TCB July 20, 2023 — A Rolling Stone

Former NC A&T journalism department lead Dr. Robbie Morganfield will soon head the Ida B. Wells Society

BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA | PG. 8

a stonerolling

CITY LIFE

THURSDAY JULY 20

Roe Roe’s Heroes Fundraiser @ Mi Pueblo (Triad Locations) 5 p.m.

Mi Pueblo Mexican Grill is hosting a fundraiser to benefit the Roe Roe’s Heroes Childhood Cancer Foundation. Stop by any of the six Triad locations from 5 until closing where 10% of all sales will go to the organization. Check out the menu before you go at mipueblomexgrill.com

Terpsicorps’ Cleopatra @ Hanesbrands Theatre (W-S) 8 p.m.

Contemporary professional ballet company

Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance celebrates its 20th anniversary with the world premiere of Cleopatra. Founder/Artistic Director Heather Maloy explores the life of Egypt’s last Pharaoh through exciting choreography, lavish costumes and more. Purchase tickets at intothearts.org/campus-events/

by MICHAELA RATLIFF

cleopatra. Enjoy a pre-show chat and champagne toast at 7! Tickets sold separately at terpsicorps. org

FRIDAY JULY 21

Belgian Truck Day & Fruition Re-Release @ Brown Truck Brewery (HP) 4 p.m.

Brown Truck Brewery is celebrating Belgian National Day with multiple Belgian ales on tap and the re-release of Fruition, a Belgian-inspired imperial sour ale. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

JULY 20 - 22

UNCSA is pleased to announce tickets go on sale online for the Dec. 7-10 performances of The Nutcracker. The beloved holiday ballet follows the adventures of a young girl and her new friend, a nutcracker that comes to life at night. Purchase tickets at uncsa.edu/nutcracker

SATURDAY JULY 22

HPAC Community Market @ Centennial Station Arts Center (HP) 8 a.m.

High Point Arts Council is hosting a community market for patrons to explore jewelry, clothing, shoes and more from local vendors. Visit the event page on Facebook for updates.

Find more events and add your own to our calendar at triad-city-beat.com/local-events

The Nutcracker @ Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts (GSO)

Greensboro, North Carolina

EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK

Everyone is mad at me

It feels heavy, like I overate, but also a bit nauseous, queasy.

Saturday night performances featuring:

Gil Shaham, violin (July 8)

Mighty 5’s, Beethoven/Mahler (July 15)

Drew Petersen, piano (July 22)

Awadagin Pratt, piano (July 29)

easternmusicfestival.org

Everyone is mad at me.

I sigh a lot. I feel lethargic and mopey. My husband tries to give me a hug but physical touch falls at the bottom of my love language. What I really need is to eat, but again, I don’t have much of an appetite.

by Sayaka Matsuoka

When I’m like this, I don’t really have much of an appetite — the first sign that something is wrong because I always have an appetite.

I roll over and look at my phone.

The knot tightens.

It’s not something I ate, or an illness or injury.

It’s just part of the job.

Everyone is mad at me.

When you work in this field, pissing people off is an expected side effect. And as long as I’m pissing the right people off, I can sleep. I can eat.

But some weeks, you piss off the wrong people. The ones who don’t deserve it.

And it usually happens because you fucked up.

This is one of those weeks for me. Additionally, I’m feuding with my mom, which makes things all the worse. (I’m pretty sure I’m at fault there, too.)

Brian has this refrain that he likes to parrot about what it’s like working as a journalist.

“Well, for one thing, we don’t make a lot of money. The hours are just terrible. But on the other hand, everybody hates us!”

Usually it’s not so bad. The trolls and the messages and the emails get read — trust me, I read every single one — and filed in their respective folders. They get logged away, compartmentalized so I’m able to move on.

But today it’s tougher. I’m not really asking for forgiveness or even kind words. This whole column may sound like a cry for help — “Oh, boo hoo, poor Sayaka”— but really it’s just nice to put things to paper. It’s my job.

So like every other week, I’ll write my stories, edit everyone’s pieces, lay out the paper.

And maybe, by next Monday, things will be better.

