Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Will
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Halloween celebrations take different tone with the coronavirus pandemic TThhee CChhaarrllootttteeTHE VOICE P POF THE BLACKo oCOMMUNITYss SINCEtt 1906 WEEK OF OCTOBER 29, 2020 VOLUME 47, NUMBER 7 WWW.THECHARLOTTEPOST.COM $1.50 County to church: Shut down gatherings Convocation spread coronavirus; 5 killed By Herbert L. White [email protected] There’ll be no gatherings at United House of Prayer for All People campuses in Mecklenburg County. Health officials ordered a total shutdown immediately after an outbreak of coronavirus infections from the annual Charlotte con- vocation reached superspreader levels. Thousands of followers – PAUL WILLIAMS III | THE CHARLOTTE POST mostly from states along the East- ern Seaboard – reportedly attended Early in-person voting in North Carolina wraps up on Oct. 31. More than 3.2 million voters cast early ballots in person like at Hickory Grove Elementary gatherings between Oct. 4-11. School in Charlotte, above, or via mail as of Tuesday, setting a new election cycle record. Election Day is Nov. 3. Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris is- sued an order of abatement of im- minent hazard on Oct. 24 with a Voter advocacy, outreach letter to Apostle Ronald White, leader of the Mother House on Beatties Ford Road and United House of Prayer attorney Mickie Bailey. The order bans in-person gain strength across state meetings at all Mecklenburg facil- ities until at least Nov. 6. The United House of Prayer is African American turnout poised to shift North Carolina’s political fortunes also required to clean and disinfect all indoor surfaces at the Mother By Kristen Johnson 500 African Americans to protest the Because of her town’s unique history House with methods approved by THE CHARLOTTE POST state’s decision to place it in the com- and family’s participation in grassroots local, state or federal authorities. Valerie Jordan has always been in- munity of about 800 people near the organizations, Jordan has always felt a The county confirmed more than volved with local politics. Growing up Virginia border. duty to do what she can to improve 120 COVID-19 cases connected in rural Warrenton, North Carolina, not “I was always part of important issues conditions for rural communities. It with events at the Mother House. being involved in something was al- as it pertains to economics and devel- means taking elections seriously. Among the confirmed cases was a most unheard of. opment in rural communities,” said “I registered to vote at the age of 17 cluster of six cases at Madison She was first introduced to environ- Jordan, lead consultant of Hunter J. and I have never missed an election, Saints Paradise South Independent mental injustice after a toxic, waste Group, a Raleigh behavioral health OK? Because that was so important to Living. Five deaths were among the landfill was built in her predominately center focused on helping those with my family, of the right to vote,” she confirmed cases. Black hometown, causing more than disabilities. Please see VOTER | 2A “We do not have a registry of all the folks who attended the events and we don't know [the exact number of individuals being Political demographics more diverse than ever tested] because people are getting tested at various testing providers By Krystal Frierson 760,000 have submitted absentee bal- make up 25% of the state's 7.1 million across the community,” Dr. Ray- THE CHARLOTTE POST lots. With nearly 40% of the eligible registered voters." With population nard Washington, Mecklenburg’s Less than a week before Election Day, votes already in, how will the re- growth have come changes in the de- deputy health director said. “We the drive to lock in votes becomes even mainder and newcomers sway the elec- mographic statewide. Changes would were not made aware of the indi- more critical. tion? include those who have recently gained viduals who have been tested by In North Carolina, early in-person vot- Since the 2016 elections, North Caro- citizenship, turned 18, and are new to name and we're able to track them ing ends on Oct. 31. Of the state's 7.3 lina has undergone a steady population the state. Many are shifting away from Please see MECKLENBURG | 2A million registered voters, more than 2.2 increase. According to Rebecca Tippett significant party affiliations. million in-person ballots are in, while at Carolina Demography, "new voters Please see POLITICAL | 2A ‘Somebody dropped the Hardest history: ball’ in prison Teaching the outbreak uncomfortable By Hannah Critchfield NORTH CAROLINA HEALTH NEWS By Anna Pogarcic The last photo Jennifer Wren has MEDIA HUB of her father shows him lying in a cardboard box, waiting for the cre- RALEIGH — Matt Scialdone doesn’t care about si- matorium. lence. He’s the kind of teacher that will lean back on They’d spoken just