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July 29, 2020

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Raleigh W Durham W Chapel Hill

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VOL. 37 NO. 27

CONTENTS NEWS 6

Black women are claiming long-overdue places in local government.

BY LEIGH TAUSS

Snake in the grass? Call Durham's snake guru.

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From Z’Yon Person to Tyvien McLean, Durham is failing its most vulnerable innocents. BY THOMASI MCDONALD

BY RILEY DAVIS

FEATURE

BY SANDY SMITH-NONINI AND TIM MAREMA

MUSIC 13 Some of the Triangle's biggest bands join forces to save Cat's Cradle.

BY SPENCER GRIFFITH

Fifteen years in, Wye Oak just keeps getting better.

BY BRIAN HOWE

15 Pierce Freelon's new album, D.a.D, is perfect for family road trips.

BY KYESHA JENNINGS

The worst part is, I saw it coming. It was somewhere during the 12-hour sprint to get to the printer that it first crossed my mind like a shadow: Are you sure that’s kudzu?

But as interim editor in chief and arts and culture editor, I had more important facts in more important stories to wrestle down on deadline, the real voracious time-eater here. The foreboding came again, stronger, as I signed off final pages, but by then it was far too late.

Even in such an inconsequential story, I regret wasting your time and confidence through carelessness, and I took three sharp reminders from my error: One, always listen to that little voice. It knows things you don’t.

CULTURE 16 A white artist co-opts Durham's Black Lives Matter murals.

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In last week’s issue I wrote a short photo journal about an old car I stumbled across in the woods in Durham. I’d intended to write about the car itself, but then I read that kudzu, which I took the leafy vines on the car to be, can grow a foot a day. The factoid got the writer part of me all jazzed up about this riff on kudzu and time, so I shouted down the editor part and wrote that, instead.

Shut up, it’s almost certainly kudzu, I said, even though every journalist knows the simplest fact will magically turn wrong if we don’t check it because God hates us.

The rural spread of COVID-19 points to meatpacking plants.

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had a bad feeling about the kudzu.

The problem, as several plant-savvy readers pointed out, was that it wasn’t kudzu at all. It was English ivy. My piece, like my botany, was wrong at the root.

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Et Tu, Kudzu?

The Fight documents the pitched odds faced by the ACLU.

BY SARAH EDWARDS

BY GLENN MCDONALD

Two, don’t write about something if you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Even if it’s just a little riff.

And three, the necessity of filling a page, though very real, should never win out over the necessity of accuracy.

THE REGULARS 4 15 Minutes

5 A Week in the Life

12 PHOTOVOICE

COVER Design by Jon Fuller

WE M A DE THIS PUBLIS H ER Susan Harper

Digital Content Manager Sara Pequeño

EDITOR I AL

Editorial Assistant Cole Villena

Interim Editor in Chief Brian Howe Raleigh News Editor Leigh Tauss Deputy A+C Editor Sarah Edwards Staff Writer Thomasi McDonald

Theater+Dance Critic Byron Woods Voices Columnists T. Greg Doucette, Chika Gujarathi, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Courtney Napier, Barry Saunders, Jonathan Weiler

Contributors Jim Allen, Will Atkinson, Jameela F. Dallis, Michaela Dwyer, Lena Geller, Spencer Griffith, Howard Hardee, Laura Jaramillo, Kyesha Jennings, Glenn McDonald, Josephine McRobbie, Samuel Montgomery-Blinn, Neil Morris, James Michael Nichols, Marta Nuñez Pouzols, Bryan C. Reed, Dan Ruccia, David Ford Smith, Eric Tullis, Michael Venutolo-Mantovani, Chris Vitiello, Ryan Vu

SNL producer Lorne Michaels is supposed to have said that the show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30. The same could be said of the INDY’s press deadline. But a correct house ad beats an incorrect story, and I’m grateful that this serious flub came in an unserious piece to remind me for the hundredth time that “looks like” is never enough. Next time I get inspired, I’ll remember to open a book before I open my mouth.

—Brian Howe

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July 29, 2020

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BAC K TA L K

In last week’s issue, Interim Editor in Chief Brian Howe wrote a short photo journal titled “It Eats Time” about an old car he found in the woods near Tuscaloosa-Lakewood.

Specifically, he wrote about the alleged kudzu growing over the car. Unfortunately, he never got his Boy Scout badge for plant identification.

“In the excellent photo essay ‘It Eats Time’, about Kudzu taking over what looks to be a 65+ year old car carcass, there’s one large error,” ED HARRISON writes. “The vine that’s eating the vehicle is actually English Ivy. It also eats time, and sometimes entire woodlots. Probably been in North America since the Puritans brought it over in time to plant it on Harvard’s walls. Probably not a new topic for photo essays.”

(See page 3 for Howe’s mea culpa.)

Barry Saunders wrote a piece about grieving the late John Lewis. In it, he used Hank Williams’s song “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” to describe the sadness he felt about the civil rights pioneer’s passing. One commenter took issue with the choice, connecting it to racist comments made by the country singer’s son.

“Hank Williams [Jr.] the singer was a racist ASS who made many rants and disparaging remarks of our first black president,” STORMIE DAIE wrote on Instagram. “Do better. #BLM” Thomasi McDonald wrote about Thom Tillis being taken to task for his disparaging remarks about Latinx people spreading COVID-19, which was misinformed. Facebook users love one thing, and it’s making fun of that guy.

“Chairman of the Douchebaggery Club,” summed up MARG.

WANT TO SEE YOUR NAME IN BOLD?

indyweek.com backtalk@indyweek.com @IndependentWeekly @indyweek 4

July 29, 2020

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Cary

15 MINUTES Jason Cirioli, 43 Beekeeper at Garden Supply Co. in Cary

BY SARA PEQUEÑO spequeno@indyweek.com

How did you get started in beekeeping?

I used to run my own landscape service—installation, maintenance.

One of my customers was the pastor emeritus from our church, a good family friend. He had a really tiny yard that we maintained, but he had bees. And I said, ‘Instead of me charging you, Dr. Brewer, so much to do maintenance, why don’t you just show me what’s going on with the bees?” So every week or two we’d go by there, we talked about different stuff, and eventually, he caught a swarm of bees, which is when a hive actually divides itself and tries to relocate. Caught one, put them in a box, and told me to come pick them up. So that’s how I got my first beehive.

Why beekeeping, instead of other homesteading efforts?

