NEWS & OPINION FEATURE
PASSING THE CROWN
Five community heroes of the pandemic BY HANNAH HASAN
Pg. 6 DEC 16 -DEC 29, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
We have all experienced the collective trauma associated with the COVID-19 pandemic this year. It’s been challenging, and for the Black community, it’s hit us harder than most as we’ve suffered through disproportionate rates of infection and death due to the virus. There are also many suffering Black businesses, families without food and basic necessities, students without access to the technology needed for virtual schooling, massive
serve? What happened in their lives to cause them to give back to others? When we understand their stories, we understand all of the small and huge things that create the people who create change. These are stories of five impactful Black women who have supported and stood in for our community during the time of COVID-19, in their own words.
From Rich Soil: J’Tanya Adams, founder and executive director of Historic West End Partners
Our family is from Steele Creek. It was called the BlackJacks because the soil was rich. It was a rural sharecropping community. There was a lot of richness tied to being from the BlackJacks. It was where a lot of families knew each other, married into each other, and a great lineage between the folks who lived there existed. These people were great friends who came from sharecropping to manufacturing and they insisted that their children be educated. In our early years, we lived in Brookhill. I’m part of the Brookhill legacy. That’s where, when you left home, you would move and buy your first house and you educated your kids further. I was schooled by people who were daughters and sons of the enslaved. My great-grandfather understood what it was to have land taken from you because someone changed the tax law and took PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN it from you. My uncle knew J’TANYA ADAMS what it was to have a white job-loss numbers, and so much more. This could be man buy a property for you because you couldn’t buy enough to break many people, but if there is one it for yourself. I’m once removed from this and may thing that we know about Black people, it’s that have been born during part of it. So, I understand the we know how to survive. We understand what we Charlotte way. need to do in the beautiful moments and the brutal There is nothing new under the sun. So I understand moments: take care of ourselves. the need for good relationships. I understand how to At the center of that care is, and always has make deals in our community with people who do not been, Black women. Grandmothers and mothers, subscribe to the Charlotte way because I understand aunties and daughters, sisters and strangers who relationship building.When we lived in Steele Creek, the hold us up and hold us down. While we could never land of milk and honey for Black people was Beatties name all of them or begin to shed the deserved Ford Road. It was where our people were allowed to be love and light on all the stories of those who have after Brooklyn. In the mid-’60s and ’70s, everyone was stepped up for our community during this time, we trying to get there if they could. They aspired to get to understand that when we speak the stories of one, Johnson C. Smith University or Carver College or get we pay respect to all. their kids to West Charlotte High School. Anything you More than sharing the stories of their projects could want or desire to be was on Beatties Ford Road. and programs, we seek to share the truths of their From an early age, I’ve been enamored with the area. hearts and spirits. It’s so important to understand I saw the value. When I saw that it might become like the people behind the projects. What drives them to Brooklyn, and it was becoming popular to those outside
of the Black community, I knew that we needed to act. I was moved to cancel the contract on a home in Quail Hollow and buy a home in the area that I really believed in. Just because we’re in the time of a pandemic the deals haven’t stopped. If anything, its been more of the reason for me to continue making sure that businesses can thrive on the West End. I’ve been able to broker deals for a strip mall that was under contract. Our goal at West End Partners was to help the owner get the right tenant blend that could meet the needs and wants of West End stakeholders. The building is now being renovated and ANTRIECE MITCHELL we’ve brought folks to the table and that deal was done. COVID doesn’t stop the work. We’ve got a community to continue to grow and nourish.
To Whom Much Is Given: Antriece Mitchell, founder of Breakfast Conversations
I’m a proud Charlottean. I originally started out my baby years in Grier Town [known officially as Grier Heights]. At the time, that area was dealing with a lot of crime and drugs, and my mother wanted something different for us. She moved us to the Charlotte Country Club area. I had the privilege of attending a few different schools in Charlotte. I attended Shamrock [Gardens Elementary] and Oaklawn [Language Academy]. I also went to a private school. But my last couple of years were some of the most impactful. I went to Garinger High School. While at Garinger, I attended a magnet program for media. That’s where I was truly introduced to television and radio. And I was in pageants. The first pageant that I won was Ms. Junior Teen Charlotte. That introduced me to being on television, but it was in high school that my passion would deepen. And as my career blossomed, and my talent and love for media had me in rooms with everyone from celebrities to community leaders, I never forgot the value of seeking guidance of being a helper. I know that I have a spirit of helping because there are people who mentored me along the way. One person that has helped me is Michelle Thomas. She is the VP of Public Citizenship for Microsoft Southeast. She is the epitome of a
professional woman. Just being able to sit back and watch her was life-changing. By giving so much of herself to me, giving me so many nuggets of wisdom to apply along with my journey in business, she has been such a powerful mentor.
PHOTO BY GRANT BALDWIN
While I have been blessed to travel many, many miles away from home to do the work that I love, I have never forgotten my roots and I have never lost the desire to build relationships and give back. I am only as strong as the people and community I am blessed to serve. This year, I took it upon myself to make sure that other small business owners, just like me, understood that there were opportunities for funding and support for small and minority-owned businesses during the time of COVID. I’ve shared the resources about grants and funding and I’ve watched those business owners win, because we’ve got to take care of each other.
On Showing Love: Jewel Hayden, co-founder Project Bolt
I wasn’t shown love in the way that many kids are growing up. My mother was a drug addict. She dealt with addiction my entire life. Thankfully, all was not lost. I had my father in my life, who was able to provide me with love and support and motivation to go to school and complete my education and set goals. If I didn’t have that, who knows where I would have ended up. Dealing with a parent that had substance abuse issues, my self-esteem was extremely low. It made me feel like she decided to do drugs as opposed to being a mother or provide me with the love and support that I needed. Now that I’m older, I understand that it isn’t that simple, but as a child you just understand that your mother isn’t there. You know that when you go to the refrigerator to get food, there’s nothing there. And you know instinctively that your parents are supposed to provide food, shelter, and clothing. Your parents are supposed to provide your basic needs. When that isn’t
