Wayne Week — June 16, 2024

WEEK Wayne THESE KIDS HAVE NO HOPE .

Let us stand up and fight.

Hiawatha Jones

So, I don’t have all the solutions, but I’m here to tell you that I serve a God who has the solutions.

Beverly Weeks

We can’t police our way out of this.

Roderick White I don’t want to see any more bodies hitting the ground in any area of this city.

Brandi Matthews

A packed house listened as members of the Goldsboro City Council — and their police chief — unwrapped the uptick in gun violence that has local residents scared to leave their homes. But some say the time for discussion is over.

BY KEN FINE AND RENEE CAREY p. 12

Archbishop Anthony Slater

JUNE 16, 202 4 Volume 1, Issue 45

CONTENTS

4 Pikeville changes government

Despite having two vacant seats on the town board — and concern expressed by state watchdogs and local residents — Pikeville commissioners voted to change the town's form of government, a move that gives more power to Mayor Garrett Johnston.

EDITORIAL

EDITOR Ken Fine

EDITOR Renee Carey

DESIGN DIRECTOR Shan Stumpf

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Casey Mozingo

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10 Our take

Gun violence is plaguing Goldsboro and, after a string of broad-daylight murders, the community — and members of the Goldsboro City Council — say they have had enough. But those words have been uttered before.

14 Cover story

Local black leaders — from a well-known pastor and members of the Goldsboro City Council to a man who was sent to prison on multiple occassions for his involvement in "that street life" — say the city's youth are lost. But most seem to agree that it's time to think outside the box and consider taking drastic meausures, because talking about the issue and posting positive thoughts on social media, they say, is getting the community nowhere.

20 Spectator

Dozens of local residents converged on downtown Goldsboro to support the idea that historic Union Station deserves another act.

COVER DESIGN BY SHAN STUMPF

NEWS + VIEWS

Pikeville mayor, board buck state guidance

After holding a “public hearing” that violated open meetings law, Pikeville leaders defy the state’s Local Government Commission by voting to change their form of government — a move that gives Mayor Garrett Johnston more power and puts town manager’s job in jeopardy.

BY KEN FINE

Local residents were angry — and, after repeated outbursts, were threatened by Pikeville Mayor Garrett Johnston with being escorted out of Town Hall by police — because they felt they were not given an opportunity to weigh in on a decision they considered momentous.

And they were also concerned about the fact that the move — a vote that will see Pikeville’s government change July 1 — which flies in the face of recommendations from the Local Government Commission, was made while two seats on the town’s governing board sit vacant.

But the one person who spoke in favor of dropping the “manager form of government” — she happens to be married to the mayor — said she is “fine” with it, that “the form of government is not the make or break.”

“It’s the people who are in those positions,” she said.

And she argued that local residents who are against the decision simply don’t have the knowledge to justify their ire.

“Displeasure with an abstract form of government doesn’t make sense. Forms are forms,” she said. “Most people in town probably aren’t even sure what a manager form of government and a mayor-council form of government, what the difference is.”

Mrs. Johnston’s comments did not sit well with several in attendance, including resident Darryl Johnson.

“So, we’re ignorant?” he shouted. “She just called us ignorant, y’all.”

Based on North Carolina General Statute, those who showed up to speak against what was, ultimately, a foregone conclusion to defy the LGC and give the mayor and board members control of Pikeville, had a legitimate complaint.

As reported in the May 26 edition of Wayne Week, the public hearing called to allow for discussion of the matter was not publicized in accordance with open meetings law — and was, instead, announced via a piece of paper taped to the front door of Town Hall the day of the event.

The item also did not appear on the board's published agenda.

In fact, it wasn’t until the beginning of the board’s May 13 session that seeminglyconfused Town Manager Tim Biggerstaff figured out how to add it to the docket.

“Are we going to do the public hearing before we get into the agenda or is that part of the agenda?” he asked.

The mayor responded.

“Let’s just squeeze that in before old business,” he said.

And some 20 minutes later, the commissioners, with no vote to approve the measure to amend its agenda, did just that.

