TCB Jan. 14, 2021 — Homegrown Insurrectionists

Greensboro / Winston-Salem / High Point Jan. 14-20, 2021 triad-city-beat.com

Jeremy Bertino,

Jay Thaxton, from Concord Charged with curfew violation

from Locust, Promoted insurrection on social media

Ryan Barry,

from Clayton, Charged with simple assault

Tara LaRosa,

from Elizabeth City, Confirmed her presence at the Capitol on Twitter

Tarheels who stormed the capitol

Rorschach backs PAGE 13

FREE

Black anime PAGE 12

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The five-figure cover PAGE 2

Jan. 14-20, 2021

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Trump, fascism and the five-figure cover

I

remember the We used a photo of Trump from a local day I made the campaign appearance; in the background sale as vividly we ghosted images of other Americans as I remember who brought shame on our country: the election.

Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, George Both were Wallace, Jesse Helms. At my insistence, exhilarating, and we also included an actual Nazi soldier, in both happened in full fascist salute. That’s the one, I think,

by Brian Clarey 2016. that pushed things over the edge.

The sale was the biggest one I had ever We faced immediate backlash on Facelanded, to the largest company I had ever book from rank-and-file Republicans who approached. I had only recently made the promised retribution, and began calling shift from the editorial department, and our advertisers. the feeling I got after I closed it — heart It was a local Republican bigshot who pounding, mind racing, my whole being told me that my biggest client would not exploding with the sudbe renewing when their den realization of my own We faced immediate trial period had ended, potential — convinced six weeks before it hapbacklash on Facebook pened. me I was on the right from rank-and-file track.

I’m bringing this up Months later, on the now not to out the adRepublicans who night of the election, I vertiser — this was a long promised retribution, time ago, and it’s not the raced back to the office from the Guilford County and began calling our point.

GOP watch party when it advertisers.

I mention what we’ve became clear Trump was taken to calling the going to win. We came “Nazi cover” because it’s out on Wednesdays back important for people to then, and we had some decisions to make know what goes on behind the scenes, before sending the news section to the the levers of power that get thrown in the printer. name of maintaining the status quo.

We had made three separate covers.

I’m bringing it up because we’re still The “Hillary Wins” cover was the one here, on the same mission. We survived we thought we’d end up using, and we that and worse over the years. Our enterhad another just in case the election was prise is not about money. Never has been. unresolved by the witching hour. I never And I write about the Nazi cover thought we’d end up using the third one. because, after thousands of seditionists Still, we gamed out what the next few stormed the capitol to reverse the results years would look like just in case. of a free and fair election, I feel completeWhat if he wins? ly vindicated.

BUSINESS PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

PUBLISHER EMERITUS Allen Broach allen@triad-city-beat.com

robert@triad-city-beat.com

EDITORIAL SENIOR EDITOR Jordan Green

SALES

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sayaka Matsuoka

CONTRIBUTORS

jordan@triad-city-beat.com

sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

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1451 S. Elm-Eugene St. Box 24, Greensboro, NC 27406 Office: 336.256.9320 COVER: SPECIAL SECTION EDITOR Nikki Miller-Ka North Carolina insurrectionists niksnacksblog@gmail.com who participated in the Capitol attack. [Photo by Tony Crider, ART design by Robert Paquette] ART DIRECTOR Robert Paquette

KEY ACCOUNTS Drew Dix

drew@triad-city-beat.com Michaela Ratliff, Carolyn de Berry, Matt Jones

TCB IN A FLASH @ triad-city-beat.com First copy is free, all additional copies are $1. ©2018 Beat Media Inc.

Jan. 14-20, 2021

Coronavirus in the Triad:

(As of Wednesday, Jan. 13, compared to last week)

Documented COVID-19 diagnoses NC

641,073 (+58,725)

Forsyth

23,776 (+1,863)

Guilford County

25,893 (+2,898)

COVID-19 deaths NC

7,745 (+669)

Forsyth

236 (+5)

Guilford

336 (+24)

Documented recoveries NC

521,475 (34,385 )

Forsyth

19,330

Guilford

21,057 (+3,223)

Current cases NC

111,853 (+23,671)

Forsyth

4,210

Guilford

4,500 (-347)

Hospitalizations (right now) NC

3,951 (+58)

Forsyth

*no data*

Guilford

256 (+18)

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Jan. 14-20, 2021

CITY LIFE Jan. 14-17

by Michaela Ratliff

THURSDAY Jan. 14

FRIDAY Jan. 15

JJ’s Cuban Kitchen Food Truck @ Cellar 23 (GSO) 5 p.m.

Up Front

Creative Detours Exhibit @ Forsyth County Public

News

After making their High Point debut last week, JJ’s Cuban Kitchen food truck is now visiting Greensboro. They’ll be at Cellar 23 ready to serve a variety of Cuban specialties.

Learn more about JJ’s on their Facebook page.

Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

Soul Revival @ High Point Yoga School (HP) 6 p.m.

Set your soul on fire on Friday nights at High Point Yoga School during soul revival. Spots are limited due to COVID restrictions, so reserve your space in advance on HPYS’s website.

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Library (W-S) 1 p.m.

Painter Jessica Singerman announces her exhibit of paintings entitled Creative Detours on display at the FCPL until March 31. Art from the exhibition can be purchased at JessicaSingerman.com.

Willingham Story Slam @ MUSE Winston-Salem (W-S) 7 p.m.

Share your story with the theme of starting over during this virtual story slam hosted by MUSE WS. Storytellers have five minutes to share their best recollection of stories about new beginnings, fresh growth and more. Whether you’re participating or just listening, get registered on Eventbrite.

SATURDAY Jan. 16

Frozen Fun @ Kaleideum North (W-S) 11 a.m.

