M.A.R.C.H Newsletter: February 2026
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,
Today we begin the 2nd month of 2026, but with all that has already gone on in January it feels more like the 12th month of the year. The words and actions of the President Trump, members of his administration, and his supporters center on perpetuating a spirit of fear, pain, and uncertainty in our communities. Sadly, the atmosphere in America today is a close copy of the atmosphere in America seventy years ago.
This is why it is important that we stay resilient and not allow these intentional efforts to intimidate us and push us into abandoning our commitment to non-violence in our work for equality, economic equity, and social justice. This is the point Dr. King made when he wrote in a 1956, article entitled “Our Struggle,” “Threats and violence do not necessarily intimidate those who are sufficiently aroused and non-violent.”
Black History Month is a celebration of our diverse histories, unique lived experiences, and shared hopes. This month always leads me to re-read the part of Dr. King’s 1956 speech, “When Peace Becomes Obnoxious” when he says, “If peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don’t want it. If peace means being complacently adjusted to a deadening status quo, I don’t want peace. If peace means a willingness to be exploited economically, dominated politically, humiliated, and segregated, I don’t want peace.”
The road to change is full of hills, valleys, twists, turns, switchbacks, and pitfalls. Though truly frustrating, it is a road worth traveling. In his 1956, sermon “The Death of Evil on the Seashore” Dr. King said, “Let us not despair. Let us not lose faith in man and certainly not in God. We must believe that a prejudiced mind can be changed, and that man, by the grace of God, can be lifted from the valley of hate to the high mountain of love.” This is the spirit of faith and hope that keeps us marching toward the dream!
Jonathan McCoy
VP of the MLK Association
Editor of the M.A.R.C.H newsletter
Observances This Month
NC African American Heritage Commission 2026 Black History Month Tool Kit
2026 MLK Association MLK Day weekend celebrations coverage
- Preparing to celebrate 45 years of resilience. article article
- MLK Association’s founder and president Dr. Oralene Simmons honored. article
- MLK Day Peace March and Rally coverage. article
National News
- Trump in his own words, the 2-hour interview with four NY Times reporters. article
- The Trump administration’s social media posts tend to echo extremist groups rhetoric. article
- A federal court blocked key parts of the Trump administration’s attempt to limit voting rights. article
- A new GOP voting bill may be the most dangerous attack on voting rights ever. article
- A deep dive into the Trump administration’s immigration policies and actions by ICE:
- Deny detainees the right to due process has become the norm. article
- An inter-department memo has told ICE officers to enter homes even if they don’t have a judicial warrant. article
- Breaking precedent the DOJ Civil Rights division declined to investigate the shooting death of Renee Goode by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. article Six DOJ officials quit because of this decision. article
- The DOJ Civil Rights division will not investigate the shooting death of Alex Pretti. article
- A CNN report suggests that Alexi Pretti may have been targeted by ICE officers. article
- ICE error sent some recruits into the field without proper training. article
- Since September, the Department of Homeland Security has shot 13 people in its immigration operations. article
- An ICE detainee’s death in a Texas facility has been ruled a homicide. article
- Border Patrol chief and “commander at large” Greg Bovino, who grew up in WNC article, has been re-assigned. article
- ICE recruitment posters give a nod to far-right extremists. article
- In a disturbing similarity of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting a controversial vaccine study in Africa. article
- A conservative group of physicians called “Do Know Harm” wants to end DEI center medical care in the military. article
- The US has withdrawn from the World Health Organization (WHO). article
- The CDC’s new recommendation to cut the number of vaccines children receive is not supported by most physicians. article
- More younger Americans are choosing to remain unaffiliated voters rather than Democrat or Republican. article
- In a recent decision, the Wyoming Supreme Court showed that common sense needs to outweigh partisan political actions. article
- The US Ambassador to the Vatican purposefully misrepresented Pope Leo’s words about the US actions in Venezuela. article
- US big oil companies aren’t optimistic about the benefits of controlling Venezuela oil like President Trump. article
- After 58 years of existence, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved. article
Local News
- The living wage rate for Asheville, what a single adult needs to earn per hour to afford to live in the city, has gone up 4%. article
- Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer released a statement criticizing the actions of ICE. article
- Buncombe County Elections board dismisses challenge to Asheville Vice Mayor Antanette Mosley’s residency. article
- The town of Franklin is returning stewardship of the Noquisiyi Mound to the EBCI. article
- The NC House is looking into the cities of Asheville and Raleigh’s DEI efforts. article
- The city of Raleigh and Buncombe County have agreed to a partnership of support during disasters. article
- UNC Health Pardee has begun construction of a new medical office in Hendersonville. article
State News
- NC A&T University students are leading the fight for access to early voting sites. article
