Down but not out in Alamance County, North Carolina Originally published in The Baffler. BEFORE HE ROUNDED THE CORNER into downtown Graham, North Carolina, the Reverend Gregory Drumwright hushed the hundreds of marchers who had gathered on a steamy July day. He lifted his microphone and offered a morsel of history, some sustenance for the final […]
N.C. pastor who led Halloween march to the polls is charged with felony assault
Originally published in The Washington Post. Three weeks after two law enforcement agencies used pepper spray to break up a peaceful march to the polls in Graham, N.C., the county sheriff’s office said it would charge the march’s organizer, the Rev. Greg Drumwright, with felony assault on an officer and obstructing justice. The Alamance County […]
N.C. law enforcement agencies sued for allegedly intimidating voters
Originally published in The Washington Post on Election Day 2020 DURHAM, N.C. — Civil rights activists in North Carolina sued the leaders of two local law enforcement agencies late Monday, two days after officers broke up a peaceful march to the polls with dispersal orders, pepper spray and arrests. Two lawsuits, filed in U.S. District […]
Peaceful march to the polls in North Carolina is met with police pepper spray and arrests
By Barry Yeoman and Isaac Stanley-Becker. Originally published in The Washington Post. GRAHAM, N.C. — The voters came in black sweatshirts emblazoned with the mantra of the late Georgia congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, who celebrated “good trouble.” Fists and iPhones raised, they chanted “Black lives matter” and promised “power to the people,” […]
N.C. police arrest at least 8, spray ‘pepper-based vapor’ to disperse voter turnout march
Originally published in The Washington Post GRAHAM, N.C. — Law enforcement officers fired a spray they described as a “pepper-based vapor” that left demonstrators — including children — coughing at an “I Am Change” march for voter turnout. The racially diverse crowd of about 400 had stopped at a Confederate monument in front of the […]
Judge declares much of N.C. ag-gag law unconstitutional
Click here for “Judge declares much of N.C. ag-gag law unconstitutional,” Food & Environment Reporting Network, June 2020.
Hope Rising
The hard work of humans—and nature’s resilience—can help even the most endangered species climb back from the abyss. Originally published in National Wildlife. For a PDF of the magazine pages, click here. LAST DECEMBER BROUGHT A RARE FLASH of celebratory news: The Guam rail, a ground-nesting bird from the United States’ westernmost territory, came off a global […]
A Woman Not of Her Time
Please click here to be directed to the PDF of “A Woman Not of Her Time,” Carolina Alumni Review, March-April 2020 issue.
Out of the Paper Cage
Twenty years ago, Ray Warren—Republican judge, former state legislator, suburban dad—called a pair of press conferences to announce he was gay. In North Carolina, it was a political watershed. Originally published in Charlotte Magazine. RAY WARREN SAT IN THE LIVING ROOM chair and cracked open his laptop. Weeknights were lonely in Flat Rock, in that […]
“We’re At that Tipping Point”
Anita Earls has been the North Carolina GOP’s chief antagonist in the courtroom. Now she’s running for a seat on the state Supreme Court as a GOP threat to pack the court looms. Originally published in Talking Points Memo JUDICIAL RACES IN NORTH CAROLINA tend to be low-key affairs. But the crowd gathered at a […]
