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The Opinion-Editorial Wars ?

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021

Welcome to BLACK BY GOD | The West Virginian!

We are an emerging news and storytelling organization centering Black voices from the Mountain State. We provide a more nuanced portrayal of the Black experience in the Appalachian region. Our content is unique! We publish a weekly newsletter and quarterly print.Please visit our website to learn more about how you can contribute, movement journalism and how we got our "by God" name.

READER SPOTLIGHT

THE BRUER’S OF CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA

Gritts Farm -October 2021

PHAT DADDY’S ON THE TRACKS

A COOPERATIVE RESTAURANT OPENS IN CHARLESTON

Photo by Leeshia Lee

Ebony Hairston and Cameron Curdon of Charleston, West Virginia, provide the perfect combination of great food paired with friendly customer service at Phat Daddy’s On The Tracks.

This new local eatery provides a menu full of dishes that will arouse your tastebuds and captivate your sense of smell as soon as you approach the former chicken coop-turned restaurant. Curdon hopes to turn his new small business into a staple for good food in the Capitol City. The eatery’s located in what is known as Elk City at 480 Railroad Road on the West Side.

Black By God is excited to share the talent and creative eye of Charleston-based photographer, playwright, journalist and entrepreneur Leeshia Lee. ?You can follow her on your favorite social media platform at @leeshialee and @a_shot_of_lee.

The Opinion-Editorial Wars ?

Whether it’s Bernie Sanders vs. Joe Manchin or Tom Rapp from Beckley vs. Mr. Richard P. Loaf from Hinton, we celebrate the opinion editorial.

We know that the opinion editorial is the one place Black voices and causes have found entry into West Virginia’s media landscape that is missing Black reporters, editors, and owners.

Community leaders and clergies like Mathew Watts, Ronald English, and David Fryson have an estimated 300 opinions combined that are sitting behind a paywall. We hope to change that one day. Black history and the record should be accessible. We welcome your opinions and encourage you to submit them.

History does not exclude uncomfortable truths.

By Tom Rapp | Oct 26, 2021, from The Register-Herald.

A response to Mr. Richard P. Loaf’s letter “Confederate statue in Hinton should remain standing”

"Mr. Loaf, the ‘wokes’ are not trying to change history. They are trying to inform us of the history we have been denied…. read more.

??-vs-??

Confederate Statue In Hilton Should Stand

By Richard P. Loaf | Oct. 22, 2021, from the Register-Herald

"I’ve never written to the editor before. But I just got to speak my mind because I’m so hopping mad. I just saw in the Hinton News where they’re trying to take down the Confederate statue that has stood there for over a hundred years…read more.

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NEWS TO KNOW (& Some You Wish You Didn’t)

Aggregated content curated by Crystal Good

Seeking Knowledge, Staying Involved Spur Evansmore

from The Fayette Tribune

"The racism in this country is much deeper than many want to admit. Basic survival for non-white people is a priority which lives inside you. I expect to be part of the Poor People’s Campaign until I am no longer able to do so."

"We are about educating; we’re about a number of things and one of them is educating," she said. "This is an opportunity to educate; when opportunity is in front of you, use it to your advantage."

~ Jean Evansmore

David Fryson: We must build back better (Opinion)

from the Charleston Gazette

"One of the attributes of living in West Virginia is the familiarity the typical person has with our elected leaders. The size of the state and lack of population density enables us to know our elected officials up close and personal.

This is positive on one hand because it is easy to see politicians for who they really are. Conversely, it also makes it difficult to hold them accountable because, more often than not, we know them personally." ~ David Fryson

‘Who Will You (Joe Manchin) Throw Overboard?’

from Common Dreams

West Virginians gathered at the senator’s yacht to demand that he stop blocking the "popular and needed" Build Back Better package.

"Where’s the outrage?’

from the Charleston Gazette-Mail

“Where’s the outrage for the gun violence that’s changing lives forever, especially in the African American community?” McKinney said.

It’s irresponsible for city and state leaders to focus on substance abuse and not gun violence in communities, she said.

Charleston City Council MemberDeanna McKinney asks city leaders to do more about gun violence.

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COMMUNITY BULLETIN

Brought to you by Katonya Hart, BBG’s Community Events Editor

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK

Good shadow after Eryka Badu, Hollywood Bowl, October 2021, Full Moon

Welcome to our new newsletter platform!Thanks to Tiny News and Letterhead you can now donate (tax deductable) to Black By God and purchased advertising in our newsletter with one CLICK.

This means we have more ways for you to support BBG so we can keep growing our content and reach! Please be pateint with us as we learn our newsletter, build a new website and prep for our second print that will be distributed Thanksgiving week.

Also, I’m moving back to West Virginia and nobody is paying me 12K to do it!I made some pandemic progress and had some fun in Hollywood. NDA’s were signed, sets were made and visited, while credits and relationships grew in the sunshine. ☀️I also picked up blackbygod.eth and am eager to build our tech content. It will all make sense soon enough or it won’t. Until.

I take it one day, one newsletter and one Joe Manchin cartoon at time!