Take your children to Kaleideum North where they’ll get to meet two icy princesses and decorate their own winterthemed picture frame. Be sure to stop by the IceVenture exhibit. For more info, visit the Kaleideum’s website.

Winter Market @ Winston Junction Market (W-S) 11 a.m.

Be sure to bring your mask to this socially distanced winter market, featuring handmade items from local artists. For more info, visit the event page.

Ghostlight Concert @ the Carolina Theatre (GSO) 8 p.m.

Paint Your Pet @ Mad Splatter (GSO) 6 p.m.

From beginners to experts, all painters are invited to Mad Splatter to paint your pet. A pet photo must be submitted before the class. To purchase your canvas and register, visit PlaceFull.

Abigail Dowd and Carrie Morgan will be at Carolina Theater as part of the Ghostlight Concert Series. Shows are limited to 25 guests. To purchase tickets or view future shows, visit Carolina Theatre’s website.

Jan. 14-20, 2021

SUNDAY Jan. 17

Brunch @ Natty Greene’s Brewing Co. (GSO) 10 a.m.

Up Front News Opinion

Join Natty Greene’s for brunch every Saturday and Sunday, featuring specialty cocktails and home-cooked favorites. Get your order to-go through Natty Greene’s website.

Yoga Pop-Up @ Plant 7 (HP) 5 p.m.

Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

Brooke Moore from Humbled Warriors is hosting Slow Flow, a yoga class designed to bring balance to the body and mind. Pre-registration is required and can be done on WellnessLiving.com.

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Puzzles

Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

Jan. 14-20, 2021

NEWS

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North Carolina extremists pledge to escalate beyond DC insurrection

by Jordan Green

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or some of the North Carolinians who promoted the militant effort to overturn the electoral certification and participated in insurrection, the storming of the Capitol on Wednesday was the fulfillment of years of violent rhetoric and confrontation. Base on their social media accounts, the events of the past week have reinforced their commitment to their anti-democratic cause and galvanized them to accelerate their efforts.

“Some people will love what we did today; some will hate it,” Joshua Pennington of Burlington tweeted shortly after police restored control of the Capitol building. “I don’t care either way. My opinion is that it was needed.”

Pennington dismissed comments on his thread pointing out that by confirming he had been in the Capitol, he had just “admitted to participating in a riot on federal property.”

“Not worried,” he responded.

The insurrection resulted in five deaths, including an Air Force veteran who joined the mob of Trump supporters and a Capitol police officer. FBI Director Christopher Wray has committed his agency to “hold those responsible for the criminal acts of violence and destruction that unfolded during the US Capitol breach,” describing it as “an affront on our democracy.” So far, federal authorities have charged 18 individuals, including an Alabama man who parked a truck containing 11 Molotov cocktails, a M4 carbine assault rifle and rifle magazines loaded with ammunition near the Capitol on Jan. 6. Authorities have also arrested a West Virginia lawmaker who live-streamed his breach of the Capitol on Facebook. Among multiple others arrested by the DC police for offenses related to the insurrection are two North Carolina Proud Boys.

The FBI is currently seeking information about a man who was seen placing pipe bombs at the Republican National Committee Headquarters and Democratic National Committee headquarters around the time Congress was convening for a joint session to ratify Joe Biden’s election.

A self-described “MAGA Rebel TrumpDog,” Pennington exemplifies the illiberal amalgam of Confederate sympathy, QAnon conspiracy, hardline anticommunism and pro-Trump fanati-

cism that united the varied groups that stormed the Capitol.

Among the various right-wing groups that coalesced on Wednesday were members of the Proud Boys, who helped lay the groundwork for Jan. 6 with two preceding violent rallies in DC since the Nov. 3 election, have a history of working with various elements of the far-right coalition. Over the past two years, Proud Boys have joined forces with others confronting antiracists seeking to remove Confederate monuments in North Carolina. More recently, the all-male right-wing paramilitary provided security for a ANTHONY QAnon-inspired “Save North Carolina Proud Boy Bill Whicker III yells at antiracist counter-protesters in Raleigh in CRIDER November 2020. Ryan Barry, who was arrested for assault in DC on Tuesday, is at far right.

Our Children” rally in Fayetteville and a believe Trump will expose a sinister, two rifles and what police described as protest against COVID restrictions at international cabal of pedophiles that a “large-capacity ammunition feeding the Governor’s Mansion in Raleigh. supposedly controls the Democratic device and unregistered ammunition.”

At least two North Carolina Proud Party, a significant number of RepubFar from being chastened by the Boys have been arrested during the lican elected officials, Hollywood, the public outrage over the insurrection, events surrounding the insurrection, Vatican and other institutions, leading to Pennington posted a Twitter thread on along with seven other North Carolina a violent reckoning.

Thursday that expressed pride in the acresidents. Jay Thaxton, a 46-year-old “Remember when 17 told us that tion and promised more to come, while Proud Boy from Concord who is a military would be working with civildirectly referencing QAnon beliefs. PenMarine Corps veteran, was charged ians?” Pennington wrote. “That’s exactly nington also sought to dispel the widely along with six others for violating the what happened yesterday. Active and shared disinformation that “antifa” was curfew imposed by DC Mayor Muriel non-active military Patriots took the responsible for storming the Capitol, arBowser on Wednesday evening. The lead. Do you think it’s a coincidence guing that the political right should take group also included two other men from that the woman killed served 14 years in pride in the deed instead of deflecting North Carolina — James Smawley, 27, the USAF? No, it’s not a coincidence! responsibility. of Charlotte, and Tim Scarboro, 33, of Remember when 17 said the end won’t “I can tell you what happened, beMonroe — and three men from Pennbe for everyone? We are seeing that on cause I was there,” he wrote. “On the sylvania. full display after what we did, which was front lines, getting tear gassed, pepper The night before the so-called “wild necessary btw, we are being bashed by sprayed, hit with flash bangs and paintrally” that led to the storming of the everyone it seems for doing the right balls.”