To suggest story ideas or send tips to TCB, email sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

BUSINESS

PUBLISHER/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Brian Clarey brian@triad-city-beat.com

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

Jonathan Jones

EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR

Sayaka Matsuoka sayaka@triad-city-beat.com

CITYBEAT REPORTER

Gale Melcher gale@triad-city-beat.com

SALES

KEY ACCOUNTS

Chris Rudd chris@triad-city-beat.com

AD MANAGER Noah Kirby noah@triad-city-beat.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Carolyn de Berry, John Cole, Owens Daniels, James Douglas, Michelle Everette, Luis H. Garay, Destiniee Jaram, Kaitlynn

Havens, Jordan Howse, Matt Jones, Autumn Karen, Michaela Ratliff, Jen Sorensen, Todd Turner

WEBMASTER Sam LeBlanc

ART

ART DIRECTOR Aiden Siobhan aiden@triad-city-beat.com

COVER:

Robbie Morganfield, formerly with NCA&T State University, will soon be heading the Ida B. Wells Society at Morehouse College.

Photo by Sayaka Matsuoka Design by Aiden Siobhan

Winston-Salem city council selects a new city manager, despite differing preferences

by Gale Melcher

On Friday morning Winston-Salem city council named a new city manager in William Patrick Pate, current city manager of Manassas, VA, despite varying preferences among council members.

Lee Garrity formerly held the role for 17 years before retiring from the position last month, and Assistant City Manager Johnnie Taylor has been serving as interim city manager since Garrity’s departure.

Council members voted 5-3 in favor of Pate’s nomination.

With roots in the Triad, William Patrick “Pat” Pate has worked for the city of Manassas since 2013 and served as an assistant city manager for the city of High Point from 1999 to 2013. He was the budget and evaluation director for the city of Greensboro from 1990 to 1999 as well as the budget and research manager for the city from 1987 to 1990. He held three positions with the city of Winston-Salem in the budget department from 1985 to 1987. Pate holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and religion as well as a master’s of public administration, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Pate’s appointment is pending a background check and the execution of a mutually agreed upon contract, a news release from the city states.

Vying preferences briefly held back the vote when Northeast Ward council member Barbara Hanes Burke offered a substitute motion to appoint Assistant City Manager Patrice Toney to the role, which was followed by applause from a full house seated in the audience. The motion to appoint Toney instead failed in a 3-5 vote with council members Annette Scippio, James Taylor Jr. and Burke voting in favor. Burke made the case that Toney has more that 25 years of “dynamic” and “progressive” experience within the city and would be able to “hit the ground running tomorrow doing the work. She won’t need to be brought up to speed.”

“She has the most experience working for the city of Winston-Salem, in fact she has spent her entire career dedicated to serving and working in this community,” Burke said.

Community leaders and attendees packed the room, which filled with applause during Burke’s remarks.

Toney joined the city in 2016 and served as director of the budget and evaluation office for five years. She now oversees departments such as police,

fire, emergency management, human relations/DEI, and community development. Prior to joining the city, Toney worked for Forsyth County Government in budget and management, public health and the library. In a press release from the city, Mayor Pro Tempore Denise D. Adams, who voted in favor of extending the job offer to Pate, said that she felt Pate was the “most experienced and the most qualified.”

“He’s already been a city manager in Manassas and he’s worked in High Point, Greensboro and Winston-Salem,” Adams stated.

This year, Winston-Salem’s total budget is $607.8 million, more than $155 million more than Manassas’ total budget of $452.6 million. In an interview with Triad City Beat, Burke mentioned the differences between the two cities, noting that Manassas is “not the same as Winston-Salem.” According to US Census Bureau data from 2020, Manassas has a population of 42,772 — a sliver of Winston-Salem’s 249,545 residents. Manassas is 58 percent white, 13 percent Black, 38 percent Hispanic and 6 percent AAPI. In contrast, Winston-Salem is 53 percent white, 34 percent Black, 16 percent Hispanic and 3 percent AAPI.

Burke added that Toney has been “right here doing the work.

