M.A.R.C.H Newsletter: March 2025
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.
Friends,
The efforts of the Trump Administration are creating anxiety, anger, and pain in our homes and in our communities. Many of us see these actions as intentional attempts to re-live our country’s discriminatory Jim Crow past. This is why folks in our towns and across our state and nation are actively calling out and contesting these divisive actions. As a result, being tense and stressed have become the norm.
We are constantly under the threat of being overwhelmed by these folks’ volume of negative actions and rhetoric. Their hope is for us to twist ourselves into mental, emotional, and spiritual knots. Their goal is for fear to take hold of our hearts and minds and pull us into the darkness of hatred and bitterness they live in. We must not let that happen!
Dr. King reminded us that “Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.”
Take heart, you are not alone! There are people and organizations around us fighting against these efforts of intolerance. Be it to get moral support or to find something to get involved in, please use this newsletter as a resource to find and make connections with others.
As the song “Ain’t Gonne Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” says:
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round, turn me ’round, turn me ’round.
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me ’round, I’m gonna keep on a-walkin’,
keep on a-talkin’, marchin’ on to freedom land.
We are not going to let this administration, and its actions turn us away from our purpose! We will keep on working together to become a Beloved Community!
Jonathan McCoy
VP of the MLK Association
Editor of the M.A.R.C.H newsletter
To our Muslim brothers and sisters who are observing Ramadan (Feb. 28th – March 29th) we send prayers of blessings and peace.
National News
- Scott Turner, secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has announced that he is the Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule which required states to implement fair housing and end discrimination. article
- Highlighted by Texas Congressman Al Green’s vocal rebuke, Democrats used various ways to criticize President Trump during his address to a joint session of Congress. article
- Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been ordered by US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to provide records and answer questions explaining their efforts to cut federal spending. article
- President Trump and Vice President Vance’s embarrassing treatment of Ukrainian President Zelensky during his visit to the White House on Feb. 28th was intentional. article
- A small resort town in Vermont showed vacationing Vice President Vance how they felt about his treatment of Zelensky. article
- Courts are beginning to push back against President Trump’s executive orders. article
- The numbers on Christianity’s decline in America are complicated. article
- On. Friday Feb. 28th there was a national economic boycott of major retail stores in protest of them ending their DEI initiatives. article
- Apple shareholders rejected a proposal to end DEI programs. article
- A 40-day boycott of Target is hitting the company hard. article and Amazon is next on the list. article
- Billionaires that are openly supporting Donald Trump have seen a “dramatic” decline in their wealth. article
- Iowa has removed gender identity protections from its civil rights code. article
- During his first administration Donald Trump stopped the proposal to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Now, legislation has been introduced to put Trump on the $100 bill. article
Local News
- The Federal Emergency Mangement Agency (FEMA) has extends Helene recovery assistance deadline. article
- WCU students are helping to assess the damage to the Riverside Cemetery in the historic Montford district. article
- The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) denounced the draft of the city of Asheville’s Helene recovery plan because of there were diversity efforts outlined in it. article
- The YMI Cultural Center has re-opened. article
State News
- The various executive orders from the Trump administration will probably have a widespread impact on NC. article
- NC governors have always had limited power, the General Assembly is intent on having them have even less. article and article
- The eastern NC town of Edenton’s fight over the future of a Confederate statue continues. article
Issues in Education
- The Trump US Agriculture Department ended 2 programs that provided $1 billion for schools and food banks to buy food from local farmers and producers. article
- Immigration agents return to making arrests at schools. article
- It seems like the Trump administration’s plan for the Department of Education centers on leaving some children behind. article
- The Trump administration anti-DEI efforts have led the US Department of Education to create a form for citizens to report schools that practice and/or teach “divisive ideologies and indoctrination.” https://enddei.ed.gov/
Racism
- Black women in the US died at nearly 3.5 times higher than white women around the time of childbirth in 2023. article
- Under pressure from the White House, the city of Washington DC removes Black Lives Mater Plaza. article
- In its efforts to end DEI, the US Department of Defense is erasing American history. article
- A Michigan State Law school project found citations of arguments that supported slavery are still be used in court case today. article
- The federal government’s anti-DEI efforts have caused an end to an effort at environmental justice. article This is also affecting WNC. article
- The Los Angeles Times had to remove its new AI tool after it tried to defend the KKK. article
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)
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.
Resources: Community Care in WNC
The East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association Workday at Dr. George Washington Carver Edible Park is March 21st from 2:30pm-5pm. Parking is available at the Stephens-Lee Community Recreation Center. For more information go to their website.
The Shiloh Community Association Garden Day!
Saturday March 15th 10AM – 2PM
Shiloh Garden (map)
Free Market, March 29th 11am – March 30th 1pm
Shiloh Garden (map)
Monthly Meeting, Mon. April 7th 6:30pm-8pm
Linwood Crump Shiloh Center (map)
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/
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The full stories about each of the three men who were lynched are captured in this document.
- The Equal Justice Initiative shared this webpage of the Historical Markers Installation Ceremony In Asheville on October 30th of 2021.
Please remember:
- Do you want to stay connected to the work of the Equal Justice Initiative? Sign up for updates about their work here.
- 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.
Black Women in Senate, Congressman Al Green, DEI, DOGE, FEMA, HUD, John Lewis Awards, racism, Reparations, Rosa Parks Awards, US Agriculture Department, Women's History Month, YMI, Zelensky