It’s not like having chickens, where you have to have a coop. You just have a little small box, and it’s full of bees, and they just sort of go do their thing, so it’s a lot more hands-off, in my experience, at least when it’s just a couple of beehives. So it was partly because I’m lazy, don’t want to work really hard, but I was interested in working with my friend Dr. Brewer, and it just worked out. As soon as we got into it, I was totally fascinated by all the different nuances about the bees and what they did, and how they worked as a colony. I already appreciated the flowers and all that kind of stuff, but it was neat to see what they went to and what different blooms they liked. It got me more involved in understanding the cycle of how everything works together in nature. It’s just a fascinating thing. I wouldn’t say I’m good at it by any means, but I was able to stick with it and have a lot of success. It turned into a business. When I approached Garden Supply, they were not doing bees at all. We now have a full shop for beekeepers to come get all the materials that they need. We sell bees, we sell queens, we do everything.

PHOTO BY JADE WILSON

You said that you previously had hives in downtown Apex. Is this something that people living in more urban parts of the Triangle can do?

Absolutely. That’s one of the key reasons I was able to approach Garden Supply and say, ‘This is a viable business option. We can help support the community, help support beekeepers, because there is that need.’ So absolutely. Within a quarter-mile of my house, and I’m almost in downtown Apex, I could probably point out five or six people that have beehives. They’re really all over.

Any final thoughts?

There are plenty of ways to support pollinators, support your environment. You’d be surprised, once you stop using some of the mosquito control companies, some of the harsher sprays for bugs around your house, what a diverse environment will emerge. That can worry people sometimes—they don’t want the bugs— but you can stay supportive of pollinators and bees in lots of different ways. W

The Good, The Bad & The Awful

A WE E K IN THE L IFE

7/22

STORMIE FORTE IS SWORN IN as the Raleigh City Council’s first Black female member.

Wake County Public School System, North Carolina’s largest, announces that the 2020-21 SCHOOL YEAR WILL BEGIN WITH ONLINE LEARNING.

UNC housekeepers RALLY FOR SAFER WORK CONDITIONS ahead of the return of students to campus on August 10.

7/23

7/21

(Here’s what’s happened since the INDY went to press last week)

A month after Roy Cooper told him it would be unsafe to hold it in Charlotte, Trump CANCELS THE GOP CONVENTION in Jacksonville.

UNC announces that STUDENTS WILL NOT RECEIVE REFUNDS or decreased fees during its heavily limited fall semester.

d goo

7/24 7/26

Roxboro residents hold a VIGIL AND PROTEST TO HONOR DAVID BROOKS JR., who was shot and killed by police on Friday.

Duke University tells students that ON-CAMPUS HOUSING WILL BE RESERVED FOR FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS, forcing upperclassmen to scramble for housing just weeks before the semester begins.

The CAROLINA HURRICANES HEAD TO TORONTO for their Stanley Cup Playoff series against the New York Rangers.

7/27

DAVID LEWIS, the Republican state legislator who pushed for voter ID laws and redistricting during his 17-year tenure, announces he will not run for reelection.

WAKE COUNTY REPORTS ITS 100TH COVID-19 DEATH since the start of the pandemic The North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice ADOPTS THREE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICE REFORM, including the prohibition of neck holds by law enforcement.

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bad

President DONALD TRUMP VISITS THE TRIANGLE to tour a Morrisville biotech facility working on a COVID-19 vaccine.

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f aw

The arts live on Raleigh Little Theatre opened its first online-only show this week with She Kills Monsters. Outer Banks, the record-breaking Netflix original series set in a campy teen drama version of North Carolina, was picked up for a second season this weekend. Taylor Swift released new music, sure, but so did local acts like M8alla, Libby Rodenbough, and Sylvan Esso. There are more local projects and releases than we can count, and that’s exactly the point. The Triangle’s arts scene is still as vibrant as ever, providing much-needed light and inspiration to an overwhelming world. More good news: You can be a part of that work by donating to an artist relief fund, becoming an arts sustainer, and buying tickets for their online events.

University reopenings As we said last week, there aren’t any great options for reopening schools during a global pandemic. That doesn’t mean the steps being taken by area universities aren’t bad. UNC’s Board of Governors announced Thursday that students won’t see tuition or fee decreases even during a highly limited online-only semester. Duke announced Sunday that on-campus housing will be available only to first- and second-year students in the fall, which has left thousands of upperclassmen scrambling to find somewhere to live just three weeks out from the first day of classes. There’s also bad news for campus employees: The UNC system asked campuses to submit plans for potential budget cuts of up to 50 percent.

Town hall hackers On Sunday, the Northern Orange NAACP held a virtual town hall to discuss police reform. The public meeting was designed to give Black and Latinx residents a place to discuss their experiences, but it was quickly hijacked by white supremacists who flooded the screen with racial slurs, clips of KKK rallies, and other racist images. It’s hard to imagine a more peaceful form of protest than an online town hall, and the fact that even this meeting was disrupted should make it obvious that some cries for people to protest racial injustice “the right way” are really just thinly-veiled demands for oppressed people to stay quiet. “It's a shame that respectful dialogue cannot be engaged in without that portion of the population that believes people of color are less than,” the NAACP chapter wrote in a post after the event. “HOWEVER,” the post continued, “you know you are doing the right thing when people feel they have to disrupt your mission or resort to childish behavior as a way to upset your moment!”

INDYweek.com

July 29, 2020

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Raleigh

Seizing a Seat Black women are claiming long-overdue places in local government and aiming to make history in statewide races this fall BY LEIGH TAUSS ltauss@indyweek.com

S

hinica Thomas doesn’t have a daughter to dress in a green badge-covered Girl Scout vest. The 46-year-old, who serves as director of advocacy and educational partnerships for the NC Coastal Pines chapter, grew up in a family of Trinidadian immigrants surrounded by strong women but found herself raising two boys. That didn’t stop her from seeking out ways to lift up women in the community, from her work as the first vice president of the Democratic Women of Wake County to her dedication to the scouts.

“I have 26,000 girls across 41 counties, Thomas says proudly. “Those are my girls.”

Thomas recently won the Wake County Democratic Party’s nomination to be on the ballot this fall for the Wake County Board of Commissioners—replacing now-Chair Greg Ford—where she will likely coast to victory this fall (a Republican hasn’t served on the board since 2014). Meanwhile, former board chair Jessica Holmes, who was the youngest candidate ever elected to serve on the WCBC, hopes to make history again with her run for state commissioner of labor. If she wins, she’ll be the first woman of color elected to the Council of State along with State Representative Yvonne Holley, who is vying for lieutenant governor. And just last week, Shinica Thomas PHOTO BY DERRICK YELLOCK the Raleigh City Council appointed attorney Stormie Forte to replace disgraced District D council- glass ceilings, through election or appointment, is noteor Saige Martin, who resigned last month amid allega- worthy. But none have been handed anything: Thomas and Forte went through an interview process and had tions of sexual misconduct.