Capitol, Ryan Barry, a 26-year-old thing. One of 17’s favorite phrases The next part of Pennington’s tweet Proud Boy from Clayton, was charged is ‘Nothing can stop what’s coming’ referenced a mysterious figure named with simple assault in what the DC — that’s a fact, especially now! They “17,” likely code for “Q ,” the 17th letter Metro Police have termed “unrest-relatof the alphabet. In the QAnon epistecouldn’t stop us yesterday, and they ed offenses.” mology, Q is an anonymous government won’t be able to in the future. This is Five other North Carolinians also face official with high-level security clearance only the beginning of the end game! unrest-related charges from DC police, who leaves crumbs of information on “Also, what we did yesterday led us to including 46-year-old Thomas Gronek social media assuring Trump’s followers Red 1,” Pennington continued. of Asheville, who brought a school bus that the outgoing president has a plan with a Grateful Dead-inspired paint to defeat his enemies. In doing so, they Cont. on pg. 9 job and was arrested for possession of

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Cont. on pg. 9

Opinion

officers and mental-health experts to arrive at a scene together or for officers to request assistance from experts once on the scene. The third option, which is the one the coalition wants, is the alternative response model, in which experts would be the first and only ones on the scene for a mental-health crisis and would have the option to call for law enforcement backup should they need it.

According to statistics outlined in both the city’s presentation as well as the coalition’s, law enforcement officers were called in less than 1 percent of Cahoots calls in 2019 in Eugene. Both presentations also noted that the CAHOOTS program, which is funded by the city, has saved Eugene about $8.5 million annually since it was implemented in 2014.

The activists with the coalition voiced support for a similar program in Winston-Salem.

“The data shows us that in mentalhealth calls, just the presence of a police officer has resulted in the escalation of an incident,” Battle said. “The research that we have about programs that already exists… demonstrate that police officer backup are not needed in a vast majority of these calls. That the mentalhealth worker is able to de-escalate the incident without there being any violence.”

Larson, a Democrat representing the South Ward, expressed skepticism about how the program would work and also questioned where the funds needed for the group’s demands would be shifted from.

“I’m not entirely sure what is being proposed to be cut to warrant that reallocation of money,” Larson said. “What functions are currently being performed by the police that you are willing to diminish within our current environment?... Until we devise a system to do that, I’m reluctant to simply say we’re going to take money away from the police and throw it toward a program that may involve county support as well.”

While neither the activists nor Scott Tesh, the city official giving the report about alternative policing, provided specifics how funds could be diverted, Battle reasserted that other municipalities have been able to do what their coalition is asking for.

“We need to be creative about where that money can come from,” Battle said.

News

of funds from the police department’s However, one glaring omission from budget to community services, a civilian WPR’s recommendations was the impolice-oversight board and a mentalmediate termination of Chief Mayo and health crisis intervention unit. other members of the command staff.

For the reallocation portion, members “If you don’t clean this wound out of the coalition asked for a 10 percent before you put the dressing on, it just shift of funds from the police departfesters,” Penn said. ment’s $78 million budget for communiOne recommendation from WPR’s ty programs such as SOAR, which works presentation supported by Burke was the to help formerly incarcerated individuals implementation of a diversity, equity and successfully re-enter society, and Youth inclusion strategic plan for the entire city.

Build which works with individuals who Penn also said that Omnibus included have not completed high school. the need for a DEI plan in its demands.

“This is a realistic shifting of priori“I believe that we need a citywide DEI ties from a system that punished people office,” Burke said. “I believe that we of color for their very existence while need this infrastructure even if it means condoning white violence on a daily restructuring one of the offices we curbasis,” said Aly Jones, a member of the rently have.” coalition. “This is a change away from WPR also recommended that the city funding systems that are reactionary to hire four educators for the fire departsystems that are preventative.” ment who would lead community enJones pointed to the previous meetgagement initiatives and DEI actions, as ing item in which members of the well as a discipline audit of the departpolice department, including Assistant ment as a whole. One of the items also Chief Wilson Weaver II, talked about recommended revisiting and strengththe department’s gunening the department’s crime reduction unit. The social media policy. purpose of the unit, Weaver Assistant City Manager ‘Cities across the and others said, is to reduce Damon Dequenne country with much gun crime incidents and responded that fire have a separate team which department policy had higher crime rates, to investigate gun been recently updated to much larger popula- responds crimes. mirror that of the police tions than us have “It is wonderful to get department. guns off the street but it’s “It provides for more been doing this, as better to avoid the shootaccountability, and well as cities that ings to begin with,” Jones ensures that there is are smaller than us.’ said. “The police do not no direct connection stop crime; they show up to their profession and – Brittany Battle, after crimes have been what they’re posting and Triad Abolition Project committed. We are seekrepresenting the city,” ing initiatives that prevent Dequenne said. the bulk of crime to begin Penn said that while with.” he’s happy to see that WPR’s findings A large portion of the presentation mostly match what Omnibus has been by the coalition focused on the need saying for months, he also wants to see for a mental-health crisis intervention specific captains fired. unit which they hope would be mod“We have to take it day by day,” eled after Cahoots, an initiative out of Penn said. “We don’t know what these Eugene, Ore. The city had also prepared individuals will do. We must stay focused a presentation about alternative police and be prepared to be active. We must strategies for mental-health crises. The be proactive rather than reactive.” city presentation differentiated between Reallocating police funds three different types of responses that can be taken for mental-health inciand alternative police dents. Currently, the city employs the strategies During the latter half of the meeting, law enforcement-only option, in which activist and academic Brittany Battle and officers receive crisis-intervention trainothers with the Forsyth County Police ing and are deployed to the scene. A Accountability and Reallocation Coalico-response method, which has been tion outlined their demands to the comused by the Greensboro Police Departmittee. These included a reallocation ment since last year, allows for police

Up Front

he Winston-Salem Fire Department, in and of itself, is not a racist organization.