All of the above are violations of N.C. open meetings law.

State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who was involved in the takeover of the town in April 2021, when Pikeville had only 4.8 percent of restricted funds available to meet its $765,000 budget and was at risk of missing five debt payments totaling $158,000, seemed concerned — both about the potential change of government and how notice of the public hearing was delivered.

“I’m always concerned about decreased transparency, decreased competency, and increased conflicts of interest,” he told Wayne Week

And during her time at the UNC School

of Government, Dr. Vaughn Mamlin Upshaw panned the form of government Pikeville’s board seemed keen on switching back to May 13.

“There are two major weaknesses,” she wrote. “The first is the absence of any real concentration of executive authority and responsibility, as decisionmaking ultimately rests with the board of commissioners or city council as a group. Responsibility for operating the local government is divided among and shared by all members of the governing board, making it administration by committee. Strong, consistent direction depends on maintaining general agreement, which may be difficult at times.”

And the second, according to Upshaw, is the “fact” that “politicians are not necessarily good administrators.”

“Those who are elected may be popular with the voters, but may be amateurs when it comes to running a county or city,” she said.

Johnston, who spearheaded the decision to change the form of government — a change that gives him more power — ran unopposed for mayor in 2021 and received 64 votes.

Commissioner Matt Thomas secured his seat on the board the same year with 53.

And Steve West, who also supported the change in government, was elected in 2023 because 41 people cast a ballot for him.

The only other board member in the room Monday, Randy Langston, was appointed.

Joshua Wallace, the highest vote-getter in the 2023 “vote for three” contest, resigned before Monday’s controversial vote, and told Wayne Week that given recent developments in the town, he felt uncomfortable being one of the faces of the local government.

But he stressed that he loves his community and hopes to be a part of solutions for his friends, family members, and neighbors in the future.

And even though Commissioner Robert Hooks died in early March, his seat still sits empty.

Thus, the change of government was decided by a board that was only 60-percent whole.

Johnson said that fact pattern makes him —

and dozens of his neighbors — uncomfortable. So, too, does the fact that Johnston, Thomas, West, and Langston, will be the ones who ultimately decide who will fill the remaining seats because they “purposely avoided” pursuing a special election.

“Three of the people on the board will be appointed by the board — not voted on by the town,” he said. “This has been a dictatorship since Day One. They want yes men. Dissent in government is necessary.”

It is unclear what repercussions, if any, Pikeville will face for undermining the advice of Folwell and the Local Government Commission.

But sources familiar with the happenings inside Town Hall told Wayne Week Tuesday that now that the government change is set to take hold in two weeks’ time, Town Manager Tim Biggerstaff is on his way out.

“Garrett wants him gone. He’s wanted him gone for a long time,” said the source, who asked for anonymity to speak freely on confidential personnel information they had knowledge of. “He wants total control. He wants to be the king of Pikeville. I hate to say it, but I pray the state comes back to town and takes us over again. If they don’t, we might not have a charter by the time these residents have a chance to vote this man out next November. And trust me, he has virtually zero support in this community. If my dog was on the ballot, he’d beat him.”

Resident Katie Chegwidden said she was “disgusted” by what she characterized as a blatant power-grab in a small town.

“You think you’re higher than everyone. But you’re a commissioner in a town of 800 people. That’s it,” she said. “You’re a mayor to a town full of 800 people and that’s it. I’ve never been so disgusted by this town, and I’ve lived here my whole life.”

But Johnson and several other residents who spoke out against what they had just witnessed said the mayor’s efforts will ultimately backfire — that it won’t be long before town residents send him, and any other board member who thinks they are “above the people” a message at the polls.

“We’re gonna vote you out,” Johnson said. “You watch.”n

Mayor Garrett Johnston

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The wife of the mayor of Pikeville said it perfectly. We couldn’t agree more.

It absolutely matters who is in office.

So, when you are making enormous decisions that fly directly in the face of recommendations of state agencies that just gave you back control of your town’s affairs, defying open meetings laws and

gerrymandering with open seats on your board, then that is a huge red flag. And, to make it worse, if you have been elected by only 60 members of that community and you think that is a mandate for you to do all of the above — and when you try to shut down opposition or criticism of the decisions you are making — you

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really are just a little too full of yourself.