It’s a moment where these Black women are not just to fight for their seats, bolstered of course by their long being chosen but rather seizing their opportunity to take history of community service and involvement.

And as Holley notes, when it comes to running for office a seat at the table.

“Its long-overdue, meaning that Black women have Black women face an uphill battle fundraising (she defeatalways been there,” Thomas says. “We’ve always been ed State Senator Terry Van Duyn in the primary despite positioned. We’ve always been dedicated enough. We’ve having raised $74,000 to Van Duyn’s $489,000 in the always been capable. We’ve always had the desire, we’ve first quarter of the year.)

“I won because I was the best-qualified candidate, and just never been selected that level and this mass a scale.

I happen to be a Black woman,” Holley says. “Money is We are more than capable so I think its time.”

Amid the backdrop of continued Black Lives Matter not donated to us like it’s donated to the others. We have protests, the potential that these leaders could break to work a lot harder, a whole lot harder, to get funds 6

July 29, 2020

INDYweek.com

to run our campaigns. We are have also been known for making something out of nothing and making it. And everything isn’t for sale and everything isn’t about money.”

When Holmes first ran for county office, she says she didn’t see herself represented in local government. Should she win, her face will be displayed in every elevator in the state, sending a powerful message to women and girls of color.

It’s a pivotal moment, but more than that, an opportunity, Holmes says.

“We, as Black women, are recognizing not only the power of our vote but the power of our voices at the table and we are rising to the occasion. We are seizing opportunities that have long been denied to us for far too long,” Holmes said. “Denied to us because we didn’t believe we belonged at the table, and now we are pushing the envelope, and we are not just marching, we are not just being the backbone of the Democratic Party, but we are stepping up to say we have earned this, we deserve it, and we will take our seat that table.”

Still, the Black community isn’t a monolith.

Stormie Forte’s nomination spurred some criticism from folks who worried she will side with the current council’s pro-development agenda.

But Forte wasn’t picked to pony up to Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin. She’s an attorney with a lengthy history of service in the community, political involvement, and advocacy who won the endorsement on the strength of her detailed policy proposal and qualifications.

Forte, who didn’t return the INDY’s request for comment, isn’t just the first Black woman to serve on the council.

She’s also the first person of color ever elected outside District C and the council’s first lesbian.

“I’m looking forward to serving the residents of District D as well as the residents of the city,” Forte said at her swearing-in ceremony last week.

While Holley was pleased with Forte’s appointment, she says, “I won’t be satisfied until we win.”

“Until African Americans win at the ballot box, that’s what’s in important,” Holley says. W

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Durham

This black rat snake was trapped under a fence. Nick Massimo is keeping the snake to allow it to recuperate. PHOTO BY RILEY DAVIS

All That Slithers Got a snake in the grass? Call Nick the Snake Guru.

BY RILEY DAVIS, NC NEWS INTERN CORPS backtalk@indyweek.com

W

hen Durham resident Barbara Dickinson found a snake trapped under a fence, she didn’t post a for-sale sign in her yard or kill it with a shovel. She went on the neighborhood app Nextdoor and contacted Nick the Snake Guru.

He arrived and easily removed the specimen—a harmless rat snake—from under the fence. The reptile seemed a little lethargic and dehydrated, so he took it home with him to recuperate for a few days.

Nick Massimo is a herpetology PhD student at Arizona State University who studies how infectious diseases affect amphibian populations, but many residents on Nextdoor know him as the Snake Guru or the Durham Snake Guy. Last year, he offered his snake expertise on the neighborhood social networking site.

“It kind of blew up,” Massimo says. “I got a ton of calls from people.”

Snake encounters appear to be on the rise this year, possibly due to more people completing home improvement projects or spending greater amounts of time outdoors during COVID-19.

WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh has treated 73 snake bites from the beginning of the year through the month of June, says senior marketing and communications specialist Kristin Kelly, 50 of which occurred in May and June. That’s up from 48 bites from January through June 2019.

“We do believe that a lot of that is because people are spending more time outdoors,” Kelly says. “And even beyond COVID, just the growth of towns in general are encroaching on areas that typically had more natural space where the snakes were.”

Jeff Beane, herpetology collections manager at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, said any increase in reported snake encounters probably results from changes in humans’ behavior, rather than an increase in the number of snakes.

“I don’t think there’s been a year of my life when I haven’t heard people go, ‘Oh, there’s more snakes this year than usual,’” he says. “That’s never true.”

Beane added that while some hospital systems, like WakeMed, report the number of snake bites they treat, that doesn’t necessarily represent a complete picture of snake interactions in the state.

“It’s just really hard to get a lot of data,” he says. “A lot of hospitals historically never kept that data. Some of them still don’t keep it.”

Beane added that homeowners should take precautions when working around their yards or spending time outdoors, including wearing closed-toe shoes, not sticking their hands into woodpiles or dark crevices, and carrying a flashlight at night.

“The more time you spend outside, the more likely you are to see a snake,” he says.

“The more time you spend outside being careless, the more likely are you to be bitten by a snake.”

In Durham, Massimo generally gets anywhere from one to seven calls or texts a week—from people asking him to identify a snake, requesting he come remove it from a home or property, or simply asking for advice.

“The majority of snake bites happen when somebody who doesn’t have experience tries to move an animal or kill a snake,” Massimo says. That’s why he volunteers to relocate them when leaving them be isn’t an option and to educate locals about the animals’ ecological benefits.

As a certified Wildlife Damage Control Agent with the state of North Carolina, Massimo is legally allowed to handle venomous snakes in addition to non-venom-

ous species. In Durham, those are mainly copperheads that have wandered onto peoples’ properties. Once captured, he relocates the snakes whenever he can.

“I’m trying to do everything possible that I can to aid the conservation of the species,” he says.

However, per North Carolina laws, Massimo must release captured snakes onto properties where he’s been given permission. This can sometimes prove tricky with venomous species. If Massimo can’t find anyone willing to accept copperheads on their property, the state requires the snakes to be humanely euthanized.

“I try to be 100 percent as transparent as possible with people,” he says. “I always try to encourage people to live with the snakes, so if we can relocate them on their property that’s what I try to go for.”

While he mostly serves the Durham area, Massimo said he’s happy to offer identifications or give advice to anyone who reaches out on Nextdoor. His services are free, although he accepts donations to help with his student expenses.