two weeks his desk and wait for students to answer his ques- before. tion, no matter how long it takes. PAUL WILLIAMS III | THE CHARLOTTE POST Another month was passing His classroom at Middle Creek High School is quickly, and her father Roy Hood, warm, and that makes the silence more uncomfort- Stefania Arteaga speaks Oct. 23 at the Dissent Duke Energy rally at Romare Bearden an inmate at Greene Correctional able. He jokes that it almost feels more like a bunker, Park. The rally, organized by high school students Jacqueline Dinh and Laura Saavedra, Institution, answered what had be- and that’s because it is — it’s a windowless, glorified was a call for environmental justice and policy change in the government and corpo- come weekly questions about his closet that’s just big enough to hold his 30 students. rate sectors that impact communities of color. persistent cough: He had asked students in his African American lit- Yes, he’d seen a doctor. erature class in the fall of 2017 a question about the No, he hadn’t gotten a COVID-19 Middle Passage during their first lesson. He leaned Students lead empowerment test. back on his desk and waited, as usual. He’d gotten prednisone, a steroid Students stared at their laps or their notes. As Sci- used to treat allergies, again. He aldone watched his Black and white students avoid said his back was beginning to his question, for once, he gave in. for environmental justice ache from the hacking. “Raise your hand if you know what the Middle Pas- By Ashleigh Fields change as coordinators for the Dis- The next time Wren got a call sage is,” he said. [email protected] sent Duke Energy event through Ex- from the prison, her father was in One, two, three timid hands went up — out of the Effective. Efficient. Equal. tinction Rebellion Youth Charlotte. the hospital on a ventilator. entire class. Those words describe the environ- “We are a nonpartisan, decentral- Wren, who lives in Atlanta, trav- Thirty students, both honors and Advanced Place- mental justice reform two local high ized group of youth that work to- eled up to identify his body six ment, sat in silence. They had been taking history school students are encouraging gether to promote reform and days later. classes for years, but many of them didn’t know how leaders and corporations to align accountability within the local gov- Roy Hood wasn’t the only one. As enslaved people were transported to the Americas with. Jacqueline Dinh, a sophomore ernment, the Charlotte community, North Carolina’s COVID-19 cases from Africa, a major part of the transatlantic slave at Olympic High, and Laura Saa- and the broader region of the United stabilized during the late summer trade. vedra, a senior at Charlotte Country States through the use of direct ac- Please see SOMEBODY | 3A Please see TEACHING | 4A Day, joined forces to rally for Please see STUDENTS |2A INSIDE Digital edition: Please STAY IN TOUCH Sports 6A Snapchat: thecharpost www.thecharlottepostnewspaper.com Recycle Life 1B Twitter: @thecharpost A&E 6B To subscribe: (704) 376-0496 or online Facebook: The Charlotte Post Classified 5B http://tcppc.com/Subscribe Instagram: @thecharlottepost #PaperThursday 2A NEWS | The Charlotte Post Thursday, October 29, 2020 Voter empowerment Political demographics are more diverse than ever gains strength in NC Continued from page 1A partisanship conducted by titled “The Video Demo- Historically, North Caro- Catawba College political crats Don't Want Black Continued from page 1A the polls, often visiting local ABC lina had leaned Republican science professor Michael People to See” in which he said. stores to find people he can educate in presidential races since Bitzer showed that inde- urges voters to look at the In North Carolina, political power about the voting process and the real- 1968, except in 1976, pendent voters generally party’s history and its dis- flows from the east, primarily through ities of issues like education, Medicaid when Jimmy Carter carried offer a high level of loyalty regard for Black America. the General Assembly, which controls expansion and criminal justice reform the state and in 2008 when to a specific party. His re- “The Democratic Party legislation and spending. Shifting de- that can be influenced by votes. Barack Obama won. Even search compares four gen- was literally founded on mographics and political affiliations, One voter Rivers took to a polling though it has been reliably erations of voting-aged the bedrock of racism, however, are creating new coalitions site was voting for the first time in 10 red in presidential elec- adults between 2008 and founded upon the bedrock that challenge the old order and con- years. tions, North Carolina’s de- 2016: Greatest/Silent, Baby of hate, they were literally flicts between urban centers and rural “Sometimes people think that their mographic has changed to Boomers, Generation X, the party of white suprem- areas.