And it means you cannot be trusted to make decisions that are in your town’s best interest — and you likely are making some of those moves because they benefit YOUR self-interest.

Such is obviously the case in Pikeville.

Something is wrong with how Mayor Garrett Johnston and his fellow members of the town board — as they currently stand, which is small in number — are deciding for the hundreds and hundreds of people who live in Pikeville how their government will be administered.

He is defying the Local Government Commission’s instructions — the conditions upon which Pikeville has been allowed to take back its own reins after a financial and administrative disaster several years ago.

He is shutting down anyone who has concerns or questions about what he is doing — and he is making sure that he has the “yes” votes (and “yes” men) he needs to get his way.

And all of this is happening with a veil of secrecy and lack of transparency that suggests that the community might not have any idea what is really going on.

We aren’t the only ones who think this is reason for alarm.

Government experts, people who study this kind of stuff for a living, say that when you see this kind of behavior, and you have a politician who decides that just because he or she has been elected to a post he or she is now a God-like, all-powerful, allknowing and not-to-be-questioned expert on running a town — or other public body — you have a potential four-alarm fire.

State Treasurer Dale Folwell is concerned, too, and is keeping a close eye on what is going on in Pikeville. After all, he has seen this sort of behavior in other communities that were on the same path to destruction.

So, all of those alarms, a community that is raising concerns, empty board seats, no plans for a special election, and a mayor who seems to think he doesn’t need to answer to anyone about decisions he is making, and we think it is time to point out the obvious.

This is what happens when a community sits back and doesn’t pay attention to whom they put in office to care for the future of their town.

We get it. We are all busy.

We get this, too: The state of the world and nation right now has many of us wanting to hide under our beds and just worry about our own families and businesses.

But we can’t. And this is exactly why. There are too many examples of this in Wayne County right now. There are people who seem to think that just because a handful of voters put them in office that they are endowed with some kind of magical anointment and special insight that the rest of us — the “uneducated and unenlightened” taxpayers who pay the bills — simply don’t have.

And we have seen several really catastrophic mistakes happen because these people have been left in power.

Just look around — the city of Goldsboro’s woes, the county Register of Deeds, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, the sue-happy sitting county commissioner who had his own issues on the City Council first, and the most fun, the school board member who sat through one financial disaster only to turn around and spark a few questions about his own hiring practices once the dust settled thanks to a bailout courtesy of a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic.

All of those instances centered on the same problem — people in charge, elected and otherwise, who just did not think they had to answer to the people who elected them.

And, in many cases, they were put right back into their jobs because no one, and we repeat, no one, took the time to vote them out.

The situation in Pikeville is frightening — and not just because the person in charge seems to be making decisions in defiance of the state experts who told him otherwise.

Mayor Garrett Johnston seems to think he does not need to answer to the people who put him in office and that he, and his merry band of sycophants, have no reason to ask anyone else what they think — including those same state government experts and the state treasurer.

You cannot have a person governing a community who defies transparency and ignores the rules.

You just can’t.

It is time to make sure the mayor of Pikeville understands there are rules for a reason — before the town faces yet another takeover.

The good people who live in that community deserve better.

And if you think this is the last you’re going to read about what has happened in Pikeville since Johnston took control, buckle up.

As unbelievable as it might seem, the change in government approved Monday is only the tip of the iceberg.n

{ our TAKE }

How did we get here?

The answer is pretty simple, but no one wants to be the one to come out and say it.

But because our editors and their families have connections to hundreds of local at-risk youth through years spent mentoring Goldsboro High School, Southern Wayne High School, and Wayne Academy students — and because we are, frankly, tired of reading their names on press releases from the Goldsboro Police Department as they commit violent crime or lose their lives at the hands of it — we're going to.

Many of this community’s young, black males are in trouble. Big trouble.

And we are losing them — the ones we have not already lost, that is.