And residents on the app are extremely appreciative of his services. In her post describing the rat snake’s rescue, Dickinson added, “Hooray for Nick, who is a wonderful ambassador to the snake kingdom and to our entire community.” W

Snake Tips The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission offers these tips for discouraging snakes from living on properties: Clean up clutter—remove hiding places like piles of rocks, wood, and other debris that attract rodents and snakes.

Keep the lawn mowed. Snakes and their rodent prey prefer tall grasses where they can hide. They’re also easier to spot in shorter grass.

Discourage snakes from entering your home by closing gaps and holes, repairing damage to siding and the foundation, and sealing openings under doors, windows, and around water pipes.

For more information on what to do when you encounter a snake, visit the NCWRC’s snake advice page.

INDYweek.com

July 29, 2020

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Durham

Keeping Vigil From Z’Yon Person to Tyvien McLean, Durham is failing its most vulnerable innocents

BY THOMASI MCDONALD tmcdonald@indyweek.com

L

ast year, on August 18, the shooting death of nineyear-old Z’Yon Person shocked the conscience of a city where the murder of Black men and boys by their peers is all too common an occurrence. As the INDY then reported, Z’Yon’s death served as an avatar of all that has gone wrong amid Durham’s growth and prosperity.

This month, the slaughter of the city’s most vulnerable innocents continued, when 10 people, including three children, were shot in a single night. One of the children, 12-year-old Tyvien “Ty” McLean, died from a gunshot wound to the head.

On July 15, police announced two separate shootings in East and South Durham. It was just after 10:30 p.m. when officers arrived at a home in the 200 block of South Benjamin Street and discovered eight people had been shot, including two children ages four and eight.

It was about four hours later, just after 2:30 a.m., when officers responded to reports of gunfire at the Cornwallis Road housing complex in the 3000 block of Weaver Street. The investigators found two people had been wounded by gunfire when someone shot into a housing unit. An unnamed adult survived. Ty died five days later of his injuries.

Z’Yon was one of five kids riding in his aunt’s Ford Escape for a late-night treat of snow cones when someone fired multiple gunshots into the vehicle. He was the quarterback on his championship-winning football team and was set to start fourth grade in the fall.

Ty was attending a birthday party when he was struck by a bullet from warring factions shooting at each other. Those who knew him said he was always the life of the party, a jolly and loving sixth-grader at Lowe’s Grove Middle School.

“It pisses me off,” Ty’s godmother, Coretta Saunders, said July 22, during a vigil for the child that was sponsored by the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham Wednesday at CCB Plaza.

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Tamecia McLean remembers her son, Tyvien, at a vigil held in Durham July 22.

“If we can’t protect this generation, how are we gonna have one later?” Saunders asked. “Black Lives Matter, but what about Ty’s life? We need to be yelling, ‘Kids’ Lives Matter!’”

Public housing activist Ashley Canady said residents need to stop protecting gun criminals.

“Y’all protecting the shooters more than you’re protecting the kids,” she said. “If [the shooters] are in your house, get them out. Don’t tell Ty’s mom you love her, and the shooters are sitting in your house eating.”

The child’s mother, Tamecia McLean, wore a T-shirt with a picture of her son. She said Ty was “energetic” and “strong like an ox.”

“Everyone who met him was his friend,” she said with a smile. “Ty, you are loved. I am loved. We are loved. You are, excuse my French, a helluva fighter.”

Among the nearly 60 people who attended the vigil was Durham County Commissioner Brenda Howerton, who lost two sons to gun violence in the 1990s.

“Mom,” Howerton said to Ty’s mother, “I feel your pain, and I am so sorry. This community owes you better than this.”

Howerton told the vigil-goers systemic racism plays a role in creating impoverished communities, where young people resort to gangs and violence without creative

PHOTO BY JADE WILSON

outlets and opportunities.

“But we cannot take it out on each other,” she said.

“We have to give each other love.”

Police have not yet made an arrest in the shootings that killed Ty, but one day after the child was shot, Durham County sheriff’s deputies searched a home in the 800 block of North Briggs Avenue where residents were suspected of drug and firearms trafficking. The deputies recovered stolen handguns, heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash.

Deputies charged a 20-year-old man, described in a sheriff’s press release as a validated gang member, and an 18-year-old woman for multiple drug and weapons violations.

The raid occurred less than a mile from South Benjamin Street, where two children were shot the night before.

Police have not released a motive for the shootings that killed Ty, but Birkhead pointed to a deadly nexus of gangs, drugs, and guns that fuel much of the city’s violence.

Ty’s vigil ended just before 7:00 p.m., when his friends and family counted to 12 and released helium-filled balloons in the air to honor his memory.

“Rest in peace, Ty!” they said in unison.

One bundle of balloons got tangled in tree branches near Corcoran Square.

“That’s him!” one vigil-goer shouted. “He’s still here!” W

We tracked the rural epicenters of coronavirus spread in North Carolina.

The data point to meat-processing plants.

BY SANDY SMITH-NONINI AND TIM MAREMA

backtalk@indyweek.com

W

e came to know the coronavirus last spring from nightly news of New York City’s urban crisis.

But in June, so-called “embers” of hidden infections morphed into wildfires, sweeping across large swaths of rural North Carolina and other states, leaving families and communities with upended lives and ongoing risk.

While nursing homes and prisons made up most rural hot spots in the spring, growing evidence now points to a different major “engine of spread” that has lurked beneath the radar of pub-

lic awareness and official recognition: meat-processing.

By mid-May, as if to complement North Carolina’s rank as a pork and poultry producer, our state was the national leader in COVID-19 outbreaks at meatpacking plants, according to the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN). At least 3,234 meatpacking workers have contracted the coronavirus in outbreaks at 37 plants as of July 24, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

But spread that begins in the plant

does not stay in the plant. In mid-June, The News & Observer reported that zip codes close to plants showed a rise in cases since May 1 that was 600 percent higher than the state average.

Our data verify that such viral spread continues. Below we connect the dots between North Carolina’s ongoing community spread and meatpacking plants to demonstrate the need for enforceable safety regulations and transparent reporting of data to bring the contagion under control.

Let’s start with a quandary: High case rates (total cases adjusted for population) for COVID-19 are typically found in cities.

So, why does Duplin County have the highest case rate in the state at 309/10,000 residents—close to twice the rate for populous Mecklenburg County (168/10,000)?

Duplin is now “national class” in the dubious category of coronavirus infections, recently ranking 58th in a New York Times listing of the 100 U.S. counties with the most serious surges.

