Originally published in the Border Belt Independent, May 2022. LAST WINTER, AS THE N.C. DEPARTMENT of Environmental Quality (DEQ) considered a new permit for a Robeson County plant that generates electricity by burning poultry waste and wood, it turned to the public for comment. The earful it received was mighty and unanimous. The facility, owned […]
The Youngest Operative
Cutler Bryant is 17. He is also a key political strategist in Robeson County, N.C., where Lumbee voters are in the forefront of a hard shift to the Republican Party. Originally published in the Border Belt Independent. WHEN THE ROBESON COUNTY REPUBLICAN Republican Party held its annual convention in March, one of the star speakers […]
Coverage of North Carolina hog industry
Chronological order, oldest to newest. The Vanishing Act (Food & Environment Reporting Network, August 2019) After years of burying complaints about hog-farm pollution, North Carolina officials began posting them online. What changed? (Also published in The Guardian and McClatchy North Carolina papers.) Raising a Stink (Food & Environment Reporting Network, December 2019) Rural North Carolinians sued the world’s largest hog producer over […]
The Contested Swamps of Robeson County
Click here for “The Contested Swamps of Robeson County,” The Assembly, September 2021.
Battle Hymns of the Old South
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 […]
Reports from Alamance County, North Carolina
Particularly since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd in May 2020, civil-rights activists in the county seat and former textile-mill town of Graham, N.C. have clashed with both neo-Confederates and law enforcement. He is my coverage for The Washington Post. Local stories July 29, 2020: Is Any Protest a Threat to Public Safety? Oct. 31, 2020: […]
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 […]
Election Week 2020
Coverage for The Washington Post Local stories Oct. 31: N.C. police arrest at least 8, spray ‘pepper-based vapor’ to disperse voter turnout march that included kids Nov. 1: Peaceful march to the polls in North Carolina is met with police pepper spray and arrests With Isaac Stanley-Becker Nov. 3: N.C. law enforcement agencies sued for […]
In 2016 she voted Green Party. In 2020 she chose Biden.
Originally published in The Washington Post on Election Day 2020 MORRISVILLE, N.C. — In 2016, Ilene Ellis voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, whose emphasis on environmental protection she appreciated. She couldn’t muster enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton, who she assumed would win in a landslide. “I listened to the polls. It seemed to me […]
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 […]
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