The reason we don’t talk about it is that no one thinks they can say it without being canceled — even the black adults who talk about it amongst themselves daily.

They see the problem as they encounter young black men in their daily lives — especially if they are teachers or law enforcement personnel.

No respect for adults or any authority figure, absolute fearlessness when it comes to confrontation, criminal behavior, and violence. Searching not for meaningful lives, but for easy money.

ENOUGH.

They won’t listen to those who have been there — even the black men of integrity and honor who have tried to make an impression.

Just ask Archbishop Anthony Slater or former Goldsboro Mayor Pro Tem Taj Polack. They, like many other black adults who have spoken to Wayne Week in recent months, see firsthand just how out of control many young black males — and now, even young black females — have gotten.

And they are worried.

They are right, of course.

And we can’t sit back and pretend any longer.

Because the danger is now starting to come out in broad daylight.

That’s why there have been more than 1,500 shots fired this year — and why no one was scared enough after the Friday morning fatal shooting inside the local Food Lion to put away their guns. They aren’t worried about consequences. They do not value human life — yours or their own.

And if you listen to the black leaders who were brave enough to break the silence Tuesday — risky business at a time when “disrespect” gets you a shot-up car and house, like the incident later that evening on Olivia Lane — the problem is that no one is home, literally.

Too many black youths are caught in a quicksand of poverty.

They have few positive role models, and generational welfare has put them into bad neighborhoods and project housing.

And, no, it is not safe there. And those kids know it, from an early age.

So, some see no need for an education because they see only one way out.

Respect is not found in making something of yourself honestly. Those around them who have made it have drugs on their resume.

The men with the high dollars and the respect are the dealers and gang members who befriend them.

That is their family. That is their respect. That is their identity.

And no teacher, pastor, or well-meaning drumline instructor is going to change that for all of them.

They are surrounded by violence, and they worship the negative messages and vile images of some of the worst of the rap culture.

What used to be an art form is now a vile recitation of gang life, disrespect for women, and a celebration of drugs and violence.

And that is who some of these young black men want to be — gang members.

The tragedy is that they don’t really know why, or what the real consequences of that life choice are.

And most of them are not even members of real gangs.

So, because they really are just playing at being bigtime, they have no code, no perspective, and no fear.

There is a video circulating on social media right now.

Archbishop Slater showed it to us.

It shows a group of young black men in Lincoln Homes talking about their lives, bloviating about their escapades, and claiming all sorts of street cred — all while brandishing weapons, smoking marijuana, and flashing hundred-dollar bills.

It isn’t always easy to make out what they are saying, but if you listen closely, you get the message.

They think their path forward is social media, music, and doing whatever they want. Respect, they don’t earn it, they try to take it. Insults or criticism of how they live, well those are challenges to be answered with braggadocio and violence.

They don’t care a wit about creating a life away from the streets. They are angry, undereducated, and not afraid at all to choose violence because they have romanticized the consequences.

That’s why they did not worry a bit about showing off their guns and spouting off about their criminal activities in that video and proclaiming that those who think Durham and Charlotte have the baddest guys in North Carolina just don’t know that Goldsboro is an up-and-comer. They are wearing gang colors, and they talk about their “members” like they are brothers.

That video has 41,000 views.

And that should scare every last one of us.

But so many of us sit back and say nothing.

No one wants to be the one to point out the rash of illegal gun use, and the number of young black males who die each year at the hands of their so-called “friends.”

“Racist,” the activists who have never stepped foot in a real housing project or a school like Goldsboro High will say.

But those who know — those who grew up when communities raised their children and when teachers, coaches, and aunties in the neighborhood had standards and expected them to be maintained — they are lost as to how to stop the crime, the shootings, and the innocent and much-too-early deaths.

Those men and women have nothing in

No one has the answer to this problem — no magic wand that erases the influences and puts these young men on the right path.

No school can do it. No church can do it.

And no, City Council, as well-intentioned as you are, no task force can do it.

But there are some places to start.

And the first is in those neighborhoods. They are dangerous. Just read the statistics. And they are full of not only hopelessness and anger, but also poverty and crime.