A “disease detective” (aka an epidemiologist) would look for a point source of spread—a prison or elder care facility. Data on such settings are routinely collected by the state. But a recent count of roughly 183 such cases in Duplin explain only a tenth of the 1,820 cases recorded in the county as of July 24.

The rash of meatpacking plants across southeastern counties, five in Duplin alone, is a vital clue. At least two Duplin plants have confirmed outbreaks, including the Butterball turkey plant near Mount Olive INDYweek.com

July 29, 2020

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COVID-19 CASES BY SELECTED ZIP CODES (Figure 1)

according to media accounts. Two outbreaks have been reported in the central cluster at the Mountaire plant (Siler City) and Pilgrim’s Pride plant (Sanford).

The June surge in urban cases is often attributed to re-opening of the economy, but the steep rise in cases for predominantly rural Robeson and Duplin Counties showed no deviations that lined up with the state’s re-opening on May 8 for Phase 1 and May 22 for Phase 2). Both counties saw new infections shoot up an alarming 45-fold in the two months ending June 10. Although news coverage on most plant outbreaks peaked in April and early May, the steady weekly rise in case numbers since then in this rural area suggests that outbreaks and community spread continue in the southeast.

This conclusion is supported by a survey of 36 worker complaints to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about unsafe conditions in plants between April and early June and reports from workers and rural nonprofits of worker families falling ill.

North Carolina’s DHHS boosted testing in July, so high case rates partly reflect hidden infections coming to light when more convenient, free testing is offered in rural areas.

But since asymptomatic people often test negative roughly two weeks after being infected, this steady rise in cases over six weeks is consistent with ongoing spread.

O and the Villari Foods “Pork Company” plant in Warsaw.

We mapped two clusters of rural N.C. zip codes with high case rates—100 or more cases per 10,000 residents—that are within commuting distance of one or more meat-processing plants.

The southeast cluster (Figure 1), at the regional epicenter of the industry, includes Duplin County, northern Robeson, and portions of Cumberland, Sampson, Johnston, Bladen, and Lenoir Counties. This density of plants correlates with risk. Fourteen zip codes with case rates over 200 in this cluster have two or more plants within 15 miles.

Figure 2, our central cluster, extends across Lee, Chatham, Montgomery, and portions of Randolph and Stanly Counties. These zip codes are less contiguous than in the southeast because our rural-focused analysis meant leaving out the cities of Sanford and Asheboro, whose populations exceed our limit of 25,000.

Twenty-five of the 41 zip codes with high infection rates in these two clusters have a high number of Hispanic residents (17–50 percent, compared to the state average of 10 percent). Fourteen zip codes, all in the southeast, have a relatively high African American population (28–47 percent, compared to the state average of 22 percent). There is also a Native American presence in Robeson County.

These high Hispanic and minority communities align with the demographics of meatpacking workers. Statewide, Hispanics constitute a disproportionate number of COVID-19 cases (42 percent), while deaths from the virus disproportionately affect African Americans (33 percent), 10

July 29, 2020

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“

Spread that begins in the plant does not stay in the plant.

in part due to both groups being overrepresented in “essential” high risk jobs, as well as the chronic health problems that have long plagued Black communities.

While elderly people are the bulk of those dying of the virus, 75 percent of cases are among people of working age, between 18 and 64. Younger cohorts have been testing positive since June. Since many minority families live in crowded multigenerational households, elderly relatives are at risk when workers are infected at work. Likewise, community spread occurs as they go about daily life, shopping for food, banking, and sharing carpools with coworkers.

Few meatpacking plants have confirmed reports of outbreaks, and North Carolina’s DHHS will not identify which plants have cases. But state health officials confirmed by email on July 24 that 27 such outbreaks remain active in 20 counties, including eight represented in these clusters.

Outbreaks have occurred in six plants in the southeast cluster, including the two Duplin plants above, plus two Smithfield Foods plants (Tar Heel and Clinton), Mountaire (Lumber Bridge), and Sanderson Farms (Saint Pauls),

ur state’s experience is not unique. As of July 23, at least 37,197 meatpacking workers had tested positive for the virus in 38 states, and 168 have died, reported FERN. Community spread from industry outbreaks is also common. In late May, the nonprofit found that rural counties with previous meatpacking outbreaks showed infection rates five times higher than the average for other U.S. rural counties. Multinationals such as Tyson, JBS, and Smithfield accounted for more than half of meatpacking cases nationwide.

After initial outbreaks closed about 25 plants across the country by late April, Tyson Foods lobbied the White House and placed ads in major papers warning of a meat shortage. The industry was rewarded by an executive order from President Donald Trump a day later requiring plants to stay open.

Since then, many companies have adopted temperature checks of workers, masks and gloves (PPE), and installed hand-washing stations and dividers between line workers.

The large Smithfield Foods plant, with more than 4,000 workers in Tar Heel, is one of the rare unionized plants in the state. The United Food and Commercial Workers union credits Smithfield for new safety protocols, as well as paid sick leave for infected workers and those over age 60.

But complaints to OSHA, including six from workers in that plant, tell a more nuanced story. Several said social distancing was lacking, and one described “employees working elbow to elbow.” On May 6, a worker wrote: “Numbers of cases have gone up, management has not provided any PPE or any cleaning to protect workers.”

Scott Mabry, a spokesperson for NC-OSHA, said the agency has received 75 meatpacking complaints since March, including seven in July. He said OSHA sends letters and follows up with employers but has not done inspections related to meatpacking complaints to date.

At the Siler City Mountaire plant, six to eight weeks passed before safety protocols were implemented, said Ilana Dubester of Hispanic Liaison. Although companies

COVID-19 CASES BY SELECTED ZIP CODES (Figure 2)

are supposed to inform workers exposed to employees who test positive, workers told her Mountaire would not give out this information. As a result, some took on the task of contact-tracing themselves.

They also said infected workers say supervisors pressure them to come back to work, a practice criticized in OSHA filings from workers for that plant as well as the Mountaire Plant in Lumber Bridge and the Smithfield plant in Wilson.

This practice flies in the face of the widely accepted two-week quarantine for people exposed to COVID-19, since even asymptomatic people can transmit the virus. But it is allowed in workplace guidelines that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and OSHA published in April.

The Denver Post obtained emails revealing that the weaker rule was adopted within hours after JBS asked Vice President Mike Pence to intervene. Pence called Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, asking him to amend the guidelines (then in preparation) permitting workers who test positive to resume work if they are asymptomatic.

The guidelines have also been criticized for merely offering advice rather than rules. Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA chief of staff, said the language is so watered down with phrases like “if feasible” and “consider doing this” that they are essentially unenforceable.

