[VIRTUAL] Disinformation and Black Voters in North Carolina: A #WhatToExpect2020 Town Hall

Join PEN America, the ACLU of North Carolina, the Greensboro Public Library, and the NC Local News Workshop for a live town hall with trusted Black journalists and writers in conversation about what voters in North Carolina can expect from the upcoming November election. With misinformation a constant threat, Black communities are relying on local and community news organizations to receive the most up-to-date and accurate election information. Join us to meet some of the local and community journalists doing this important work. If you plan to tweet about the event, follow us on Twitter at @penamerica and use the hashtag #WhatToExpect2020.

This virtual conversation is free and open to the public. We encourage community members to come prepared to ask journalists and election experts any questions about voting in the upcoming election in North Carolina.

Please confirm your registration at the Zoom link below. For more information, contact Grace Linczer, Civic Engagement Consultant, at [email protected].

REGISTER HERE

Panelists

Michael Hewlett is the legal affairs reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal. He has won awards for his journalism, including a first-place award earlier this year for his coverage of the alleged wrongful conviction of a Winston-Salem man named Merritt Drayton Williams. A graduate of Washington and Lee University and a native of Richmond, VA, Hewlett has lived in Winston-Salem since 2002 and is a member of the Triad Association of Black Journalists.

Afrique I. Kilimanjaro is the managing editor and publisher of the Carolina Peacemaker, a weekly news publication founded by her parents 54 years ago. She earned a bachelor of science in professional biology from North Carolina A&T State University and a master of public health from Emory University. She serves on the Cone Health Foundation Board of Directors​. The Peacemaker is the longest running weekly in Guilford County primarily serving Greensboro’s Black community—chronicling everything from school desegregation and the turmoil of the Civil Rights era to the routine accomplishments and celebrations by Black residents. The paper has received awards from the National Newspaper Publishers Association and the North Carolina Press Association for outstanding news coverage, commentaries, editorial cartoons, sports and entertainment features, photography, and effective public service campaigns.

Katrina Louis is the managing editor of QCity Metro, a news, business, and culture platform for the Black community in Charlotte, NC and surrounding areas. QCity Metro promotes Black excellence, social connectedness, and civic engagement via an informed and collective voice online and in person.

Moderator

Chantal Stevens was selected to serve as the ACLU of North Carolina’s executive director, effective September 1, 2020, after serving as the organization’s interim executive director since February 2020. Prior to joining the ACLU of North Carolina, Stevens worked in education for 20 years. Stevens started her career with the Research Foundation for CUNY. After leaving the Research Foundation, she worked for The City College of New York, A Better Chance, the GO Project, and later, at the Oliver Scholars.

This event is part of PEN America’s #WhatToExpect2020 initiative, which we launched this fall to empower voters to understand the uniqueness of the 2020 election, inoculate the public from the threats of disinformation, and build awareness of the electoral process.