Imagine growing up in a place where gun play is a form of communication — and where you, as a little kid, had to worry about playing on a playground or walking home from school.

Goldsboro does not need more project

We can't sit back and pretend any longer. Because the danger is now starting to come out in broad daylight.

common with this generation.

The standards and respect they grew up with are not something this current class — the lost boys who did not have the benefit of the support they enjoyed — understand.

They cannot identify with or take in the messages they are trying to share with them.

They don’t believe they can make it, so they accept the lure of the stories from the criminals and gang members who have become their support systems and families.

Street cred is more important than respect.

Violence is the first solution to any conflict.

That’s why so many of them do not see a future for themselves past 25, or are completely comfortable with the idea that they can make it just fine in prison.

They have heard, from those “street uncles” who have taken on the role of mentor, that it is not so bad. At least, they say, they get three meals a day.

How different is it really from the prison they are already in?

atmosphere where some young black men do not believe they will be held accountable — that all they have to do is cry police brutality and their misdeeds will be explained away.

We have let the really bad actors use young people as mules because they know that juveniles will not face harsh penalties, and in the process, have created more and more juvenile offenders with access to guns — ignoring that legal possession of weapons is not the greatest danger we face.

We can’t allow it or excuse it away.

Standards have to be set. And if there are people who refuse to do what needs to be done, then we have to be the ones to step up.

There are not enough role models, and it shows.

And those who do not live up to their responsibilities, they need to face consequences, too.

It sounds harsh, we know.

But it is time to think about this in a different way.

This is not just about us and our families having a community that is safe.

It is about speaking up for the parents out there — single moms and families — who are trying desperately to raise their children right. There are a lot of them out there.

And they are worried, too, about the world they are bringing their children up in — and the influences they will encounter.

They deserve the chance to send their children to great schools and to give them a vision of a future that includes a good living and perhaps a family of their own someday. And they should be able to do that without having to worry about whether their child will be shot by a stray bullet on the way home from school.

housing. It needs less.

And what it does have needs to be policed — aggressively and responsibly.

We can root out the guns, the drugs, and the gangs.

We can create an environment where criminals head elsewhere because they know that in Goldsboro, there will be no “no bail” or “written promise” and back on the streets.

We can have neighborhoods where parents and children feel safe.

We can save young people from encountering the influences that claim them at an early age and set the stage for ruining their lives.

And to do that, we need police who are trained and held accountable for the way they do their jobs, but who also can count on the fact that when they make the arrests and do the work of weeding out the riffraff in the city, that prosecutors will also do their jobs and make sure those criminals will do time.

We let the fear of looking racist create an

We owe it to them to get this right, finally. And we owe it to every young child — black, white, Hispanic, etc. — who has talent, potential, and dreams.

They should be able to see them through, not end up in a grave with a headstone that reads, “Gone too soon,” because they went to a Spring Break pool party or the grocery store.n

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are talking about this issue almost exclusively this week because we, and a whole lot of other people in this community, think it is more important than anything else we could discuss. They are worried, and they want to find the answer, but like us, they are not sure where to start. That is where we — and you — come in. There is no more time to pussyfoot around the issue. We need tough questions and real conversations. We hope we will start one here. We included the Pikeville controversy because it, too, is an example of the need to jump on a major problem before it gets out of control. We thought the news was too important to wait, so we included it.

ACTION. NOW.

A packed house listened as members of the Goldsboro City Council — and their police chief — unwrapped the uptick in gun violence that has local residents scared to leave their homes. But some say the time for discussion is over.

BY KEN FINE AND RENEE CAREY

Some joined in as Bible verses were invoked.

Others uttered words of encouragement when a Goldsboro City Council member talked about what she saw as inequities in the community.

A few wiped tears from their eyes during and after impassioned speeches.

And the city’s police chief, in a rare display of emotion, got choked up after he told the dozens who packed historic City Hall Tuesday evening that he and his officers were taking jarring 2024 gun violence statistics “personally.”