“She knows what we need,” Burke added. “She knows about our initiatives, our strategic plans, our goals.”

Going forward with Pate’s selection, Burke said, “I pray that I will be able to work with him so that I can get things done in my ward for my constituents. That’s all I can say.”

William Patrick Pate is Winston-Salem’s new city manager. COURTESY PHOTO

This piece is part of our CityBeat that covers Greensboro and Winston-Salem city council business, made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. To learn how, visit triad-city-beat.com/republish.

A CityBeat story

Greensboro Police Department to provide 20 officers for Guilford County Schools this year

by Gale Melcher

Each year, the city of Greensboro enters into a contract to provide police to the Guilford County School Board and to certain Guilford County schools. The board and the city first entered into the contract on July 1, 2001.

During the July 11 city council meeting, council members approved the annual contract to provide 20 police officers from the Greensboro Police Department for the school year. Seventeen officers will be assigned by the city’s police chief to specific middle and high schools as what are known as school safety resource officers or SROs, while the remaining three will oversee the program and officers.

The payment is split between the board and the city, 75 percent and 25 percent respectively. This year, the total contract amount to provide officers to Guilford County schools for the school year is $2.2 million and the city is being paid $1.6 million by the county. The overall cost of salaries and benefits for the 20 officers came out to $2.1 million.

A $40,000 payment in addition to payroll is also listed in the document. According to GPD’s Public Information Manager Josie Cambareri, this is for additional training. “The state mandates a ton of training for our officers. But, we choose to do extra training above the state mandated standard,” Cambareri wrote to TCB

The city provides all equipment and vehicles to the officers at its own expense.

Last year, the total contract for the 20 officers tallied up to $2.1 million. Guilford County Schools paid the city $1.6 million. The overall cost of salaries and benefits for the 20 officers came out to $2.1 million. The previous year, in FY 21-22, the total cost amounted to $2.1 million, and the city was paid $1.6 million. The overall cost of salaries and benefits for the 20 officers came out to $2 million.

for both previous fiscal years.

Do school resource officers make schools safer?

In 2018, a white police officer working in Hanes Magnet Middle School in Winston-Salem arrested 14-year-old Rockwell Baldwin. The incident, which was caught on a student’s cell phone, showed officer Tyler McCormick attempting to cuff Baldwin’s hands behind her back as she tried to pull her hands away and then tumbled to the ground. The incident raised an alarm throughout the Black community in Winston-Salem, which resulted in a local judge allowing for the release of McCormick’s body-camera footage.

A 2020 New York Times article details episodes of violence by police in schools against the children they are tasked to protect. An officer assigned to a school in Vance County, NC lost his job after he repeatedly slammed an 11-year-old boy to the ground in 2019.

A 2023 Duke University study found that North Carolina has spent over $100 million on SRO salaries and training since 2016, and argues that SROs have little to no effect on school safety and can contribute to over-disciplining students.

Research from the Urban Institute shows that schools with a majority of Black and Hispanic students are more likely to have officers on campus than those with a majority of white students.

An ACLU report revealed that 2015-2016 data from the US Department of Education shows how, overall, students with disabilities were nearly three times more likely to be arrested than students without disabilities, and that this risk is multiplied at schools with police.

Payment in addition to payroll is also $40,000

This piece is part of our CityBeat that covers Greensboro and Winston-Salem city council business, made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. To learn how, visit triad-city-beat.com/republish.

The death knell of participatory budgeting in Greensboro

by Brian Clarey

This week the Hopper trolley begins its circuit through downtown Greensboro, offering free rides up and down the Elm Street strip Thursdays through Sundays, from noon until midnight, 10 p.m. on Sundays.

The Hopper is paid for with some of Greensboro’s American Rescue Plan dollars — they got $59.4 million that needs to be spent by the end of 2026 — with the gap filled by $90,000 worth of the city’s participatory budgeting coffers.

Participatory budgeting is — or was — a process in which the city allocated $500,000, less than 1 percent of the $751.3 million budget, towards projects for each of the five districts, voted on directly by citizens of Greensboro. It has been in effect since 2014, when council first approved it and TCB gave it our official endorsement

But last week, on the cusp of what may be PB’s greatest project yet, city leaders have “delayed” the program, saying in an email, “the future of the program is under evaluation.” Aside from the ‘Hopper, the rest of the Cycle 4 projects were left out of the city budget.

