“3 things happening in NC” is Cardinal & Pine’s weekly guide to the people, storylines, and events driving the news this week in North Carolina. Here’s what you’ll find this week:
- President Trump joins GOP Senate candidate Michael Whatley in Gastonia, after troubling AP report.
- How cities across NC are celebrating Welcoming Week
- The NC Folk Festival lights up Greensboro
Back in May, I reported on a Russian family living in limbo in Charlotte as they waited for word on the future of their father and husband, who had been taken into custody by ICE.
When I visited their home, the man’s wife told me what would likely await her family if they’re sent back to Russia: jail for her and her husband, the frontlines of the war in Ukraine for her two oldest sons, and an orphanage for her two youngest children.
Despite this jarring reality, she still found the wherewithal to prepare an entire spread of food for me before my arrival. I’ve rarely felt so welcomed in someone’s home, which makes it all the more sad that our country has failed to welcome her or her family despite all their efforts to do things “the right way.”
This week is Welcoming Week, an annual campaign to affirm the importance of creating welcoming and inclusive communities for immigrants and refugees. At a time when the Trump administration is hunting down immigrants to the point where it has driven some to commit suicide, Welcoming Week is as important as it’s ever been.
We’ll check out what folks in a few cities around North Carolina are doing to mark Welcoming Week in just a bit, but first, let’s take a look at why President Trump will be in the state this week and why he and the candidate he’s stumping for deserve one another.
Trump rallies with Whatley following troubling AP report
President Donald Trump will be in Gastonia on Wednesday, appearing at the airport for a campaign rally with Micahel Whatley, former NC Republican Party chair and current candidate for US Senate.
With Whatley’s Democratic competitor, former Gov. Roy Cooper, running comfortably ahead in most polls, Trump’s appearance alongside Whatley comes at an especially negative time for the latter.
On Friday, the Associated Press broke a story that Whatley, who has already drawn heavy criticism for his relationship with convicted child predator Harvey West, may be connected to yet another sex offender.
The AP reported that pastor Daimon L. King, twice sentenced to prison for convictions involving children, led off a recent Whatley campaign event in southeastern NC with a prayer that asked God to bestow “integrity and honesty” upon the happenings there.
The AP continued:
“Some 30 years ago, King was a marching band assistant at a high school outside Raleigh when he was charged with statutory rape and indecent liberties with a 15-year-old student, The News & Observer reported at the time. King, then 31, was convicted in 1998 and served nearly five years in prison before being paroled, according to state department of corrections records.
In 2010, he pleaded guilty to having sex with an underage female relative and served close to three years in prison, state records show.“
Whatley’s campaign insists Whatley does not know King and had no say in who spoke at the event, which was organized by the Craven County Republican Party, but it certainly doesn’t play well for the former party chair considering his prior ties to West.
How cities across North Carolina are observing Welcoming Week
Welcoming Week, an annual campaign to affirm the importance of creating welcoming and inclusive communities for immigrants and refugees, kicked off on Sept. 10 and runs through Saturday, Sept. 19. A number of cities across the state are hosting events to mark the occasion.
In Charlotte, events range from a drum workshop in the lobby of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center on Wednesday morning to The Welcome Table community gathering at a water facility in west Charlotte on Friday. More events can be found at the city’s website.
In the southeastern part of the state, the YMCA of Southeastern North Carolina is offering free admission for the week and hosting a slate of cultural events, as are two YMCAs in Gaston County.
The Hope Valley Farms YMCA in Durham will host events by day and seminars in the evenings while hosting resource tables in their facility daily.
Find a Welcoming Week event near you by going here.
NC Folk Festival finds common sound in Greensboro
For three days across 14 stages, musicians from around the country will join North Carolina artists to bring the best of folk music and other genres to Greensboro for the NC Folk Festival. And the best part? It’s all free.
Headlined by St. Paul & the Broken Bones (Friday), The Roots (Saturday), and Molly Tuttle (Sunday), this is as good of a free music festival as you’re likely to find anywhere in the country all year long.
There’s much more than music, including food vendors, a makers’ marketplace, a “folklife” area, interactive family jam sessions, and other happenings. To be frank, this is one of those rare occurrences where, as I am writing this and learning more about the fest, I am discussing the potential to make a day trip to Greensboro over the weekend. Maybe I’ll see you there.
