M.A.R.C.H Newsletter: December 2024

This e-newsletter shares what the MLK Association and its Community Outreach Providing Empowerment (COPE) Program is doing and offers other news, events, and stories that align with its efforts. Below are some items that are noteworthy.

As always, feel free to share any or all of these items or the entire e-newsletter.

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Sat. Jan. 18, 2025 at 8 am the 44th annual breakfast celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. King will take place at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Asheville. Here is a link to purchase tickets   

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December Celebrations

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Wednesday Dec. 25th –  Thursday Jan. 2nd

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Thursday Dec. 26th – Wednesday Jan. 1st

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The Urban News has published a list of small nonprofits and local community groups in WNC working to help in disaster relief and recovery.
Support WNC Organizations!

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National News

• According to a recent report the FBI should have done more to prevent the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and that there were not any undercover FBI employees on the scene. article 
• Feeling betrayed by increased minority support for Trump, Black women are stepping back, but not away, from politics and movement organizing. article 
• Throughout the presidential campaign Donald Trump denied knowledge of Project 2025. He is now looking to empower its authors and influencers in his upcoming administration. article 
• Walmart has joined the growing list of companies stepping away from DEI policies. article 
• As Donald Trump threatens a 25% tariff on Mexican goods, Mexico responds by suggesting they will retaliate by imposing their own on US goods. article 
• The Biden’s administration’s rule to expand overtime pay has been blocked by a federal judge. article 
• The incoming Trump administrations immigration policy that centers on mass deportations will create widespread social and economic upheaval. article 
• Donald Trump wants to change the way we hold elections in ways that could disenfranchise nonwhite people disproportionately. article 
• Amazon is being sued by the District of Columbia for secretly stopping fast deliveries to 2 predominantly Black ZIP codes while still charging them for the service. article 
• On this past Veterans Day, Harriet Tubman was posthumously awarded the rank of brigadier general in the Maryland National Guard. article 
• A federal judge ruled that the US Naval Academy can continue considering race in its admissions process. article 

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State News

• The GOP controlled NC General Assembly has enacted a law curtailing the power of the incoming Democratic executive leadership while also limiting Helene recovery aid to WNC. article 
• Officials are starting to realize the grim reality of the deep and widespread agricultural impact of Helene. article 
• The state Board of Elections rejected Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin’s last-ditch effort to throw out 60,000 ballots in his attempt to claim a seat on the NC Supreme Court. article 
• Slow moving Congress delays aid to Helene devastated WNC. article 
• The Biden administration has agreed to cover 90% of the disaster recovery cost for WNC. article 

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Issues in Education

• Two Black women who did what was considered impossible in solving the Pythagorean theorem, have discovered nine more solutions to it. article 
• A federal judge blocked the new Louisiana law the required classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. article 
• New Jersey joins Illinois and Minnesota in prohibiting banning books in public libraries. article 
• Noted poet, author, and educator Nikki Giovanni passed away on Dec. 9th. article 

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Racism

• The Smith family in Georgia is fighting the local railroad company for control of their land. When eminent domain is used by companies to seize private property for private development more than half the time people of color and their communities are the victims. article 
• The dangerous anti-DEI efforts Donald Trump’s advisor Stephen Miller promotes contending that NASCAR is bias against white men. article 
• The Justice Department found that the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people. article 
• A Missouri state lawmaker has proposed paying residents $1,000 per person to help catch undocumented neighbors. article 
• A federal jury award $98 million in damages to the family and estate of Botham Jean, the Black man killed in his apartment by former white Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. article 
• A federal jury convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during the 2020 raid that left her dead. article 
• Susan Lorincz was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing her Black neighbor Ajike “A.J.” Owens in Ocala, FL in June of 2023. article  