That means no new seats at bus stops citywide, no improvements to

the Glenwood Community Center in District 1 ($7,000) or at Smith Community Park in District 2 ($30,000). No money for kayaks at Lake Brandt in District 3 ($25,000) or a shelter in District 4’s Sunset Hills Park ($66,000) or a solar charging station at Griffin Rec Center in District 5 ($30,000). More than 20 projects in all will not be funded this year, most of them less than $35,000 each and all of them approved by voters in all five districts.

In a year when the city budget increased by more than $72 million, and which also raised property taxes in the city, participatory budgeting was cut in order to pay for raises for cops, according to City Manager Taiwo Jaiyeoba..

This is more than just a bait-and switch — this is a breach of contract between elected officials and voters, this is a fast-shuffle that screws the people out of the very tiny piece of the budget that they controlled; this is betrayal.

And maybe they won’t be paying for these things right now, but if fans of participatory budgeting vote at the polls like they did on the PB process, they might be paying for it come election time if participatory budgeting is not reinstated.

This is a breach of contract between elected officials and voters.

live music on the blue ridge parkway

JuLy 22

Sierra ferrell + Dori freeman

JUly 29

John R. Miller + Caleb Caudle

August 5

The Kody Norris Show + Slate Mountain Ramblers

saturday evening concerts at 7 p.m.

Galax Smokehouse & Other Food Vendors on site

Free Midday Mountain Music

Daily noon - 4 p.m.

Free Roots of American Music Exhibit

Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

TICKETS at b lue r idge m usic c enter.org

Q CULTURE | JULY 2026, 2023

CULTURE

Q&A: Dr. Robbie Morganfield, formerly with NCA&T, will soon head the Ida B. Wells Society at Morehouse College

by Sayaka Matsuoka

Robbie Morganfield says he’s excited to head to Morehouse to lead the Ida B. Wells Society but that he’s leaving the “best job” he’s ever had to do so.

PHOTO BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA

Robbie Morganfield has worked in the journalism industry for close to four decades since he got his start as a staff writer for the Sun Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale in the mid ’80s. Since then, he’s covered city government as a staffer, reworked writers’ copy as an editor, taught at multiple universities as a professor and, most recently, held the position of professor and chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at NC A&T State University.

In the next few weeks, Morganfield will be transitioning into his new position as the director of the Ida B. Wells Society which will soon be housed at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

The Ida B. Wells Society, which focuses on increasing and retaining journalists and editors of color in the field of investigative reporting, was founded by four Black journalists, including Nikole Hannah-Jones, in 2015. The society moved from Harvard University to UNC-Chapel Hill in 2019. In 2022, the school appointed Hannah-Jones to a named chair of Journalism at UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media. But, as thoroughly reported by NC Newsline’s Joe Killian, only a month later, Hannah-Jones was denied tenure. Afterwards, Hannah-Jones left UNC and announced that she would join Howard University to start a journalism center there with Ta-Nehisi Coates. Now, Morganfield is taking his four decades of experience to further the mission started by Hannah-Jones at Morehouse College. Morganfield talked about his career, what it’s like being a Black journalist now versus then, and where he hopes the industry is going.

Congrats on landing the Ida B. Wells gig. That’s huge! How did that come to be?

I had actually started dating someone in Atlanta, and I was really interested in moving. I wanted a relationship and wanted more balance in my life. I love my job at A&T, but socially, Greensboro never really captured me because I’ve always loved big cities.

So when I saw the posting and heard that they were moving the society from Chapel Hill to Atlanta, I thought that it might be a good fit for me.

Fortuitously, Nikole Hannah-Jones had been talking about partnering with A&T for her Center at Howard and she and her people were talking about coming down. So she came down and I happened to be the one that took her back to the airport. It really kind of grew from there. We got to talking, she invited me to apply and the interview went really well.

Why were you drawn to the job?