But then — no more than an hour after the crowd that converged on that building to voice their concerns in the aftermath of several recent broad-daylight homicides dissipated — a drive-by shooting resulted in bullets piercing a home occupied by three people on Olivia Lane.

Welcome to Goldsboro — a place where, these days, you can’t even rely on statistics because they are, quite literally, changing every few minutes.

As I look out in this audience, I see a little bit of everybody from a little bit of everywhere. And, I want to be surprised, but crime shouldn’t have to creep across streets and districts for everybody to care. I need you to care all the time.

BRANDI MATTHEWS

It’s a problem when crime becomes normalized in certain areas, and we feel powerless to change it. No part of this city is better than another, and no person is more valuable than another. All our lives matter, whether in South Goldsboro, Pill Hill, or Berkeley. Crime is crime, and the only way to reduce it is by being accountable and holding others accountable until we see change.

JAMIE TAYLOR

Gun violence — and brazen acts committed in public spaces during normal business hours — has been plaguing the city for years.

But when 15-year-old Joyonna Pearsall was gunned down at a 2023 Spring Break pool party, it felt like a powder keg moment for many Goldsboro residents.

This, they believed, would be the jolt that was necessary. It wasn’t.

Only a few weeks after Joyonna’s death, lawmen responded to an alert from the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system. When they arrived at the scene — at just after noon in broad daylight — along the 500 block of Hinson Street, they found an 18-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound.

Two weeks later, a 31-year-old woman was killed.

The shootings continued.

And this year, gunmen have become increasingly bold, and seven people have been shot to death.

One of the victims, a 17-year-old, was

killed at 3:30 p.m. on a Saturday in January on Madison Avenue.

Another 17-year-old would be killed two months later on a Monday at 12:27 p.m.

A 26-year-old was shot to death outside an Ash Street business at 9:10 on a Saturday morning in April.

And then, a Friday morning shooting inside the Food Lion on Ash Street sent the community into a spiral.

Members of the City Council — and Goldsboro’s mayor — posted messages on Facebook.

A task force, they said, would be formed and a partnership between the Goldsboro Police Department and Wayne County Sheriff’s Office would result in increased patrols in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

The meeting that unfolded Tuesday inside City Hall was announced.

All the while, local residents talked about their fear.

One woman told Wayne Week that she was “terrified” to take her “babies” anywhere this summer — from Herman Park and Berkeley Mall to McDonald’s.

The guys are on the street corner. All the kids had guns. I looked at (the video) and I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t have an answer for that. How do you help with that?

ARCHBISHOP

ANTHONY SLATER

“What are we supposed to do?” she said. “It could literally be anywhere, any time at this point.”

And social media was saturated with similar concerns.

But some are not surprised it has gotten to this point.

During his youth, Wonnie Wynn lived “that street life.”

He was incarcerated multiple times.

But even he would tell you that teenagers growing up in the city’s toughest neighborhoods today are different than those he interacted with before he changed his life.

They are out of control.

There is nobody on the streets willing to check their behavior.

There is no structure in their lives and no “elders” that command their respect.

And if they get arrested, it doesn’t faze them.

“This is what you gotta understand. A lot of these (kids) ain’t afraid of the penitentiary system neither,” Wynn said. “When I was in prison, it was the same as the streets. Prison ain’t nothing. Every time they get sent to

Continued from page 13 prison, it’s like a vacation.”

But there is, he added, a solution — if the community agrees to take the drastic measures he believes are its only chance at stemming the tide.

“If it were me, and I had the money, that old ass prison they’ve got sittin’ over there, right there where the Neuse is at, if I had the money, I would buy that (place) and I would open it,” Wynn said. “I would have it where instead of y’all sending these (kids) to prison, the only thing you would have to do is send them to me.”

It would be, he said, a boot camp of sorts — a “scared straight” situation where a demanding structure would discourage juvenile offenders from making choices that could land them back there again.

“We’ll have boot camp set up. It’s already fenced in, and they can’t get out. They’ve got segregation there. All you have to do is get that (place) going and send them over there for 45 or 50 days,” Wynn said. “That’ll break them. I’m telling you. But if you wait until (they) get old, they don’t give a (expletive).”

