Wilmington, North Carolina: a Journey into Community Involvement

The first chapter of Ecclesiastes, a book in the Bible, concludes with the words, “For in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.” This quotation explains that the more you understand and discover about the world, the more despondent you will become. In some cases this can be true; however, in others it may not be. Community involvement is one way to combat the hopeless feeling knowledge about the world can expel. To become more involved in Wilmington I attended a Wilmington City Council meeting on February 3rd, and A Night of Remembrance, which was held on the UNCW campus on February 18th, both of which related to course materials and lectures in SWK 443.

A Night of Remembrance

“With deep sorrow and profound sadness, the University of North Carolina Wilmington mourns the loss of three young students from Chapel Hill… Deah Barakat, 23, and his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 20, along with her sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19” (Institutional, 2015). On Wednesday, February 18th, the office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion at UNC-Wilmington, along with other contributors, held a Night of Remembrance for three Muslim students, who were slain outside their home on February 10th, 2015. Throughout the memorial, speakers with different backgrounds and motives spoke about topics revolving around the deaths. At the end, a video was shown of Deah Barakat about his mission to go abroad to provide dental services for those in need (Merghani, 2015). The lead speaker was the president of the Muslim Student Organization on campus. The main participant in the memorial was Yousef; the brother to the two girls, and brother-in-law/best friend to the man that was killed. He touched on the lives the trio lived, and the accomplishments all three made. Other speakers included the presidents of the Catholic and Jewish Organizations on the UNCW campus, a high school friend of Razan, a speaker explaining what Islam was, and a Former Green Berea in the Army who spoke about his path to studying religion and philosophy (Merghani, 2015).

There was one quote from a speaker which resonated with me the most. He stated, “We all live on the same planet, we all breathe the same air, we all see the same moon, and we all are warmed by the same sun. We are all human.” This was said in his speech revolving around peace, love, and the Islamic Religion (Merghani, 2015). The reason this resonated with me was because it follows along with my values, and, overall, means that every life is important.

I believe there is nothing more appalling than religious extremism and bigotry. Putting aside the violent fanatics and bigoted extremists, what ensued after the tragic shooting of the three bright and hardworking American Muslim students in Chapel Hill demonstrated something incredible to me. What I witnessed was a remarkableamount of unity amongst Muslims around the world in the aftermath of the events. Never in my life did I see so many people unite in such a peaceful manner. There were no riots, no angry attacks, and despite the sheer amount of pain that many felt, there was no violent reaction. Candlelight vigils and solidarity movements commenced in all parts of the world. It made me realize the unity, which exists and grows in the face of Islamophobia amongst the average ordinary and peaceful Muslims in the world, is unbreakable and rather impressive and astonishing. It was very touching to witness that despite all the anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobic hatred that is in the world.

After 9/11, hate crimes against Muslims, and those who were deemed to look Muslim, spiked. Mosques were vandalized, and others under construction or in the planning stages were prevented from being built. As Michelle Goldberg (2015) detailed from TheNation.com:

“According to the latest FBI statistics, there were more than 160 anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2013. Mosques and Islamic centers have been firebombed and vandalized; seven mosques were attacked during Ramadan alone in 2012. Several Muslims, or people thought to be Muslim, have been murdered or viciously attacked.”

Media coverage, like CNN, ignored the Chapel Hill murders for nearly a day, and then when they decided to cover the story they wrote it off as a parking dispute and let the killer’s wife say things like “they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time” (Breaking, 2015). News reports first stated that the killer murdered the students over parking issues. Because the students were Muslim and the shooter was a white American, news reports did not infer this was a hate crime or an act of domestic terrorism (Breaking, 2015). If the roles were reversed, such as a Muslim-American extremist killing three white Americans, would the responses in the news have been different? Would it have been labeled as domestic terrorism immediately?

Within our class, Working with Communities and Organizations, there have been discussions about poverty, sexual abuse, cost-benefit analysis, foster care, and agency mission statements. There have also been discussions about the strengths perspective and empowerment. Empowerment is the reason this event is relevant to our class. In the event of the tragic deaths at Chapel Hill, empowerment could be seen on an individual and community level. Individually, people spoke up on social media, and other media sources, about the Chapel Hill shooting and gave their opinions and arguments. They were empowered to stand up for their beliefs in light of what happened. Communities all over the world, such as universities, decided to hold events for the three students to honor their memory. At the Night of Remembrance held at UNCW, a theme during the speeches was empowerment. During lectures, we talked about empowerment as a process whereby a social worker engages in a set of activities with a client that aims to reduce the powerlessness that the client feels (Defining, 2006). Powerlessness is something that was not felt at the event I went to. I left feeling empowered to take on the bad images Americans have created about Middle Eastern Religions.