“To protect the public from COVID-19, you have to protect workers. If you don’t, it continues to spread. So, in this pandemic, worker health is public health,” says Berkowitz, a worker-safety specialist at the National Employment Law Project.

In public statements, plant managers often cite “culture” to explain high Hispanic infection rates. At a recent townhall meeting, Sen. Thom Tillis speculated that Hispanic people’s rejection of masks was the problem, although surveys show Hispanics accept masks at a higher rate than whites.

One might also point to “culture” when plants with large numbers of immigrant employees fail to publish COVID-19 safety rules in their native language, a problem that the CDC found to be common in meatpacking plants that experienced outbreaks.

Some states, including Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois, have responded to outbreaks in meat plants by issuing regulations specifically targeted at meatpacking, Berkowitz says. Several others, including Virginia, adopted enforceable regulations that apply to all workplaces.

But North Carolina is going in the opposite direction. In early July, several lawmakers proposed linking worker-safety measures and paid medical leave to state grants intended to aid small and medium-sized meatpackers in the crisis, but their amendments were voted down. In the end Republican lawmakers voted to give $10 million in grants to the companies (and livestock producers), with no requirements other than to submit a safety plan.

Rep. Jimmy Dixon, a Duplin County Republican who opposed the amendments, said the plants could be trusted more than lawmakers on how to keep employees safe. W

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PHOTOVOICE Remembering Tyvien McLean PHOTOGRAPHY + WORDS BY JADE WILSON

Honoring a son, nephew, and friend: 12-year-old Tyvien McLean was fatally shot the night of July 14. On July 22, his family, friends, and other Durham residents gathered at CCB Plaza for a balloon-release vigil. W 12

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M U SIC

Cover Story How a bunch of the Triangle’s biggest indie bands wound up playing their favorite songs to save the Cradle

BY SPENCER GRIFFITH music@indyweek.com

“I

started thinking, wow, is there even going to be a Cat’s Cradle to come back to when this is all behind us? What will happen to these venues that launch and sustain local music and make this town what it is?”

Like many musicians and music lovers, singer-songwriter and UNC-Chapel Hill English professor Florence Dore was flooded with “what if” questions when COVID-19 caused live music to grind to a halt in mid-March, shuttering the venerable Carrboro venue, which just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and its many peers in the Triangle.

Dore had been working on a new album and touring, but when the pandemic struck, she felt a sudden urgency to record a Marshall Crenshaw tune that guitarist Peter Holsapple suggested her band should cover.

“The early days of quarantine were so terrifying, and ‘Somewhere Down The Line’ is all about reassurance in a moment of crisis,” she says. “Like a lot of songs, it took on new meaning.”

Dore decided to recruit other artists to record their own quarantine covers for a compilation. The result is the album Cover Charge, where prominent local acts cover favorite songs, with proceeds helping to sustain the Cradle and its employees.

With the help of the Splinter Group, Dore landed a wide variety of Triangle musicians who’ve played at the Cradle over the decades, from the old guard to newer stars. The last five of the 25 tracks will be released Friday, July 31, as a Bandcamp exclusive, where you can purchase the album for $25. Funds will help cover rent, utilities, insurance, loan payments, and other overhead expenses, according to Cradle owner Frank Heath.

“Nobody plans for a 10-to-18-month total interruption in business,” Heath says.

Appropriately, the collection vacillates between hope and longing. Superchunk sprints out of the gate with a turbo-charged take on The Go-Go’s “Can’t Stop the World,” characteristically defiant and brimming with confidence that the pandemic can’t hold listeners—or the Cradle—down. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers follow by transforming a yearning Cigarettes After Sex song, “Apocalypse,” from dreamy indie-pop to tear-jerking twang.

H.C. McEntire’s band Mount Moriah brings a plucky spirit to an unearthed recording of Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down,” while Skylar Gudasz and Archers of Loaf’s Eric Bachmann team for a sublime duet on The Everly Brothers’ “All I Have to Do Is Dream.”

There are more humorous perspectives, too, such as The Connell’s “Keep Your Distance” and The dB’s “I’m on an Island,” and there are fond odes to touring and tour mates: Iron & Wine covers “Piss Diary” by Chapel Hill’s The Kingsbury Manx, who were Sam Beam’s first contact with the Triangle before moving here, thanks to a tour in 2002.

There are adventurous choices that largely connect: The Veldt uses a shimmering wall of guitars to turn Madonna’s “Dress You Up” into a shoegaze anthem, and The Mountain Goats’ metal-loving John Darnielle retains the foreboding feel of Paradise Lost’s “The Longest Winter” while swapping doomy guitars for piano.

Others stick to their wheelhouse, though the results are hardly disappointing: Mandolin Orange finally gives us a gorgeous studio version of longtime live staple “Boots

of Spanish Leather,” while the rollicking, bluesy “Travellin’ in Style” feels tailor-made for Hiss Golden Messenger and Jonathan Wilson.

But the highlight is Faith Jones’s swampy, soulful rendition of “For What It’s Worth,” which broadens the focus from the pandemic to the summer of Black Lives Matter protests.

“It brings a really important perspective to the album, because all this stuff with the quarantine goes hand in hand with issues that Black people have been facing for centuries in this country,” says Jones, who was in Dore’s songwriting course last fall and tracked her vocals while finishing her music degree at UNC this summer.

Producer Chris Stamey, whose fingerprints are all over the compilation, originally suggested the Buffalo Springfield classic, and later proposed that Jones incorporate an Angela Davis quote that had been her email signature for years in the coda.

“With how integral she was to the Civil Rights Movement, her activism and readings have been resurfacing with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Jones says. “We were really able to make a lot of parallels that made the song super relevant today.”

As all the contributors must, Jones has fond memories of the Cradle as a performer and a spectator. “I felt so cool being there in that grungy kind of venue,” she says, remembering her first visit, when she was in middle school and saw Rooney and Delta Rae. Having cut her teeth at The Rathskeller in Boston, Dore knows how important independent venues are to local and touring musicians as well as their communities. She wants to coordinate similar projects via the National Independent Venue Association, but she’s not sure it would work as well elsewhere. The Cradle’s deep roots are an essential element, as the appearance of some of the Triangle’s most prominent indie artists on a cover-song benefit attests.

“I was simply blown away by how many people came together in support, and I would not want to be anywhere but here during this time,” she says. W Online supplement: Visit indyweek.com to read John Jeremiah Sullivan’s essay about Southern Culture on the Skids’ contribution to the Cover Charge compilation.