Breaking them, the way the military breaks newcomers during basic training, is the only way to change the way they think.

“And they can be broke, but those prisons don’t know how to break ‘em. They just throw them into jail and let them sit in there. That

So, I don’t have all the solutions, but I’m hear to tell you that I serve a God who has the solutions and I say it is time for our people, the people of this city, to cry out.

BEVERLY WEEKS

don’t break (anyone),” Wynn said. “In my spot, you ain’t got to discipline them or nothing. The only thing you got to do, I would have it where the schools come and teach. I would have doctors there to keep them checked out. I would have those (kids) back there with an ax chopping wood at night. You can break those kids. You’ve got to make those kids put in the work. And then, it will make their mind stronger. They won’t want to get back in there.”

Prison only makes juvenile offenders angrier, he added — and more likely to continue to commit crime with newly minted street cred when they are released.

“That (place) can hold up to 1,000 of those (kids),” Wynn said. “I’ve been through the streets. I’ve been out there. And once you bring them to me, and they know they’re dealing with some real gangsters, they’re going to quiet down. You might have a couple in there who think they can come through rockin’, but you just watch. Take him down to segregation and let him stay in that little room for four or five days. He’s gonna come out wanting to do the right thing.”

Because in the boot camp environment Wynn wants to lead, educational, vocational, and other programming would give the juveniles skills they could use to be better citizens when they are released — and empower them to change the communities they are currently hurting.

And he would also offer mental health services he believes are critical to changing mindsets in troubled youths he believes have no hope.

“It doesn’t have to be the old prison,” Wynn said. “Give me any building and we can make this right.”

Those inside City Hall Tuesday had different ideas.

Some said it was time to hold the Goldsboro Housing Authority responsible — noting that the majority of shots-fired incidents are unfolding in neighborhoods that fall under the organization’s umbrella.

Councilman Roderick White was among them.

“We need to begin to begin to hold the (Goldsboro) Housing Authority accountable for the actions that happen on their property,” he said.

Many in the audience began clapping.

And when, moments later, Councilwoman Beverly Weeks said she agreed — that “they need to step up and be a part of the solution” — she, too, received affirmation from the crowd.

But others stressed the importance of community involvement.

“I attended a rally last year (after Joyonna was killed) and so many people were outraged,

Continued on page 16

A CONCENTRATION OF VIOLENCE

The map presented to members of the Goldsboro City Council Tuesday evening by Police Chief Mike West tells a story — one several elected officials said is proof that the Goldsboro Housing Authority needs to be held accountable for the violence terrorizing their properties.

Continued from page 14 and they showed up. And so many people came and stood before this council and said, ‘I’m gonna come to every meeting until you do something,’” Mayor Pro Tem Brandi Matthews said. “That’s the accountability that we need as leaders. That’s the accountability that you need as residents and community leaders in your respective organizations. I see a little bit of every organization in here. I need you to show up all the time. All the time.”

And she spoke out on what she characterized as inequalities in Goldsboro neighborhoods she said contribute to the hopelessness that leads to gang involvement and violence.

“As I look out in this audience, I see a little bit of everybody from a little bit of everywhere. And, I want to be surprised, but crime shouldn’t have to creep across streets and districts for everybody to care,” Matthews said. “I need you to care all the time.”

Councilwoman Jamie Taylor agreed.

“It’s a problem when crime becomes normalized in certain areas, and we feel powerless to change it. No part of this city is better than another, and no person is more valuable than another,” she said. “All our lives matter, whether in South Goldsboro, Pill Hill, or Berkeley. Crime is crime, and the only way to reduce it is by being accountable and holding others accountable until we see change.”

White and Councilwoman Hiawatha Jones stressed the need to identify the root causes of crime and have the tough conversations that might actually lead to real change.

“Children growing up in environments plagued by violence and crime are most likely

The plan to beef up the police department is great, and it’s greatly needed. But I do disagree with the chief just a little bit. We can’t police our way out of this. It has to be a concerted plan that everybody is involved in and everybody has some type of glimmer of hope.