- It looks like NC won’t have a new budget until at least April. article
- The new work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP will cost NC millions. article
- 2 of NC’s largest medical providers have ended gender-affirming care for youth under 19. article
- NC ranks last in the nation in public education funding. article
- The NC Education Lottery is not living up to its hype. article
Issues in Education
- he Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is showing an exhibition on Historical Black Colleges and Universities through July 19th. article One piece of the exhibit highlights the historical legacy of the Divine Nine. article
- The Trump administration has dropped their legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to colleges and universities. article
- An in-depth look at the Trump administration’s attacks on institutions of higher education. article
- A look at how an “anti-woke” university is becoming less academically creditable. article
- Texas A&M seems to think that teaching Plato to students is dangerous. article
- A New Hampshire lawmaker is unconcerned about the backlash over her post supporting segregated schools. article
- The Trump administration’s efforts to re-write history are in full swing:
- Trump said that Civil Rights led to white people being “very badly treated.” article
- The Smithsonian removes impeachment text as it switches portrait of Trump. article
- The city of Philadelphia is suing the National Park Service over its removal of slavery exhibits from the President’s House site. article
- A federal judge calls the Trump DOJ’s statements on the removal of the slavery exhibits “dangerous and horrifying.” article
Social Justice
- Civil Rights warrior Claudette Colvin has passed away. article
- Dr. Gladys West, the Black mathematician whose work made GPS happen, has died. article
- A new report shows evidence that the stress of discrimination shortens Black people’s lives. article
- Health care for Black women is a nightmare. article
- Black women are finding new tools to use to navigate the emerging economic hardships. article
- The unheard-of method of striping Black property owners of their land.article
- A Black owned farm in Los Angeles is fighting health disparities in the Black community. article
- More than 40 Black former McDonald’s franchise owners are suing the corporation for scaling back their DEI programs. article
- Tommy Lee Walker was executed for the rape and murder of Venice Parker, 70 years too late he has been exonerated. article
- There is no denying the fact that video evidence is a useful tool in the fight for justice. article
- The Missouri Secretary of State admitted to using misleading language to influence voters to support gerrymandering legislation. article
- Elon Musk, the richest man in the world who owns and runs X (formerly known as Twitter) the most popular social media platform in the world, openly embraces White Nationalism. article
- A zoning amendment that threatened to destroy the last Gullah-Geechee community on the coast of Georgia has been repealed. article
- A Jewish synagogue in Jackson, MS, bombed in 1967 for supporting the Civil Rights movement, was recently damaged by a fire, the arsonist has been arrested. article
- A white community in SC voted to keep a Data Center out, so they targeted a Black community instead. article
Justice work begins with truth-telling.
This Is What Made Me is my journey through survival, reclamation, and healing — a reflection on the systems we fight and the futures we deserve.
If you’re looking for a powerful read for the new year, you can get your copy here.
https://aishajohnsonadams.com/this-is-what-made-me/
***Reparations***
- The Asheville and Buncombe County Community Reparations Comission Final Report
- The Reparations Stakeholders Authority of Asheville has created the RSAA Hurricane Helene Relief Fund.Here is the link to the donation page.
The Racial Justice Coalition of Asheville, Inc., has dissolved and donated its assets to the Reparations Stakeholder Authority of Asheville (R.S.A.A.) Press Release
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.
Dr. George Washington Carver Edible Park Work Day
Come out and join us on Friday, February 20 from 2:30pm to 5pm
30 George Washington Carver Avenue
No experience is necessary — we’ll provide tools, water, and snacks! Come learn about the food forest and the amazing edible plants growing right here in our city.
This event is a collaboration between Bountiful Cities, the City of Asheville Sustainability Department, and the East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association.
Let’s grow community and food together! If you have any questions or would like to RSVP, please contact Kelly at kelly@bountifulcities.org.
Monthly Meeting, Mon. Feb. 2nd 6:30pm-8pm
Linwood Crump Shiloh Center (map)
Shades of Red: Our Black History of Love
Sat. Feb. 14th 1pm-4pm
Linwood Crump Shiloh Center (map)
Call: 828-274-7739 for more info.
Garden Days!
Sat. Feb. 7th 12pm-3pm
Sat. Feb. 14th 12pm-3pm
Sat. Feb. 21st 12pm-3pm
Sat. Feb. 28th 12pm-3pm
Shiloh Community Garden (map)
The Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition (LNC)
More info.
Resources of Interest
Ways To Learn & Take Action
The Listing of Ways to Take Action and Be Informed was created to help proplr looking for ways to resist and oppose the efforts of those who are working to reverse the progress that has been made in the US over the years.
This saved document can then be viewed independently of these periodic e-newsletters. Since the listing is a google doc, changes will be updated as new actions and opportunities become available.
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 Subscribe to their monthly newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/dncr/ncaahc-newsletter
- 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.