That’s what consultants with WPR Consulting told Winston-Salem city officials during a public safety committee meeting on Monday evening. The presentation was given by Anthony Wade and Willie Ratchford, who led the independent consulting firm out of Charlotte.

According to a meeting document, the city contracted with WPR Consulting in August 2020, weeks after multiple news outlets, including Triad City Beat, had published allegations of racism within the fire department by multiple current and former Black firefighters who have been organizing under the name Omnibus. Among the allegations put forth by Omnibus: nooses tied during trainings, frequent use of the N-word and racially charged social media posts.

In their report, the consultants addressed members of the public safety committee, which includes councilmember James Taylor Jr. who serves as the chair and councilmembers John Larson, Barbara Hanes Burke and Kevin Mundy.

In addition to refuting claims that the entire department is racist, Wade and Ratchford stated that none of the more than 100 personnel interviewed for the climate assessment shared a view held by members of Omnibus: that Chief Trey Mayo is racist. However, they did state that “there are individuals who are employed by the department who are viewed as racists” and that “racism and discrimination occurs in the department.”

For the assessment, the firm conducted interviews with individuals with Omnibus, Hate Out of Winston, the WinstonSalem Urban League, the NAACP and others. They reviewed social media posts

by WSFD employees and also researched the history of the department.

Thomas Penn, a Winston-Salem firefighter and a member of Omnibus, told TCB he was happy to see that much of WPR’s report substantiated claims that have been made by his group for months.

“Our main concern is that they have discovered that there is racism in the department,” Penn said. “And that these incidents have not been properly investigated.”

Penn said almost all of the recommendations made by WPR matched the demands that Omnibus put out as well.

Jan. 14-20, 2021

W-S city officials discuss racism in fire department, police funding

by Sayaka Matsuoka

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Jan. 14-20, 2021

‘Insurrection’ cont. from pg. 6

‘W-S’ cont. from pg. 7

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“Cities across the country with much higher crime rates, much larger populations than us have been doing this, as well as cities that are smaller than us.

This is not a radical proposition; this is something that is being done across the country.”

Larson and Mundy, a Democrat who represents the Southwest Ward, expressed further skepticism about the reallocation of funds from the police department.

“I’m less concerned about policing the police,” Larson said. “I’m not sure they’re broken. What I do think is we have a number of social issues that need attention….”

Mundy, who advocated for a DEI office earlier in the meeting accused the coalition of activists of painting law enforcement with a “broad brush.”

“I think there is a lot of anger over the way people have been treated across the United States and I can assure you, I share that anger, but what I don’t want us to do as a council, what I don’t want to do as a community is demonize our men and women in blue who work so hard to be fair, to serve and protect on a daily basis when they face the odds of being killed every day when they go to work,” Mundy said. “I think there has been a large lack of respect for the work that they do. That doesn’t mean we can’t make changes… but at the same time I want to commend our local law enforcement for the job that they do every day.”

Battle was quick to reply, stating that the system of policing disproportionately affects marginalized communities.

“Data shows us that policing is a dangerous institution for Black, Brown and queer people,” Battle said. “I definitely recognize that people’s lives are on the line when they go to work and we should also recognize that Black, Brown and queer people’s lives are on the line when they engage with law enforcement across the country, including in the city of Winston-Salem.”

Taylor, in an effort to wrap up the meeting, said that he hopes to continue talking about these issues during the meeting in February and will invite Battle and others back to reach a resolution about reallocation of funds and more discussion of the Cahoots model.

Up Front

who lives in Hillsborough, suggesting they were already beyond the point of no return. “So, if everything folds and Trump doesn’t get in and it proves one major thing — that our democracy is a sham and it’s destroyed — then also guys like us who have made our choice to stand up for our inalienable rights and our constitutional freedoms are marked men.”

By Thursday, Whicker was expressing betrayal following Trump’s video entreaty for his supporters to go home.

“I just hope a lot of people are learning this morning, that Trump is part of the system,” Whicker wrote on Parler on Thursday. “The movement is real, the people are real, but Trump has proven himself not to be.”

The fallout over the attempted insurrection puts Trump’s supporters at a crossroads. On one hand, many are ready to break with electoral politics altogether — including support for another presidential run by Trump in 2024 — to wage an open assault on democracy. On the other, moving beyond Trump could prove difficult, considering he’s central to the QAnon belief system.

“Fuck you, Trump,” Bertino posted on his Parler account on Thursday. “This was never about you. It was about We The People.”

Bertino, who is recovering from a stabbing, watched the storming of the Capitol remotely.

In a video posted on Wednesday on Rumble, he raged: “244 fucking years ago, we decided we were not going to be subjects to a tyrant. And guess what?

We’re right back here again. Only the tyrant is not just one fucking man — not a king — but an elected bunch of fucking snakes. Nancy Pelosi — and I don’t even care what fucking side of the coin you’re on, or what fucking party they’re with. They’re all swamp-dwelling fucking donkeys.”

As much as anything else, Bertino said, he was disappointed the Capitol stormers had voluntarily left and allowed Congress to reconvene and certify the election. He didn’t appreciate the framing among conservatives that the event was peaceful — and not because it was false.

“Since when has peace ever brought on fucking change?” he asked. “Never.

Peace brings on fucking complacency.

That’s what it brings on. The only thing that brings on real change in this world is fucking violence. Sorry, but it’s the truth.

Violence is the only thing that gives you freedom.”