RODERICK WHITE

to repeat these patterns perpetuating the cycle of despair that seems impossible to break. But let me be clear. The cycle can be broken,” Jones said. “It is in our power to be effective and to bring about a positive change and to create a safer, more prosperous community for all. We must come together as a society, as neighbors, as fellow men to tackle the root causes of crime, address systemic inequalities, and provide opportunities for growth and development.”

And that includes everything from “education, economic empowerment, and access to quality healthcare” to “providing mentorship and support, and fostering a culture of respect and understanding,” she added.

White said parents needed to start answering for their lack of control over their children.

“I think that we need to hold the parents of these teenagers and juveniles accountable. I don’t know what that looks like, but when I was growing up, it was called truancy,” he said. “So, when we couldn’t get the kid, we got the parent. And the parent held the kid accountable. So, we must begin to go back to things that worked.”

But Weeks said none of those things will work until the city turns “back towards God.”

“I don’t have all the solutions, but I’m here to tell you that I serve a God who has the solutions and I say it is time for our people, the people of this city, to cry out,” she said.

“Because He says, ‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their

land.’ … I’m telling you one thing that’s wrong with this city is we have turned from God, and until we turn back towards God, we’re going to have an even worse situation.”

Archbishop Anthony Slater sits in his office inside the Tehillah Church Ministries and leans back in his chair. He pulls out his phone and starts scrolling and tapping until he finds what he is looking for.

When he hits play on the YouTube video shot in Goldsboro a year ago — one that has been viewed more than 41,000 times — he struggles to find the words to properly unwrap what he just witnessed.

A group of teenagers are standing in Lincoln Homes, a housing community that is a well-known gun violence hotspot in the city.

They are flashing guns — one, an automatic rifle — and fanning out hundred-dollar bills while they smoke blunts and boast about how “everybody” is gonna know about Goldsboro.

“I looked at it and I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t have an answer for that. How do you help with that?” he said. “The guys are on the street corner. All the kids had guns.”

And that viral video proves, Slater says, what he has been preaching for years as innercity communities have spiraled out of control.

“We don’t have a gun problem,” he’ll say. “We have a people problem.”

People who are never taught the skills they need to function in “civilized society.”

“Some of my people didn’t know how to use a

Continued on page 19

knife and fork,” Slater said after sharing an anecdote about how he reacted when he hosted a meal for members of his congregation. “And I’ve got women who got married and don’t know how to boil water.”

And his community is always “too quick to blame others” for the problems they face.

“Yes, the playing field sometimes is not equal,” Slater said. “But if I put my work into it, I can succeed.”

But success does not come when a people become too complacent with “waiting for the government to pay their bills,” he said.

“That’s what my people do,” Slater said. “What do they need to work for? What’s appealing to them at 18 years old about my lifestyle? I work hard, but I don’t have a lot of money.”

So, his solution is something he has been working on for years within his ministry.

Yes, it will take time.

But there has to be a shift in the way his community sees the world.

“We’ve got to get to the children,” Slater said. “It’s the only way.”

And that starts with rebuilding what he sees as a “broken family unit.”

“We have no sense of values,” he said. “So, that meeting, what the council is trying to do, I applaud it, but we’re not solving this issue because there’s no plan. There’s an idea, but I don’t think they know what they’re getting into. We’re not dealing with the problem. The problem goes back to the family unit.”n

of

It is time for us to stand together and say this is ENOUGH.

We cannot allow crime to continue its destructive path through our communities tearing apart the fabric of society and leaving a trail of devastation. We must work together hand in hand to build a future where every child has an opportunity to grow up in a safe nurturing environment free from the grip of crime and violence. Together we can stop the cycle of crime in black communities and create a legacy of hope, resilience, and opportunity for generations to come.

HIAWATHA JONES

Bring back the trains

Dozens of local residents endured scortching temperatures to ensure they showed support for the potential rebirth of Goldsboro Union Station during "Saving Union Station Day."

the SPECTATOR

Photos by Casey Mozingo

AN SCAPE DESIGN OF GOLDSBORO, INC.