Of, By, and For the People

As the Democracy NC journey continues, the Winston-Salem team continues to have fun while reaching out to new and different people.  This past Saturday, June 11, Khadijah participated in the People’s Assembly rally held in Greensboro; the march began at the Greensboro Four Statue on the NC A&T campus and came to a close at the Greensboro Courthouse.  The members of the march wore a surgical mask to prove that these issues being discussed were “toxic” to the city (environment).  The rally was successfully organized to allow influential and affluent community members to express their concern for certain issues that are being discussed within the Greensboro City Council and state; such as Police Corruption, White Street Landfill, Educational Disparities, $5 Million Energy Grant, Elimination of Early Voting Sites, and Redistricting.  In attendance was Reverend Gatewood, Reverend Cardes Brown (President of the NAACP Greensboro Branch), the Alpha-alumni, the Delta-alumni, and Democracy NC.  Overall the rally presented a strong, united front on the issues at hand, and the people at the rally were able to get their point across in a positive, strong way.

After spending all day Monday research Social Service Agencies for our research project, creating/learning how to use twitter, and attending a Young Democrats meeting in Surry County, Tuesday consisted of meetings and running around.  Early Tuesday morning we attended a small gathering of socially active people in Greensboro.  This small group is moderated by Marnie Thompson, the founder of Fund for Democratic Communities (F4DC), which meets every Tuesday at Spring Garden Bakery at 8:30am.  The group discusses different topics every week but they relate all of their discussions back to social justice, activism, and democracy.  Both Khadijah and I felt that this type of group meeting was interesting and invigorating.  The people there were a range of different ages but were all able to come together for one purpose – promoting democracy, which we both found inspiring.  Upon attending the meeting, we were given an article to read on whether social activism, even though fulfilling, was a career path someone would be able to take after college, based on the amount of pay.  It was interesting to hear such a variety of views among such a small group – but nonetheless, it was a lot of fun.  We were also able to meet Elizabeth Shiemann, a fellow with Kate B. Reynolds Charitable trust who was interested in our day to day work at Democracy NC.  We also helped a group of senior citizens send in their letters to Gov. Perdue asking for a veto of the voter suppression bills coming out of Raleigh.

Overall, the week has been pretty productive already and Wednesday we head off to Raleigh to visit the General Assembly! Let’s hope that the legislators are as willing to work with us as the citizens of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Surry County have been!

Khadijah and Kayla

Winston-Salem Team