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M U SIC

Wye Oak

Review

PHOTO BY LISSA GOTWALS

Lifted Voices Wye Oak is a seasoned band, but No Horizon sounds like they’re just getting started BY BRIAN HOWE bhowe@indyweek.com

Your Week.

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mean really, at this point, what kind of music does Wye Oak even make?

Looking back at my writings on them, which have been plentiful since Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack left Baltimore to join their longtime label in Durham, I see that I’ve tried out dreampop and synth-pop, art rock and electro-rock, always capturing part of the sound but never the whole. With each release, it’s only getting harder.

No Horizon, the EP that comes out July 31 on Merge Records, is a collaboration with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus that pushes Wye Oak into unknown territory. But instead of getting lost out there, they retrieved a suite of music that’s completely what it is, with hardly a redundant moment, rising to the glittering heights of last fall’s single, “Fortune.”

Ever since the pivotal 2018 album The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs, Wye Oak’s music has been easier to describe with traits than categories. It’s minimal yet majestic, experimental yet melodic, with massive basses, pressurized percussion, sculptural guitars and synths, and centerpiece vocals—in short, the kind of

WYE OAK: NO HORIZON

HHHH 1/2 [Merge Records; July 31]

arty indie rock that has a credible path to Grammy consideration.

This is a world the young folks in the Brooklyn Youth Chorus know well. Distinguished in classical music, the group is also a growing concern in popular music, appearing on some of the biggest indie-your-dadknows records of recent years: The National’s I Am Easy to Find, Bon Iver’s i,i, Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest. They first connected with Wye Oak when both groups performed on William Brittelle’s 2019 pop-classical hybrid, Spiritual America, and then kept collaborating on their own. Wye Oak wrote a commission for the chorus, resulting in this EP, which premiered at the Ecstatic Music Festival in New York in early 2019.

All the Wye Oak traits are intact.

“AEIOU” has that rangy bounce they’ve perfected, dramatic and relaxed at once.

The song chugs and chimes as usual, yet the choir turns it into marching orders for jubilant angels, learning their letters at angel school. The vowels they scatter are a perfect frame for Wasner’s singing, which always seems to consist solely of round, flowing vowels, ungated by consonants.

In “No Place,” they swap places. Wasner casts spoken echoes into the choir’s windswept lead, over a consummately modern groove that nevertheless suggests the figured bass of a Baroque classical piece.

“Spitting Image” makes some finger-cramping time signature feel fresh and natural, like music for skipping through puddles while it rains in the sun.

There’s no good reason for “(cloud),” a minute of guitar and synth warbles, to be here, but it doesn’t hurt, and the EP regains its unerring instinct with “Sky Witness,” a canyon-wide conclusion where the voices of Wasner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus finally join in unison.

As the trees tap out messages in code, the lyrics concern the connection between words and the world that shapes the whole EP, which has an artistic amplitude more like the kind of art-music composer Pitchfork might write about (think Caroline Shaw, Shara Nova, and Nico Muhly, all of whom, of course, have worked with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus) than any species of rock. I mentioned the music being completely what it is. But what’s truly remarkable is that Wye Oak itself—through experimentation, collaboration, and ambition, after 15 years—is coming into that kind of uncanny focus, too. W

M U SIC

PIERCE FREELON: D.A.D.

HHHH [Self-released; July 31]

Shining Star Pierce Freelon’s daughter, Stella, almost steals the show on D.a.D., his new family album

BY KYESHA JENNINGS music@indyweek.com

I

n the tradition of Nas’s “Bridging the Gap,” Will Smith’s “Just the Two of Us,” and Jay-Z’s “Glory,” Pierce Freelon’s new “family album,” D.a.D., offers an introspective look into Black fatherhood. It’s an impactful album that contributes to hip-hop discourse and disrupts stereotypes surrounding Black fatherhood. Its kid-friendly themes and fun, energetic vibes make it the perfect sonic backdrop for long family road trips.

The collaborative album—which features Freelon’s daughter, Stella, and other musician parents—teaches school-age kids about nighttime routines, dental hygiene, cleaning up, and making new friends. Freelon and Stella even address more serious topics like consent and boundaries.

It is Stella’s presence that strengthens the album’s family appeal. Almost immediately, kids will fall in love with her sweet vocals. Musically, the project relies on electronic, jazz, hip-hop, and African Diasporic melodies. Taking risks that are appropriate for his target audience, Freelon both raps and sings and is mindful of his tone throughout the project. Although he’s a stronger rapper than a singer, the creative approach is perfect for children.

On “My Body,” Freelon collaborates with country-soul singer Rissi Palmer. Palmer’s verse starts off, “It’s my body and my rules, you want a hug just ask and see if it’s cool.”

The age-appropriate message reinforces the importance of creating space where young kids have agency over their bodies.

“Bubble” continues the conversation around consent and boundaries. The upbeat track provides reassurance to kids that it is OK to communicate a need for space—thus, “get out of my bubble.”

“Tooth Bruh” is a standout dance track that motivates children to brush their teeth and has the ability to make morning and nighttime routines fun for both parents and their children. The track is followed by an instrumental, “Swirly Cup,” which is intended to accompany youngsters while they are rinsing out their mouths.

As we reported when the first single, “Daddy Daughter Day” (featuring J. Gunn), dropped in June, Freelon—a musician, activist, and politician—uses voice memos of his family as inspiration for and actual samples on the album. These, too, highlight Stella’s creativity and encourage other kids to tap into their own creative genius.

The overall audio quality of D.a.D. isn’t super polished. The project has a madeat-home, DIY feel, which arguably works in its favor, mirroring hip-hop’s something-from-nothing approach. The beauty of D.a.D. is the educational, kid-friendly messaging Freelon and Stella offer in each song. W

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Stolen Thunder A white photographer co-opted Durham’s Black Lives Matter murals and movement without consulting or paying the artists

BY SARAH EDWARDS sedwards@indyweek.com

I

YOUR WEEK. EVERY WEDNESDAY. FOOD • NEWS • ARTS • MUSIC

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n early June, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the national Black Lives Matter protests, Black artists began painting murals on the boarded-up windows of downtown Durham. Organized in part by NorthStar Church of the Arts and the local arts-equity advocates of Art Ain’t Innocent, the murals were created in tandem with national public-art responses to Black Lives Matter.

Weeks after the murals went up, John Davis, a white photographer in Durham, began taking pictures of them. Without consulting the artists, he compiled images of the work of more than a dozen artists into a book that he titled All/Black Lives Matter, which evokes the anti-Black “All Lives Matter” slogan.

