Opinion
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OPINION: Misconduct Allegations Against UNC Charlotte Professor Are Part of a Bigger Issue
On March 3, what has by now become a routine story broke: UNC Charlotte professor of history Robert McEachnie has been accused of sexual misconduct in a federal lawsuit filed against him, UNC Charlotte, and the UNC System. Two anonymous victims have come forward, one of them alleged that McEachnie…
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Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Patients Need More Inclusive Hospital Care
Earlier this month, WBTV released an article that told the story of a local woman’s efforts to advocate for multiple interpreting systems in hospitals to help serve the deaf community at a time when mandated mask-wearing has made it nearly impossible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing…
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Opinion: Tent City Isn’t New, It’s Newly Visible
Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham recently wrote an editorial in the Charlotte Observer about the area in Charlotte known as “Tent City,” a large collection of homeless encampments, primarily on the northern end of Uptown on North College, West 12th and North Tryon streets. He argues that resources to…
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Opinion: The Robin Hayes Pardon Was Undeserved
Early this morning, in the final hours of the Donald Trump presidency, the outgoing president granted pardons and commutations for federal charges to several political and cultural figures, as is his right under Article II of the Constitution. Among the most notable were former Trump aide Steven Bannon, former Detroit…
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A Resident Describes the Struggles of Voting While Deaf
The following is the first in a series of columns in which Rikki Poynter will shed light on barriers faced by deaf people like herself in everyday life. Her first column, published on Election Day, describes the struggles of voting while deaf. I’ve been voting in United States elections since…
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Letter to the Editor: What Did Joe Biden Mean By Insha’Allah?
During the Presidential Debate on Sept. 29th, while Trump was saying he would eventually release his tax returns Biden said, in a snarky way, “When? Insha’Allah?” Him saying that set Muslim Twitter afire. Responses ranged from “How dare he use the phrase that way” to “Cool, he knows the phrase…
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Opinion: Did the NC Senate Race Debates Matter?
Within hours of the conclusion of the third and final NC Senate race debate between Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and his Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, the debates suddenly seemed obsolete, a quaint vestige of democracy outstripped by the onrush of events. Within two days, Tillis tested positive for the coronavirus,…
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Letter to the Editor: What’s the Word on Charlotte Capital Bonds?
Jennifer Roberts is a former Charlotte Mayor and Mecklenburg County Commission Chair. More than 600,000 absentee ballots were mailed out to N.C. voters on Friday. It is great to hear that the word has gotten out about the importance of voting in the 2020 elections, and for those who do…
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Opinion: President Trump Plays Politics With My Family’s Life
Halfway through his speech accepting the Republican nomination for president, President Donald Trump pledged that the Republican Party “will always, and very strongly, protect patients with pre-existing conditions.” These remarks, bolstered by the fact that dozens of North Carolinians are dying each day from the coronavirus, fall flat. Now, as…
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How My Family Is Facing Its First Unemployment Crisis
It became clear to social workers at crisis assistance organizations around the country early on in the pandemic that, as the country dove headfirst into an unemployment crisis, they would be seeing families that had never needed assistance before — families who never thought they’d need a hand. As Hannah…
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OPINION: All Workers Need Paid Family and Sick Leave
Black families are navigating two public health crises in North Carolina: coronavirus and racial violence. Structural racism is rooted in the systems and policies that govern our nation. State-level data captured for North Carolina demonstrates Black workers experienced unemployment at a 40% higher rate than their white counterparts. As racial…
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Banking Black Is an Important Step to Financial Independence
“I didn’t even know this existed.” The same sentiment echoed throughout a small group that had gathered for mediation and fellowship on a warm, sunny day at Camp North End. It was there that I found myself unexpectedly but passionately sharing why the Charlotte community should begin “banking Black,” and…
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Opinion: Member-Owned Companies Should Be Charlotte’s New Darlings
Applause accompanied the announcement that the Centene Corporation, a publicly-traded insurance company, would headquarter in Charlotte, hypothetically bringing thousands of jobs. Of course, they are not headquartering simply because they like the city or because St. Louis had too much crime, as was stated in a recent Charlotte Business Journal…
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Letter to the Editor: The Confederate Flag Is Not a Symbol of the South
As a French-Canadian immigrant to North Carolina in my youth, seeing the Confederate flag sitting atop poles and donned on t-shirts and bumper stickers was a normal, albeit strange sight. In school, we learned the Confederacy was defeated in a bloody civil war. In the end, the slaves were freed…
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Opinion: Remove School Resource Officers From CMS
We as parents, teachers, former students and invested citizens of this county, should demand that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) sever all contracts with CMPD and eliminate school resource officers (SROs) from all schools in this district. Upon the board taking this action, we should demand that the portion of all current…
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Opinion: Defund the Police or Bust
The first time I saw a Black person killed by police I was 5 years old. Living on Burkland Drive meant you could see the entirety of the Grier Heights neighborhood, known by me and my fellow residents as Griertown, from the top of the hill that I lived on.…
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