the sky?

60 ___-Bissau (African country) 61 Actor shown in “One does not simply ...”

Answers from last issue memes 63 Nod, e.g.

28 Lake Titicaca’s locale 64 “At Last” singer James 29 Morning beverages, informally 65 Tree on Connecticut’s quarter 30 Rude sound from a spectator 66 Negatives from Nijinsky 31 Invoice add-on 67 Holder of many a merit badge 32 Samuel Barber’s “___ for Strings” 68 Toots and the Maytals genre 33 Clean out completely, as a building 34 “Selma” director DuVernay Down 35 Ran into 36 Cautionary beginning?

1 Early online admin 40 Place for a nursery rhyme trio 2 Genre for “One-Punch Man” 43 Garfield, for one 3 Given an oath, with “in” 44 Gardening headwear 4 Longtime NASCAR sponsor 45 Fridge ornament 5 Assists, as with entering a tall pickup truck 47 Hammond B-3, notably 6 Knocked for ___ 48 Pretty dang bad 7 “This Is ___ Do It” (Montell Jordan hit) 49 False front 8 It’s good for at least a few dates 51 Deceptive ploys 9 Checked out for a bit 52 “___ Kick Out of You” 10 Chain that merged with AMC Theatres 54 Cookies with a recent Lady Gaga-themed 11 Equipment used in Winter Olympics variety 12 Back of a yacht 55 “Wicked Game” singer Chris 15 Title ender of a 1974 film that distinguishes it 56 Sri ___ from an earlier Best Picture Oscar winner 58 “... three French ___ ...”

17 Photographer William who depicts 62 “Yeah, probably not” Weimaraners with human hands 21 Keep occupied 26 Old detergent brand that used to sponsor radio shows

©2021 Jonesin’ Crosswords

(editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

Answers from previous publication.