A

I saw the job as an opportunity to broaden my reach in terms of impact. I’ve always tried to look at whether or not I’m making a difference, especially in the lives of young people of color. I always loved working with youth and young people because they give us energy, but also because these are the people that will follow us and hopefully they do it well.

For example, when we were putting together a masterclass on data journalism and investigative journalism at A&T, it turned out that two of the people to put on the masterclass were from the Ida B. Wells Society and they were my former students: Corey Johnson (who had just won a Pulitzer Prize) and

Topher Sanders, who was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. They had both gone through my diversity program at Vanderbilt University. (Both Johnson and Sanders co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society.)

The Ida B. Wells Society position would put me in a different kind of space and allow me to continue to do the kinds of things that matter to me — to allow me to work with students across the country, and even work with students at high schools. Plus, I’ll be working with people in the industry. I can’t turn it down. I’m beyond thrilled to have this opportunity but I’m leaving A&T, which is probably the best job I’ve ever left.

Tell me about your background in journalism.

I grew up in Mississippi and started writing when I was in high school for my high school newspaper. I decided I wanted to be a journalist and attended the University of Mississippi and earned my bachelor’s degree in journalism. My first two years out of college I worked in public relations and absolutely hated it. I always intended to be a journalist.

Then I got a reporting job in Ft. Lauderdale. It was a daily newspaper and I started out covering city government. I eventually moved into covering schools and higher education, and then after that, I landed a job at the Detroit News at a time when newspaper jobs were vibrant.

I got a masters at Ohio State in public affairs reporting. Went back to the news, did some more reporting, won some awards, ended up leaving. I was thinking I was going to become a minister at one point; I went to bible school for one year. Then I was working as a reporter covering city government at the Tulsa Tribune, which was an afternoon paper; I would be the only report-

er when I would get there. I did that for one year, then I got the invitation to go and teach. Then got the job at the Houston Chronicle. Went back to school again, went to seminary at Texas Christian University for three years, got to the end of that journey and said, I’m not going to be a minister. Then I was a specialty editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. After that I ended up in Nashville working for the Freedom Forum. Left there to get a PhD at Maryland College Park where I was a pastor while I was a full-time PhD student. I stayed in DC for 10 years and then directed a program at Grambling State University in Louisiana. In 2020, I left there to come to NC A&T. My career has been bursts here and there. I recently came to the conclusion that I’m like a rolling stone; I like to roll in and roll out. Once, I entertained the idea of enlisting in the military because I wanted to see the world. I think I got into journalism for the same reason of chasing my ambitions, of living in different places.I think I’ve lived in 11 or 12 states over time as a student or working professional.

That’s a hell of a résumé. It shows you’ve been in so many different areas of the industry for a long time. How do you feel like journalism has changed since you’ve been in it?

A Q A Q A

One of my big passions is advocating for free press and the importance of it, especially in terms of people being informed and aware. I know that we cannot trust politicians to be the voice to tell us everything we need to know. I’m not anti-politician but I believe in checks and balances and I believe in the free press to be a part of the checks and balances. You know, they say in J-school, “If your mama tells you she loves you, check it out.”

This job is extremely important now, I think more than any other time in my lifetime. Everybody wants to put out information regardless of whether it’s good or bad information so the public is bombarded. We have to have systems to navigate that so the public can vet information and determine if it’s reliable. Also, different voices are essential. As an African-American male, I know from my own experience that our voices have not always been welcome and they haven’t always been included in conversations about public life and reporting.

Talk a little more about that. How has your identity as a Black man impacted your work as a journalist?

It’s a very cyclical issue. It calms down for a while and then comes right back. I came in at a time when there was a diversity push in the ’80s. I came into the industry when diversity was being promoted. I was really fortunate. I came in at a time when you could really grow as a journalist; I was able to write my own ticket in a lot of ways. I traveled with George W. Bush when he was running for governor of Texas, I got an Associated Press award for investigative reporting.

But I think the problem is that there are always places where people find acceptance and where they find resistance. There can be some passive-aggressive nature in newsrooms. In some instances, people of color are hired but the environment is not welcoming, not supportive. And when you brought it to the attention of some editors, they would defend it.