Jan. 14-20, 2021

In Q lore, “Red1” references a prediction made in 2017 that Trump would be permanently banned from Twitter, which a post on the WeLoveTrump.com website explained on Friday “basically means the very first thing that would happen that would signal and kick off the chain of events that we have ALL been waiting for.”

For Pennington, Twitter’s decision to ban Trump was cause for encouragement.

“So, the question is was yesterday [the storming of the Capitol] part of the plan?” he wrote. “My answer is yes.”

Jan. 6 was not Pennington’s first foray into far-right activism. On Dec. 12, he traveled to DC and roamed the streets with a crew from Alamance County looking for fights with left-wing adversaries. One of the men in the group was filmed knocking a person to the ground and kicking them in the head. The attacker who was with Pennington later confirmed the assault in a comment on Facebook.

Pennington was present on Aug. 20, 2018, when students and antiracist activists tore down the Silent Sam Confederate monument at UNC-Chapel Hill. A graduate student said he alerted police that Pennington was carrying a knife, an assertion that Pennington has vigorously denied.

But the following day, Pennington wrote on Facebook that he “would like to get any army and march into Chapel Hill.” He continued, “Let’s organize something.” In another thread, he wrote, “I say we show them how violent we can be. We need doers, not talkers!”

Pennington was among the first to arrive at a pro-Confederate event five days later at the site of the toppled statue, carrying a large Confederate flag.

Clashes between neo-Confederates and antiracists that day resulted in nine arrests. A neo-Confederate from Alamance County was convicted of simple assault for punching a student in the face, and three antiracists involved in scuffles accepted guilty charges for simple assault through deferred prosecution.

Thaxton, the Proud Boy and Marine Corps veteran who was arrested in DC on Wednesday for violating curfew, is also closely aligned with the neo-Confederate movement in North Carolina. Thaxton has frequently shown up in Pittsboro, Graham, Lexington and Statesville during confrontations between neo-Confederates and antiracists, often livestreaming on Facebook for

the benefit of supporters. In livestreams from Lexington in July 2020, Thaxton disparaged Black Lives Matter protesters opposed to the Confederate monument by telling his viewers he was “keeping the natives at bay” and called his adversaries “street rats.” In another livestream from Graham that same month, he can be heard chatting with Jessica Reavis, an organizer with League of the South, which advocates the creation of a white ethno-state. Thaxton has also shared a Facebook page that the League used as a recruitment platform.

Along with North Carolina Proud Boys Jeremy Bertino and Bill Whicker III, Thaxton was part of Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio’s entourage at the Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Va. in January 2020. On the eve of the rally, the group of prominent Proud Boys was joined by conspiracy trafficker Alex Jones of InfoWars.

The three North Carolina Proud Boys were particularly busy in 2020, which saw the organization and their individual profiles raise considerably. Beyond the Second Amendment rally in January, one or more of the men attended a July 4 Proud Boys march in DC, the “Save Our Children” march in Fayetteville, a pro-Trump rally in DC in November, a reopen rally in Raleigh in November, and then another pro-Trump rally in DC in December.

In December, Thaxton subtly threatened an antiracist account on Twitter, which he mistakenly identified as Megan Squire, a computer science professor at Elon University who is a renowned expert on right-wing extremism.

“I am no president of anything, just a Proud Boy that served in the USMC and can’t wait to show you all the cool things Uncle Sam taught me,” Thaxton wrote.

Even before Jan. 6, the Proud Boys had hardened their rhetoric, graduating from aggressive trolling to an increasingly revolutionary posture.

Among the North Carolina Proud Boys, Bertino and Whicker in particular have gained prominence in the broader far-right movement. Three days before the insurrection, Bertino and Whicker were invited to join a YouTube video chat with British far-right activists, including Tommy Robinson, who were keen to hear their American counterparts’ predictions about the upcoming showdown over Biden’s electoral certification.

“Guys like me and Jeremy and Tommy and all of you guys, whether you’re boots on the ground or not, we’ve made our choice,” said Whicker,

The next public safety meeting will take place virtually on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m.

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Jan. 14-20, 2021

OPINION

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EDITORIAL

No unity with insurrectionists

Claytoonz

by Clay Jones

L

ast week, at the urging of who treated an insurrection like a music President Trump, armed and festival and some members of the US dangerous insurrectionists House and Senate, who are making stormed the US Capitol intent pleas for “unity” in the waning, terrible on disrupting the electoral process and days of the Trump presidency. doing harm to elected officials.

To this we say: No. These are literally high crimes, as For one, as good, law-abiding defined by US Code.

Americans, we have no desire to unify Seditious conspiracy: “Two or more with the insurrectionists, white suprempersons… conspire to overthrow, acists, militia members and LARPers put down, or to destroy by force the who stormed the Capitol last week. We Government of the United States, or to don’t want to reach across the aisle to levy war against them, or to oppose by seditionists, and anyone else who was force the authority thereof, or by force in the Capitol last week with MAGA on to prevent, hinder, or delay the executheir minds. tion of any law of the United States, or For another, nothing has been more by force to seize, take, or possess any divisive than Republican policies and property of the United States…. practices enacted in the House and Overthrow of government: “[O] Senate these last four years. Examples rganizes or helps or attempts to orgaof this are legion, but for now the case nize any society, group, or assembly … of Rep. Ted Budd will suffice. who teach, advocate, Budd tweeted on or encourage the overMonday: “Trying to throw or destruction of impeach a President Good, law-abiding any such government with less than 10 days Americans have no by force or violence; left in office is the or becomes or is a worst way to lower the desire to unify with member of, or affiliates temperature in our with, any such society, country. If Democrats the insurrectionists, group, or assembly of say they want unity, white supremacists, persons, knowing the this isn’t the way to purposes thereof….” militia members and show it.”