“One thing that really upset me was the title of the book,” says Wade H. Williams, whose mural art was used on Davis’s business card. “I feel that that ‘slash’ is John Davis projecting his white privilege without even thinking about who I am or what the work is really all about. Once we get to a point [where] Black Lives Matter, then and only then will all lives matter.”

“BLM is what it is,” Davis told the INDY over the phone. “I thought it was important to be inclusive and to say that we’re all in this together.”

Davis says he only made seven or eight copies of the book, which might have gone unnoticed had the downtown bar LouElla Wine, Beer & Beverage not promoted it in an Instagram post on July 18, stating that it was “a beautiful way to save those works of art.”

The post set into motion a week of pushback from community members who recognized the artwork and flooded the LouElla Instagram with comments.

“[He’s] projecting his white privilege without even thinking about who I am or what the work is really all about.”

They also reached out to the bar and Davis to voice concern about the book, calling it theft and invoking the hashtag #PayBlackArtists.

Initially, Davis was unresponsive to the pushback.

“You put art up in the street and walk away from it, it’s up for grabs,” he told the INDY. He also said that he had responded to an email from Laura Ritchie, a member of the collective Art Ain’t Innocent, but had otherwise not engaged with Black artists or community members who had reached out.

Davis said he sold three books—for $50 each, not $75 as originally advertised— gave one away, and destroyed the rest.

“I didn’t make the ‘fortune’ I’m being accused of,” he wrote in a follow-up text.

Profit, though, was only one of the issues at the heart of the controversy.

The artists that the INDY spoke with expressed frustration over seeing their work—a loving and intentional response to the events of Black Lives Matter— co-opted by a white person who showed no interest in researching the movement or having a dialogue with the artists.

Some were also concerned with the way that the book portrays the murals as a creative flashpoint rather than an organized effort that centers Black agency.

“A group of talented and creative local Durham artists emerged spontaneously to decorate these boards with amazing artwork never seen before and likely never to be seen again,” Davis wrote in the intro. “As businesses began to reopen, the boards and artwork began to disappear.”

Marcella Camara, one of the muralists, points out that the murals have been relocated and that the artists paid for a Black photographer to document and preserve the work.

“I remember in college, organizing with the NAACP, [and] Tim Tyson was one of our mentors,” Camara says. “And he said, ‘If someone describes something as a spontaneous moment, they probably just don’t know anybody in the community.’”

On July 24, after mounting community pressure, Davis donated the $150 he’d made from the books to the Durham Artist Relief Fund. The artists involved are having conversations this week about how the money will be used.

“I don’t want it to be an ‘us vs. them’ thing,” Davis told the INDY, sounding wounded.

In an email to Laura Ritchie, though, his tone had a different edge.

“Please,” he wrote to Ritchie. “Tell your people to back off.” W

SC R E E N

Review

THE FIGHT

HHHH [Opening Friday, July 31]

The Many Lives of Jabari Hayes as Seen in the BLK Docs Virtual Festival

In his memoir, Miles in the Life, Jabari Hayes recounts growing up surrounded by crack cocaine in a Brooklyn public housing project, becoming a high school track star in St. Louis, and then starting his own valet business in Atlanta after graduating from an HBCU there. But origins have a powerful pull, and Hayes ended up using his business to traffic The Fight PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES cocaine across the country for the Black Mafia Family, said to be the largest African American drug organization until federal prosecution brought it down in the mid-2000s. (If you bought a Fabolous, Young Jeezy, In ACLU doc The Fight, a few floors in a New York building or other BMF Entertainment face down the entire federal government for human rights album before then, you helped it launder money.)

BY GLENN MCDONALD arts@indyweek.com Director Shaun Mathis chronicles all of that and the life Hayes found on the other side in his documentary of the same n ambitious documentary with a real The directing team employs the traditionname, which is screening virtuemotional punch, The Fight chronicles al blend of interview segments and archially for one week in the new BLK four high-profile legal cases recently pursued val material, plus some stylish animation Docs series. Founded by the by the ACLU, the tenacious nonprofit dedi- sequences. The best moments, however, are Durham studio Speller Street cated to defending civil liberties in the United the handheld vérité scenes in which plans go Films and the Brooklyn series States. Each case directly or indirectly targets haywire, triumphs are celebrated, and deciThe Luminal Theater, in partnerthe federal government, and each is a sus- sions are handed down. ship with the film crowdfundpenseful legal thriller in its own right. This The film folds in moments of gentle humor, ing site Seed&Spark, the series movie is designed to get your blood up. too, including a running gag about recalcitrant aims to “build an authentic And so it does. The cases under scruti- ergonomic desks at ACLU headquarters. documentary film culture within ny are among more than 140 lawsuits the This movie is very engaging and more than the African American communiACLU has filed against the Trump adminis- a little scary. It makes a persuasive case that ty” through monthly screenings, tration since 2017. Veteran immigration law- the U.S. is a lot closer than you might think classes, and webinars. It began yer Lee Gelernt leads the most compelling to a Handmaid’s Tale-style dystopia. The last month with Wilmington storyline, which deals with brutal family-sep- ACLU provides a thin membrane of protecon Fire, Christopher Everett’s aration policies at the border. The other law- tion against a reactionary cancer spreading documentary about the white suits involve abortion access, the military’s through our government and society. supremacist massacre and coup ban on transgender people, and the immigra“We’re not going to be able to stop this To advertise or feature a pet for adoption, in the North Carolina beach tion question on the 2020 census. thing ourselves,” says ACLU lawyer David Ho please contact town in 1898.

Amid the legal drama, we get to know sev- in the closing scenes.

“We’re two advertising@indyweek.com and a half Miles in the Life is available eral overtaxed ACLU lawyers who are fighting floors in a New York building against the to watch at the time of your on the front lines. Gelernt works through his power of the federal government and a maschoosing July 30–August 6. young son’s Saturday birthday so that other sive political movement. It’s not going to be feature a petare Tickets areor$5, and there parents will be able to reunite with their chil- lawyers in courts, it’s going to be people who To advertise for adoption, please also free live eventscontact such as a dren. We also spend some time with ACLU turn this ship around.” advertising@indyweek.com Q and A with Hayes and Mathis The Fight is available Friday through various clients. We meet a rape victim denied an aborat 8:00 p.m. Thursday, July 30. tion by immigration officials, a dedicated Navy online services, or you can support your local Visit blkdocs.com to learn more officer who is about to lose his job, and a des- theater by purchasing tickets via the Carolina and watch. —Brian Howe Theatre website at carolinatheatre.org. W perate mom separated from her child.

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please contact advertising@indyweek.com

A

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