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Local News

• In November, Ms. Sophie Dixon received the Tzedek Brillance Award, which recognizes a Black community leader in Asheville who has empowered and organized others to confront systemic oppression. article 
• Misinformation on social media is a constant obstacle to Helene recovery efforts. article 
• Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin spoke about James Phillip, a Tik Tok influencer, who he says is spreading misinformation. article 
• After Helene, Buncombe County now has the highest unemployment rate in the state. article 

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*** Reparations ***

• The Asheville and Buncombe County Community Reparations ComissionCommission webpage
• The Reparations Stakeholders Authority of Asheville has created the RSAA Hurricane Helene Relief Fund.Here is the link to the donation page.
• The Asheville Racial Justice Coalition (website) 

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Monthly Community Events

Hood Huggers offers a fun way to learn about the history of Black Asheville. They work on 17 different community projects as well as organizing volunteer opportunities at the Peace Garden 47 Bryant St. Assheville, NC 28806. There are regular Community volunteer days. The Farm stand is open on Fridays from 3pm-7pm every week. Get details about how to book a tour, volunteering or taking part in their other community actions here.  

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Resources: Community Care in WNC 

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The East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association Meetings are on hiatus until February or March of 2025. Use this link to their website to stay updated.

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The Shiloh Community Association monthly meeting is
Monday, January 6, 2025 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Linwood Crump Shiloh Center (map)

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A long running announcement in our newsletter has been the monthly Plant Club Pop-Up Market and other events held by the Art Garden Gallery and Canopy Studios at 191 Lyman St., Suite 320, in Asheville. Their events are postponed indefinitely as they and their neighbors in the River Arts District work to recover from Tropical Storm Helene. If you would like to donate to their recovery efforts here is a link to their gofundme page: Art Garden 

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Resources of Interest

The Color of Asheville’s Black-Owned Businesses and Community directory  
The NC African American Heritage Commission (AAHC) created in 2008, the commission works across the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to achieve the mission of preserving, protecting, and promoting North Carolina’s African American history, art, and culture, for all people. website 

The Freedom to Learn Network is a coalition of leading civil rights and social justice organizations; national teachers unions; education advocates; parents; students; and other interested parties across the nation and world focused on fighting against attempts to limit antiracist education in US schools. website 

The North Carolina State Capitol Historic Site has begun a “From Naming to Knowing” project. The goal of this project is to name and, as much as possible, share the stories of the enslaved men who built and maintained the State Capitol between 1833 and 1865. https://namingtoknowing.org/ 

The National Museum of African American History & Culture has 500,000 pages of Freedman’s Bureau records available online. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/freedmens-bureau 
 
The Official mapping Police Violence database – https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/ 

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Election Data

Remembrance Projects Nationally & Locally

The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) has been the important partner not only to Buncombe County but to all communities willing and working to address their history of racial injustice. As in each edition of this e-newsletter, we will continue to highlight several items from the EJI. 

1. EJI is currently working with nearly 100 communities to advance Community Remembrance Projects. More than half have erected historical markers. You can find out more about the communities that have erected EJI sponsored Community Remembrance Project markers here.
2. You can view what is on each of the markers for Buncombe County, front and back, here as compiled by the Equal Justice Initiative. To see the markers, go to the following sites: for Mr. John Humphries – College & Spruce Streets; for Mr. Bob Brackett – Triangle Park; and for Mr. Hezekiah Rankin – Craven Street & Emma Road.
3. The full stories about each of the three men who were lynched are captured in this document. 
4. The Equal Justice Initiative shared this webpage of the Historical Markers Installation Ceremony In Asheville on October 30th of 2021.

     Please remember:

1. Do you want to stay connected to the work of the Equal Justice Initiative? Sign up for updates about their work here.
2. Every day of the year offers important racial justice history. If you want to get a daily reminder of that history, the Equal Justice Initiative offers this sign-up. Go here to get today’s reminder.

The NC Black Alliance offers this webpage with a page entitled – “Access to Healthcare: What You Need to Know” along with other pages that have articles and information concerning the Black community.