Rebellion/insurrecBut remember, LARPers who stormed Budd was one of a tion: “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or cadre of GOP House the Capitol. engages in any rebelmembers who had lion or insurrection agreed to contest against the authority of electoral counts in the United States or the laws thereof, battleground states on that fateful day, or gives aid or comfort thereto….” and one of the few who actually went Treason, which reads in full: “Whothrough with it after the mob outside ever, owing allegiance to the United had been quelled.

States, levies war against them or Calls for unity from Budd and others adheres to their enemies, giving them of his ilk make a fallacious assumption aid and comfort within the United from the start: They seem to think we States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason non-insurrectionists want to bring them and shall suffer death, or shall be back into the fold. But the law dictates imprisoned not less than five years that we must cast them out, not bring and fined under this title but not less them in. than $10,000; and shall be incapable There must be consequences for of holding any office under the United those who orchestrated this attempted States.” coup, or the insurrectionists will be Take your pick. emboldened to continue their attack There is no wiggle room here, on democracy. because we are a nation of laws. And Or, to borrow a phrase from the this is what the law says. Everyone criminal right: We have no choice but knows it, except for some of the dopes to lock them up.

claytoonz.com

A

Up Front News Opinion

Kimberly Barnes has found a way to get healthy food to underserved neighborhoods: the mail.

COURTESY PHOTO

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

and obesity correlate closely with alarming racial and around the country. And it’s the reason why she named ethnic disparities related to Covid-19. People experiencher business Might Be Vegan, for those who might be ing food insecurity and living in food deserts, predomivegan-curious or ready to jump in headlong. nantly Black and Brown people, only have access to Veganism excludes animal-derived ingredients and low-cost, energy-dense processed foods. Currently, can be viewed as prohibitive to some communities.

Food Love is the only national hunger relief program “I found that the vegan community can be low-key that is exclusively plant-based. It’s also the only nationjudgmental, and I didn’t really appreciate that,” says al hunger relief program founded by a Black woman.

Barnes. “I felt like, that is not how you encourage Barnes began her own personal journey into the land people to eat less meat, go plant-based or go vegan, of veganism in 2017. by making them feel bad about themselves and their “I dabbled first because I choices.” didn’t understand it yet,” says Barnes says the best way to Barnes who currently lives in show someone that they can eat Learn more about Barnes at Philadelphia. “I was fearful of better is to show them through it not working or not being their tastebuds. A lot of people mightbevegan.co and on sustainable. I also wasn’t ready think eating vegan is eating raw Instagram @itskimberlyrenee to give things up. Cheese, for salads and Barnes says that is example. It was later I realnot the case. ized that I wasn’t really giving “Part of the goal is to introup anything, I was gaining so duce people to what it looks like much.” to have a diet centered in vegetables, in food that is not Using her experience, Barnes thought to create a processed with no preservatives and non-GMO,” Barnes space for people who wanted to figure out what being says. “It’s all literally from the Earth to your table.” vegan might mean for them. What started as a foodmedia property is now a multimedia company that develops online food content such as instructional videos, recipes and seminars with Black and Brown chefs

Culture

s the effects of the pandemic began to unfold within the US in March 2020, many people started scrambling to find ways to help communities in need. No one knew how long the various shutdowns would last nor

by Nikki Miller-Ka how its effects would ripple and cut through every socio-economic level. According to Feeding America, the pandemic has caused millions of people to newly experience food insecurity, alongside those who were experiencing food insecurity before the COVID-19 crisis began. Increasing evidence also reveals that Black and Brown people are experiencing worse health outcomes from COVID-19, likely due to a combination of factors that stem from longstanding economic and health inequities.

Greensboro native Kimberly Barnes was among those scrambling to find ways to help amidst the chaos. Because COVID-19 has had a disproportionately negative impact on the Black community, Barnes reached into her background as a vegan chef and marketing consultant to provide vegan food to Black and Brown families living in food insecurity.

The Dudley High School and NC A&T University graduate is a self-taught chef and the CEO of Might Be Vegan, a media and marketing consultancy committed to helping people around the country discover plant-based diets. In April 2020, Barnes created a new hunger-relief program called Food Love to provide vegan food nationwide to those in need. She used her experience from helping feed more than 1,600 people at a vegan-only tailgate for Super Bowl LIII in 2019 as a starting point. Now, Food Love partners with several plant-based meal-delivery services to distribute prepared food dishes directly to the doorsteps of families in need, at no cost to them. The program also provides supplementary educational materials to families, like recipe booklets to help them incorporate more plantbased foods into their diets.

“I’ve heard a few times, ‘We don’t have anyone who’s vegan,’” Barnes says. “And then, I tell them, ‘Well, everyone eats fruits and vegetables.’ And then they get it.”

Currently, Barnes’s boxes are distributed though companies like Splendid Spoon and Boycemode. The meals are plant-based, ready-to-eat and feed families for a week. They include dishes like butternut squash noodles with broccoli and turmeric, pinto beans with spinach and bok choy, brown-rice taco bowls with smoked pepitas and black beans, linguini with shiitake mushrooms, white wine and parsley.

She hopes that by providing free and healthy meals, that Food Love can not only bridge the gap in food access, but also strengthen health outcomes for Black and Brown communities.

According to a 2020 study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, the hospitalization rates for Covid-19 among Blacks are approximately four and a half times that of whites. Health disparities in nutrition

Jan. 14-20, 2021

Nik Snacks ‘Food Love’: GSO native answers pandemic with vegan meals by mail

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Jan. 14-20, 2021 Up Front News Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

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CULTURE New anime series tackles political and social justice issues

by Michaela Ratliff

S

panning 19 episodes, the lengthy “Dragon Ball Z” battle between Goku and Frieza is one of the longest in anime history. Immanuel Gracia watched every single episode, falling deeper in love with the Japanese medium each time.