Do you think it’s better now? Are things moving in the right direction?

I don’t know that I think it’s necessarily better. I do see some signs in recent times. I’ve known quite a few African-American women in part who have been promoted to positions like editors and that’s something that I didn’t hear back then. But then I do see some signs where it is regressing. Disinformation is at the core of a lot of the campaigns you’re seeing: anti

this, anti that, where anything that is progressive or forward thinking is being attacked. Like the law in Florida banning school teachers from teaching history in a certain way because it makes some people feel uncomfortable. How ridiculous is that? I mean, I was uncomfortable with how history was taught when I was growing up. The way that Black people were depicted. And now, they’re passing laws to protect the sensibilities of white people. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in my whole life.

Q A Q A

You’ve talked about the role of religion in your life. How does faith and reporting intersect for you?

Historically, most of the first reporters were pastors. The idea of liberation and democracy intersect with religious thought. It’s disheartening when people use religion not to liberate people, but to incarcerate people, to marginalize people.

Religion is a matter of faith, not necessarily fact, and so I’ve seen what the power of what faith can do in my personal life and my family. But I find that a lot of conventional thought about religion is problematic. The journalist in me and the Christian in me questions that.

What’s your favorite part about journalism?

My favorite part is the ability to tell stories and provide people information that helps them make meaningful decisions in their lives. Becoming a journalist made me more able to talk to people and people learn from stories, people remember stories. I think storytelling has a real vital place in our society and I think as journalists, we get to do that.

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

Northline Avenue, Greensboro

Former site of Sears Auto Center at Friendly Center.

CROSSWORD SUDOKU

by Matt Jones

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS: Across

1. Unfreeze

5. Late-week exclamation

9. Faucet issue

13. Revolutionary War spy Nathan

14. Exasperate

16. Munich article

17. Letters on egg cartons

18. 1960s art-rock group Procol ___ 19. “Johnny’s Theme” composer Paul 20. More petty golf assistant? 23. Temperature tester 24. Nightstand topper 25. Intrusively forward 28. ___ kwon do 30. Casino game

34. Sugar bowl invader

35. Text messages for the public, e.g. 38. ___ occasion

39. Devices to watch movies like “Rambo” and “Rocky”?

42. Lose energy

43. Indian cheese

44. “What ___ you suggesting?”

45. Song of lament

47. It may be shared by coworkers

48. ___ Ring (2022 George R.R. Martin-involved RPG)

50. Autobahn auto

52. Took down

53. Equipment in an unruly hybrid of “Dancing with the Stars” and “Hockey Night in Canada”?

60. Result of dividing by 2

61. Overseas money

62. Skeleton segment

63. Moisturizer additive

64. Have ___ at the table

65. Divisible by 2

66. Tick relative

67. Some Morse code

68. Oboe player’s need

Down

1. “As a result ...”

2. Greasy spoon dish

3. “M*A*S*H” star Alan

4. Opulence

5. State-straddling lake

6. Nibble away at

7. As to

8. Like some naughty words, lengthwise

9. High-grossing 2016 comic book adaptation

10. Cheese protector

11. Like a starless sky

12. Carrot cohort, in the frozen food section

15. Exercise spot with a song written about it

21. Faithful

22. Sound booster

25. Command after “copy”

26. No later than

27. Look fixedly

28. Jack Black/Kyle Gass duo

29. Olympics venue

31. Work out dough

32. ___ nous (just between us)

33. Nevada senator Jacky who used to be a computer programmer

36. Prune trees

37. MS submitter’s enclosure

40. Court charge

41. Emmy winner Goldstein

46. “Westworld” actor Brynner

49. Stoller’s partner in songwriting

51. “The Sopranos” actress ___ de Matteo

52. Short staffers?

53. Tourist-heavy Indonesian island

54. Bunches

55. Layered cookie

56. Castle protection

57. Cabot ___ (“Murder, She Wrote” setting)

58. Bendy joint

59. Transmit

60. Black Forest ___

© 2023 Matt Jones

© 2022 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com)