Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1483162
4 UCW NOVEMBER 2 - 8, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Kathleen Ramsey Jason Brady Chayenne Burns Laura Browne Katrina Wilson Jyl Barlow INTERN R. Elgin Zeiber CONTRIBUTING WRITERS John Hood, Elaine Bryant Hayes. Wade Fowler, Pitt Dickey, Bobby Hurst, Nat Robertson, Dan Debruler COVER Design by Courtney Sapp-Scott MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Published weekly on Wednesdays, Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Association of Community Publishers Unbelievable. is past week I listened to a presentation on "Vote No" that ex- emplified the fact that there continue to be citizens in our community hell-bent on going to any extreme to cause racial disharmony and divide our commu- nity. It was sad to see during the entire presentation how the presenter skirted, dodged and avoided the question: If at-large elections work for electing Black candidates for the Cumberland County Commissioners, the county Sheriff, Board of Education, Hope Mills and the Town of Spring Lake, why would it be bad and inappropriate for the city of Fayetteville? e answer: So a few can retain power. Even more astounding is that the entire "Vote No" presentation, objection and resistance is based on an article I penned in the June 3 edition of Up & Coming Weekly newspaper two and a half years ago. It centered on one par- ticular sentence that they conveniently took completely out of context and have been mulling over ever since. ese are sad and desperate actions for those who supposedly are doing the people's business. Unfortunately, that article is as relevant today as it was two and a half years ago as it relates to our Fayetteville leadership. But don't take my word for it. What follows is the same editorial with a few minor updates. You can be the judge. e Sequel: e May 30 riots. As I write this editorial, no doubt city officials have already met to "circle the wagons" to come forth this week dis- seminating a consistent and coherent message, as they pat themselves on the back, proclaiming to the public what a great job they did in managing the pro- test, riots and unrest that took place over the May 30 weekend. Many of us will certainly disagree. On Sunday evening I watched with a heavy heart the devasta- tion and violence and destruction that has been perpetrated on our commu- nity in the name of George Floyd. His death was a travesty; however, to loot, steal, burn and pillage personal property in his name is beyond reprehensible. Fayetteville, North Carolina, our home- town, was transformed into a criminal flashpoint — as were about 30 other cities across the country. In Fayetteville, our leadership really blew it on multiple fronts. I have written several times about the lack of vision, talent and leadership in our community. e horrifying events of that weekend only confirmed this. As I watched the carnage taking place on Hay Street and across our community, my only thoughts were: Where is the mayor? Where are the police? Where is the Fire Department? Where are our community and government leaders, and why are they not present? [Here's comes the flashpoint.] It is incompre- hensible and unacceptable that in the city of Fayetteville and the county of Cumberland, where we have people of color in the most trusted, prominent, and vital positions of leadership — the mayor, city manager, city attorney, seven out of nine City Council members, the police chief, fire chief, Cumberland County Sheriff, Cumberland County Schools superintendent and three Cumberland County Commissioners** — that no one stepped up to even try to address the protesters and calm the crowd for the safety and welfare of the community. Where were all the Black pastors and clergy from the dozens of African Ameri- can churches in the community? Where were all these encouraging voices of love, fellowship, compassion and reason? e good reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., must be turning in his grave after wit- nessing the criminal acts being invoked in his name. e leadership capacity of City Hall is meant to serve and protect Fayetteville citizens. ese duties are not just reserved for law enforcement. Here, Mitch Colvin and all of the City Hall departments were derelict in their duties. Not just because our leaders were unsuc- cessful in their efforts — but because they didn't even try! ey were complicit in the carnage and must be held ac- countable. Saturday night in downtown Fayetteville was a horrid spectacle. It was made worse by the fact that no effort was made to protect the citizens, personal property, city property or the businesses that employ hundreds of residents and have been the lifeblood of the downtown revitalization effort — the very economic revitalization that our leadership sup- posedly has been advocating for and the taxpayers have been generously paying for. Yet, they collectively acquiesced and sat back and did nothing. Fayetteville and Cumberland County leaders need to rethink the vision for our future and how they are going to get us there. A good friend told me something that rang so true: "In every case," he said, "friction eventually destroys." He is right — car engines, marriage conflicts, employee relations, personal and business relation- ships — friction eventually destroys any opportunity for progress or resolution. Our community will never be all it can be with leadership that is so self-absorbed in unilateral racial motives. is protest and rioting situation have exposed the ugly but inevitable truth that race alone doesn't make a person a leader, nor does it make someone smart. And it definitely doesn't keep a person from being an op- portunist — especially when they yield to protest organizers and allow them and their disciples to become the pied pip- ers of destruction, looting and criminal intent. Fayetteville and Cumberland County are at a crossroads. Real leader- ship is the only thing that can save this community. Who will step up? More im- portantly, who should step down? ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. **ose who are trying to racially di- vide this community wrongly, falsely and intentionally interpreted these words to mean I was saying our community had too many Blacks in prominent positions and that I was calling them out. How ridiculous! When in fact I was saying just the opposite. Collectively, as a commu- nity, we showed no racial bias in placing these folks in prominent positions yet no one stood up or spoke out to defend that premise. In other words, with this being the case, Fayetteville should have been the last place to look for racial bias or in- justice. Again, no one spoke to that point. And, that is what I found unacceptable. PUBLISHER'S PEN Fayetteville leadership collapses under pressure: The sequel by BILL BOWMAN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.