Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane
GREENSBORO â Over the last three years, A Celebration of Black Excellence had featured stirring performances by a community choir, Western Guilford High Schoolâs jazz band and more recently, local singers and speakers.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after last yearâs ACOBE Fest and continues to prevent crowds from gathering, founder Jordan Lee didnât think he could make the festival happen this fourth year.
His supporters disagreed.
âTheyâre like, âNo, it still needs to happen,ââ Lee said ââJust how are you going to make it happen in a different way?ââ
Lee contemplated how to do that.
Sitting here on the eve of the eve of New Yearâs Eve, reminiscing on the collective shit show this year has been for everyone in the country, state, and Triad is definitely a bummer. But things certainly could have been a lot worse for both Ian and me. That is the thing about our white, cisgender privilege, just the acknowledgment of this truth is something that a lot of those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, differently-abled, and of a different gender identity donât have the luxury of doing.
With the senseless murders of Black people by police this year, especially that of Breonna Taylor, many white folks like Ian and myself have (finally) started to wake up and realize that Black women in this country have been consistently dealt a bad hand and deserve better. As Megan Thee Stallion artfully put it in her recent