Racism

A debate has been sparked among Black pastors who are trying to square a heroic view of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative activist who was gunned down in Utah this month, with the insulting statements about people of color that were key to his political activism. Conservatives and white Christians, particularly evangelicals, are emphasizing Kirk's faith and label him a martyr. From the pulpits of Black churches, pastors used their sermons to denounce what they called hateful rhetoric from Kirk that runs counter to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Many Black clergy have linked the veneration of Kirk to a history of weaponizing faith to justify colonialism, enslavement and bigotry.

The Wake County Register of Deeds Office is seeking volunteers for a project to help find and archive racially restrictive covenants that prevented largely African Americans, as well as people of other ethnic and minority groups, from buying or living on certain land in Wake County.

WUNC's Will Michaels talks with Thomas McLaurin, George Floyd's cousin and executive director of the Floyd Family Center for Social Equity, about the organization's mission.

BYU issued the results of its investigation into the Aug. 26 match, reiterating it will not tolerate conduct threatening any student-athlete. As a result of the investigation, the university says it has lifted a ban on a fan who was identified as directing racial slurs toward Duke sophomore Rachel Richardson during the match.

After the mayor of Enfield, North Carolina, ordered the bulldozing of a local Confederate monument, he's been the target of a state investigation and racist hate mail. But he says the experience is also part of a new chapter in his life as a community organizer and activist.

In June 2021, New York police sent the suspect to a hospital for an evaluation after he made a threat at his school. Then, he fell off of law enforcement's radar and bought a rifle earlier this year.

About 100 people attended a service to honor the memories of five people who were lynched in the county more than a century ago.

The suspect allegedly wrote a 180-page document filled with hateful rants about race and ties to the conspiracy theory, "great replacement."

The incident happened earlier this month at an elementary school in Goldston.

Parents denounced the incident during public comment at Monday night's school board meeting, and dozens of community members rallied outside the meeting.