Matt Comer
No news or commentary this weekend, friends. Happy Labor Day! I did want to take the time to offer a personal note of reflection on these last two weeks of transition for me. I’m looking back fondly on the nearly eight years of writing I did at the newspaper, hopeful that those voluminous archives helped […]
Note to readers: The commentary that follows below was originally published at QNotes on Aug. 19. Per the instruction of publisher Jim Yarbrough, it was unpublished from QNotes’ website on Aug. 23. I have re-published it here. Though the commentary was clearly labeled as commentary and a personal reflection — adequately distinguishing it from news […]
“CHARLOTTE SUCKS” Of course, not really. But let me explain. That phrase — scrawled into a cement sidewalk along Rozelles Ferry Rd. long ago when it was first poured — immediately jumped out at me when I saw it. I wasn’t having the best of days. It was a Sunday, more than a week after […]
For many of us — white people born and raised in the South and descended from southern families with long histories in this land — recent conversations resulting from Dylann Roof’s act of fatally racist terrorism in Charleston have been difficult. Specifically, given Roof’s self-admitted affinity for the Confederacy and its symbols, much debate has turned to […]
Religion-based prejudice against LGBT people isn’t new. For millennia, anti-LGBT practices, teachings and beliefs of the Christian church have been at the root and the basis of anti-LGBT oppression. This basis is obviously and abundantly clear, even in the present day. In every state and in cities across the country, each and every movement to adopt […]
Below is an open letter I penned today and sent to several members of the Winston-Salem community, including officers of the Forsyth County Democratic Party. Please share with those you might know who will have the responsibility of choosing state Sen. Earline Parmon’s replacement. Dear Democrats, Hope all is well. I’m writing an open letter […]
Dr. Michael Brown, a rightwing religious leader from the Charlotte, N.C., area, delivered a lengthy response to Newsweek‘s recent commentary on the Bible by Kurt Eichenwald, entitled, “The Bible — So Misunderstood it’s a Sin.” Brown, who is most known locally for his opposition to LGBT equality initiatives and his protests of local LGBT events, […]
Do journalists and news outlets have a responsibility to include information about an institution’s extremist discriminatory policies when writing about them? I think so. And I think it’s doubly important when news outlets write on schools that have extremist, discriminate policies. But in Charlotte, while one puff piece about a local Christian school heaped plenty […]
Bigotry doesn’t pay. In fact, it can break your bank. And a leading anti-LGBT advocacy group is learning this lesson the hard way. The Christian Action League of North Carolina,which helped lobby for the state’s anti-LGBT constitutional amendment, told its members and supporters today that it’s nearly $15,000 in debt, including outstanding office rent payments and back pay […]
David Koch and his brother Charles are lightning rods. Heroes on the right. Hated on the left. They’ve poured millions into right-wing causes and candidates. But have no fear. David is a social liberal. He’s pro-choice and he supports “gay rights.” “I’m basically a libertarian, and I’m a conservative on economic matters, and I’m a […]
Ever since I began posting — either on social media or here at my blog — about the recent unrest and protests over police violence, police brutality and racial profiling, I’ve been met with a deluge of criticisms, arguments and insults from those who, quite honestly, seem to favor the status quo over any substantive […]
They attacked cops, after hitting them with personal items, resisting arrest and escaping detainment. They hurled bottles and other debris through the air. One cop’s eye was badly cut. Police officers were forced to barricade themselves inside a business to protect them from the unruly mob, which in turn uprooted a parking meter trying to break down […]
If you’re online on Giving Tuesday, you’ll be inundated with requests for donations for non-profits. The day has become an annual tradition, following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as a way to give back to the community organizations that help make life better for people. And, why stop at Giving Tuesday? Your year-end, holiday-time […]
I woke up this morning and perused Facebook and news sites for the latest news out of Ferguson, Mo. Last night, prosecutors announced that a grand jury had failed to indict officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown. This was one of the first things that popped into my feed: […]
On Thursday evening, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Pat Cotham shared on Facebook a hand-drawn map analyzing, by precinct, the results of the at-large commissioner election earlier this month. It’s just one simple map. But it contains several stories, each of a divided Mecklenburg County. Electoral divide The shared map comes as debates heat up over who […]