“It started for me with ‘Dragon Ball Z,’” he says. “I just thought it was so crazy that it wrapped me up in a way that I could relate to it.”

Prior to the pandemic, Puerto Ricanborn Gracia worked in music, managing artists while making his own. Once the music slowed down due to COVID-19, Gracia, who now lives in Greensboro, quickly sought another means of artistic expression. Enter “Samurai: The Legendary Ronin,” an anime series that explores political- and social-justice issues through the eyes of Yoshihiro, an Afro-Asian ronin with a heart full of rage. It revolves around the oppression of his people by Emperor Okuda and others whose goal is to destroy essential farmlands so he can rule over those communities, a metaphor for gentrification. The first episode is loosely based on the death of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man out for a jog who was pursued by three white men in a truck, one of whom shot and killed Arbery in February 2020.

“The reason this show started is because of that Ahmaud Arbery video,” Gracia says. “If you watch the first scene in the show, you’ll be like, That’s familiar.

Two off-duty officers? That’s familiar.”

Gracia searched social media and his inner circle for writers, artists and animators to work on the show and join Golden Dynasty Entertainment, the independent animation studio through which the series will be released.

Instagram is where he saw the work of 18-year-old Neev Asken, an animator from Los Angeles. After exchanging ideas with Gracia, Asken became the first to join the project, causing GDE to reach nationwide status. Gracia then contacted Pasquale Dorsi, a freelance animator and illustrator from New Jersey to act as art director and influence character design. Rather than draw characters himself, Dorsi manages the team of artists, making sure they’re sticking to the image Gracia, known to the GDE team as “Lou,” desires.

“Lou had a specific vision in mind, but he gave me creative control to take what he wanted and just flesh it out,” Dorsi says.

Gracia says he took inspiration from “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Dragon Ball Z” for the art style of “Samurai,” with Dorsi putting his own touch on the process.

He chose to make the characters more realistic than using traditional anime style which typically feature exaggerated facial expressions and wide eyes.

The characters of “Samurai: The Legendary Ronin” look similar to “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” yet Yoshihiro’s dreadlocks exude the individuality of Gracia’s vision and GDE’s art style.

Gracia also contacted Alex Moore, a recording engineer with an interest in filmmaking, to be lead writer, even though he had never written a script before. In the story, he plans to relate the imperialization of Japan to the colonization of Black communities, having Yoshihiro COURTESY IMAGE fight against a new way of Immanuel Gracia, second from right, created “Samurai, the Legendary Ronin” to apply modern problems to the feudal structure of medieval Japan. life being forced on him.

“You force a system on ing anime really gives you.” people, unfortunate things happen,” Moore says.

Moore’s first introduction to anime was “Gundam” due to According to Moore, the project provides a history lesson to an “uncontrollable addiction” to PlayStation. A young Moore its viewers in the way Yoshihiro chooses to fight different scewas captivated by the fact there were people inside the larger narios, whether it’s through protest or physical action, similar than life robot suits. to how people of color have had to choose the most effective “I didn’t even know there were real people inside the Gunway to fight injustice. dam thing, so when I found that out, I was like, ‘Oh snap!’” he “He’s gonna be doing it violently,” Moore says while hitsays. ting one fist against an open palm, mimicking the sound of Growing up in Philadelphia, Gracia was exposed to anime by punches landing. “You’re gonna see him going at it like that.” exchanging movies in the neighborhood. He collected Bruce Christian Thornton, chief marketLee films and went as far as particiing officer of GDE and with whom pating in “Dragon-Ball Z” role-playGracia is “thick as thieves,” says ing in the streets.

‘Samurai: The Legendary: Ronin’ the series will spark conversations “We was even acting out some of traditional anime never has due to aims to be released this year. To that stuff thinking we could do spirit its subject matter. bombs in the middle of the projlearn more, visit the show’s website, “This hits your heart with a mesects!” he says.

Facebook page, YouTube Channel sage,” he says.

Thornton says the connection The work is an example of the and KickStarter campaign. between the Black community and longstanding relationship between anime lies in escapism. Children in the Black community and anime. impoverished communities could Thornton says anime was part of his upbringing, from having use anime to live vicariously for a moment, believing they are Dragon Ball Z-themed birthday parties to collecting Yu-Gi-Oh! powerful and can do anything. cards.

“It’s for the culture, truly,” Gracia says.

“Once you’re that immersed in the culture, it never truly leaves you,” he says. “You find other interests as you grow and mature but you never really part ties with that nostalgic feel-

by Sayaka Matsuoka

I

Up Front News Opinion

“...from baptisms” from the Mark Yourself Safe series

ASHLEY JOHNSON

Shot in the Triad Puzzles

women from clutching their purses when near him nor does it the point of the work that you don’t even need a fact to draw combat complaints about him wearing his hat backwards. All a fear-based conclusion or to have a fear-based conclusion of the individuals in the images for the series have their backs before approaching the work.” turned, their faces cast away from viewers’ gazes.

