We welcome your input to set our course for 2023!

Thank you in advance for taking the time to give PA your thoughts.

Link can be found HERE

Dear PA Members,

I hope you all are doing well! I am so excited to see everyone at our membership meeting this Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. at The Fruit. Food and drinks will be provided. It will be a great moment to fellowship together as Durham’s progressive community. Please register here.

During the business portion of the membership meeting, we will hear updates about the action teams, discuss our strategic planning process, approve our 2023 budget, and elect Chapter and PAC board members and officers. The PA Chapter Board are pleased to announce the following nominees:

• Carina Barnett-Loro
• Allan Freyer
• Mike Lee
• Lao Rubert
• Adam Stromme

The PA PAC Board are pleased to announce the following nominees:

• Leah Josephson
• Monica Burnette

Following your ratification, we are excited to officially welcome these talented individuals to the Boards. Additionally, current Chapter board members Sally Hodges-Copple, Italo Medelius, Carl Rist, and Adam Beyer will continue their service.  Current PAC board members Nana Assante-Smith, Rochelle Sparko, Rann Bar-On and Yesenia Polanco will continue their service.     

I also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and thank Sendolo Diaminah. Sendolo has served on the Board for the past two years and has been an invaluable source of wisdom and stability during a time of transition for PA. We are so grateful for Sendolo’s service on the Board!

On another note, ​​last month’s newsletter included a Harriett Tubman quote intended to inspire action ahead of the elections. Unfortunately, its language was also a painful reminder of this country’s history of slavery. We apologize for any offense its usage caused.

It has been a busy year for us at the People’s Alliance! In the coming weeks, we will share a document with you highlighting some of our accomplishments, but as a preview we: hosted multiple progressive issue forms, supported partner organizations around Durham and North Carolina, and embarked on our first ever strategic planning process. And there’s so much more to come in 2023. 

Importantly, we hired our new Lead Coordinator, Ann Rebeck. She has been instrumental in supporting Action Teams, working closely with members, and organizing our events. If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet her, please do so! She would love to find a way to get to know you and help you join our work in 2023 and beyond.

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued support of the People’s Alliance. Together, we are making Durham a model progressive community. 

Best,

Adam Beyer

President, People’s Alliance Board of Directors

Dear NC Marker Advisory Committee Members,

The Durham People’s Alliance strongly supports the placement of a historical marker honoring the legacy of Booker T. Spicely, a martyr of the Civil Rights movement who was killed in Durham, North Carolina in 1944. 

On July 8, 1944, Pvt. Spicely, a black servicemember during World War II, was seated in the next-to-last row of a Durham bus headed for Camp Butner. At a subsequent stop, the bus’ white driver directed Spicely and a group of other black passengers to move to the last row so that a group of white soldiers could take their seats. Spicely protested, saying, “I thought I was fighting this war for democracy.” Although Spicely ultimately changed seats, when he got off the bus at the corner of what is now Berkeley Street and Club Boulevard, the driver shot him twice in the chest.

Spicely was transported to Watts Hospital, which refused to treat him because he was Black. By the time he reached Duke Hospital, it was too late to save him. The Durham Black community and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, including future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, assisted in the prosecution of the case. However, the driver was ultimately acquitted of all charges by an all-white jury.   

As a nearly 50-year old, membership-driven organization that advocates for justice in Durham, we believe that North Carolinians and visitors should have the opportunity to learn all of our history — the good and the bad. Pvt. Spicely advocacy helped ignite the Civil Rights movement and deserves to be remembered. It is a stark reminder of the evils of racism and the enduring spirit of those who stood up in opposition. A historical marker would prompt us to reflect on the history all around us and the difficult past that is closer to the present than we might wish.

Thank you for your consideration,

The People’s Alliance