Wilmington City Council Meeting

The City Council Meeting began with the presentations of Police awards. Next on the agenda was the annual report from the Tree Commission and a presentation of police activities in 2014. The council then approved the minutes of past sessions. After the approval, a resolution was made to authorize the city manager to apply for an assistance to the Firefighters Grant. Next, information was given about the parking deck on Water St, then hearings were delivered asking to amend the Land Development Code. Next on the agenda was an ordinance about the execution of the tree removal contract. The presenter stated that there were 50 trees that were detrimental and that needed to be taken down, and that there were already over 300 trees back logged. This ordinance passed (Saffo, 2015).

The main part of the meeting, and the most exciting from my point of view, was the resolution to extend Vance St. to Shipyard Blvd. The reason given to expand this street was to accommodate the traffic, and to do this they would construct two 12 foot lanes and have sidewalks. One council member, Charlie Rivenbark, started to question the presenter, and, in my opinion, became very confrontational about the aspect of just the one part of the street, and not improving all of Vance Street. I could almost see the presenter starting to sweat when trying to answer the questions as diplomatic as possible. Towards the end of Mr. Rivenbark’s remarks, he stated angrily “I just lost all faith in your cause with that answer,” which I thought could have been said in a better way (Rivenbark, 2015). Another member of the council, Kevin O’Grady, brought up the fact of Vance Street being a residential neighborhood and the traffic might impact it negatively. Then Laura Padgett spoke up about how there was not enough time in the meeting to make an official ruling, and proposed to make an amendment to the resolution (Saffo, 2015). Mr. Rivenbark took over the floor again, and argued against Mrs. Padgett’s ideas in a way that was disrespectful. The mayor then intervened and was very diplomatic with his speech. He acknowledged every council members thoughts and then Mrs. Padgett stated a potential amendment to the resolution and after a vote, it passed 4-3. The Wilmington city council meeting was then adjourned after there were no more issues brought to the table (Saffo, 2015).

This meeting was relevant to our class lectures because of the way topics were discussed and the overall meaning of the meeting. This meeting is an example of community organizing, which has been a topic of discussion and homework for class. One thing that stood out to me is how conflict is very prevalent when trying to bring about change, and it was prevalent in the city council meeting with Charlie Rivenbark’s irate remarks (Developing, 2006). Mrs. Padgett took on the ABCD perspective on community organizing, and tried to build on what was presented, and tried to look at the strengths in the issues (Developing, 2006).

Conclusion

In conclusion, to become more involved in the community of Wilmington, I attended a Wilmington City Council meeting on February 3rd, and A Night of Remembrance, which was held on the UNCW campus on February 18th, both of which related to course materials and lectures in SWK 443. A Night of Remembrance was a night of sorrow and enlightenment that empowered individuals in the community of UNCW, and the Wilmington City Council Meeting portrayed examples of two styles of community organizing; the ABCD approach and the conflict approach. Overall, I not only gained knowledge of a community from these two events, but I also gained a since of how topics discussed in courses relate to real life events.

References

Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News - CNN.com. (2015). Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/

Goldberg, M. (2015, February 11). The Most Common Type of American Terrorist Is a White Man With a Weapon and a Grudge. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.thenation.com/blog/197697/muslim-students-murdered-chapel-hill#

Institutional Diversity and Inclusion. (2015, February). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://uncw.edu/diversity/ANightofRemeberance.html

Long, D., & Tice, C. (2006). Defining Macro Practice. In Macro social work practice: A strengths perspective. Belmont, California: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Long, D., & Tice, C. (2006). Developing Community Resources and Capacities. In Macro social work practice: A strengths perspective. Belmont, California: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Merghani, Nada. (2015, February 18). A Night of Remembrance. Event conducted at The Burney Center. University of North Carolina Wilmington. Wilmington, NC.

Rivenbark, Charlie. (2015, February 3). City Council Meeting. Meeting conducted at the City Government Office. Wilmington, NC.

Saffo, Bill. (2015, February 3). City Council Meeting. Meeting conducted at the City Government Office. Wilmington, NC.

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues. (1995). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.