And while the work is set to be shown at the museum soon In one striking image, Johnson captures her brother leaning and is already up on her website, Johnsons says that she took away from the viewer as a pit bull stands proudly between his a long time to display these pieces because she felt that they legs. Her brother reaches down to hold his dog in place and to weren’t quite done. However, she says recent events have his right, a laundry line pole can be seen. His pants sag slightly made it necessary to show them now. below his hips, exposing his grey boxers. The bright orange “When trying to figure out how to contribute my voice to paint contradicts vibrantly with his deep, dark skin. the movement, I thought, even unfinished it needed to see “When you focus on this Black light,” Johnson says. “At the root of man…standing in a neighborhood you any discomfort is fear.” wouldn’t dare step foot in, it’s not a The images may draw on JohnMark Yourself Safe will be on question of whether or not you are son’s personal experiences as a Black display the SECCA from Jan. 16 afraid, because you are,” Johnson writes. woman and use images of family and through Feb. 14. Visit secca.org “The question is, of what?” friends, but Johnson says that the In another image, a pair of Black men series is for everyone, not just white or hiaj.co for more information. sit in a body of water, their heads hangfolks who are contemplating their ing low, a white sheet of fabric flowing fear of Blackness. between them. Their hands are behind “This work is for everyone to adtheir backs and sunlight from above dapples gently onto their dress bias,” she says. “Deeply embedded, racially motivated backs, bringing further attention to the shapes that mark their bias that enables fear and how that fear impacts our decisions bodies. Johnson says that excluding faces is a constant thread — the people we follow on social media, the neighborhoods throughout her work. we live in, the feelings of danger on certain sides of town….

“I like for audiences to draw conclusions without the help My contribution to last year’s uprisings was to hold up a really of the subject’s expression,” she says. “It inadvertently serves large mirror.”

Culture

s it blood? Are they symbols?

What are they saying? What do they mean?

These are the questions that arise when looking at Ashley Johnson’s latest series of work, titled Mark Yourself Safe. In the group of moody photographs that depict the backs of Black men, Johnson paints abstract, Rorschach-inspired patterns onto their bodies, a representation of the viewer’s fear of the Black male.

Johnson, who is a multidisciplinary artist working out of Winston-Salem, will be showing her new series at SECCA as part of the Southern Idioms project starting Jan. 16. The artist says that the images came to her in a dream she had a few years ago in which she was visiting a group home where a bunch of boys broke free and painted the vibrant shapes on their backs.

“This fluorescent orange is bright the way caution and construction signs are bright, making it a very necessary figure in the work,” Johnson responds in an email. “Two things can happen, either the orange shapes beg your attention or the man, and then we do what all audiences do with art — find meaning or reason.”

Johnson responds to the fact that some viewers may make connections of the painted backs to the history of slavery by turning that interpretation back on the viewer and society at large.

“It signals that there is a very siloed way in which we can approach or interpret Black men not just in art, but in our daily lives,” Johnson says. “And much of that centers around fear. If Black men are not useful, then our default is that we have something to be afraid of.”

Johnson says that using the Rorschach-inspired inkblots invites viewers to contemplate what they are afraid of, and why, when it comes to the Black male body.

“Black skin is the same way,” she writes. “We’ve been conditioned to project our judgement onto Black skin as a space to make determinations on our safety. In this way, we use the size and depth of Black skin as a barometer for fear.”

For models, Johnson chose a variety of Black males including her brother, who works at a local meat counter. In a description of the work on her website, Johnson writes that despite his employment at the shop, it doesn’t stop

Jan. 14-20, 2021

CULTURE In Mark Yourself Safe, a challenge to the fear of Blackness

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Plainfield Road, Greensboro

Jan. 14-20, 2021 Shot in the Triad

Culture

Opinion

News

Up Front

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

Puzzles

January, early evening.

14

CAROLYN DE BERRY

Across

by Matt Jones

Up Front

©20210 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)

News

Answers from previous publication.

Opinion Culture Shot in the Triad Puzzles

1 Make like a cricket’s legs 4 Talk like Cindy Brady 8 Georgia senator-elect Jon 14 H in Greek 15 Peruvian ancestor 16 Flat, geometrically 17 Canadian equivalent of “American Band stand” hosted by Alex Trebek in 1963-64 19 ___-weensie 20 Biblical boats 21 1976 trivia show (not the Nickelodeon kids’ show) hosted by Trebek 23 Bent down 25 Place to order a round © 2021 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) 26 Kilmer of “MacGruber” 27 Aromatic compounds 29 Reykjavik’s country 33 Aloe vera yield 34 Had some haggis 35 Some Spanish titles, for short 36 Dallas cager, informally 39 1981 game show (not the classic Atari game) hosted by Trebek 42 Armani competitor, briefly 43 “’Tis a shame” Answers from last issue 45 Part of TGIF 10 Casual footwear 46 Meme response 11 Not paid by the hour 48 Harden, in a way 12 Not rainy 50 “Battleship Potemkin” locale 13 Duty-___ shop 54 “Star Wars” character Solo 18 “Survivor” locales 55 Honey Graham ___ (cereal brand) 22 Water filter brand 58 Go in 24 Golfing hazard 59 Canadian series hosted by Trebek from 1976-1980, 28 Smarten (up) featuring professional skaters alongside B-list celebs 30 String quartet instrument 63 “Aw, heck!”

31 “Cherry Wine” rapper 64 Roll in mud 32 High-speed internet initials 65 Emmy-winning game show hosted by 34 “Sing the Sorrow” band Trebek starting in 1984 36 ___ and cheese 67 Genetic variant 37 Start for carte or king 68 Tennis player Kournikova 38 Wagnerian opera setting 69 Abbr. on remotes 40 Test the fit of 70 Prepped for serving 41 Major vein 71 “It’s for the ___” 44 Blood-red 72 Ethyl or methyl ending 47 ___ hand (give help) Down 49 Shoe padding 1 New version of an old film 51 “Feed a cold, ___ a fever” 2 Reversals on the road 52 Forward, as mail 3 Vessel for thematic gifts 53 Sock pattern 4 Permit to drive (abbr.)

56 Burqini headpiece 5 How most TV is broadcast these days 57 Segment of a play 6 2020 CGI movie that featured the origin 59 Trade story of a cartoon canine 60 Like some tales 7 ___ New Guinea 61 Due 8 German car name 62 Seemingly forever 9 Something a vest lacks 66 Butter square

Jan. 14-20, 2021

CROSSWORD ‘Goodbye, Mr. Trebek’—a retrospective. SUDOKU

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