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Tuesday, 25 February 2025
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Written by Calista Cuevas
Publisher note: The letter-to-the-editor below examines the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission and its alignment with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies. Unlike unvetted statements and information found on Facebook and other social media platforms, I have found that the information on which the writer has based her letter is readily and publicly available at www.fayettevillenc.gov and www.CumberlandcountyNC.gov. Details about the FCHRC’s mission, meeting minutes, and policy discussions are available on the official website of the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission. https://www.fayettevillenc.gov/City-Departments/Human-Relations. Calista Cuevas is a Fayetteville resident, mother of two, and co-founder of the local Moms for Liberty organization. Thank you for reading the Up & Coming Weekly newspaper.
— Bill Bowman, Publisher
For generations, Americans have shared a core belief: Hard work, not identity, should determine success. The idea that all men are created equal—not divided by race, gender, or background—has shaped the nation. This principle has driven generations to work hard, succeed, and build a merit-based society. However, the push for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion undermines this longstanding American principle—not about fairness or opportunity—but government-driven social engineering that replaces merit with identity politics. This ideology, championed by local progressive activists, is being embedded into our Fayetteville/Cumberland County government, including our school system.
The Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission is one such entity. While it presents itself as a neutral force promoting “equity and inclusion,” its policies and agenda prioritize group identity over individual ability and effort.
This is not just a partisan conservative viewpoint or issue. It is an American issue. Regardless of political affiliation (or no affiliation), every hardworking citizen should reject the idea that identity matters more than merit.
Over the years, the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission has quietly embedded itself in local governance, policymaking, and school influence.
In 2023 and 2024, the FCHRC attempted to establish a Student-Human Relations Commission—a DEI-based program inside Cumberland County schools. The commission contacted Superintendent Dr. Connolly to push this agenda. While this initiative was unsuccessful, the mere fact that it was attempted—without public input—should concern every citizen.
This aligns with a more significant national trend. Recognizing the growing threat of radical ideology in education, the President recently signed the executive order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” This order blocks federal funding for schools that teach DEI, critical race theory, and gender ideology—policies that undermine the merit-based system upon which this nation was built. It also reinstates the 1776 Commission, ensuring that patriotic education and parental rights are protected in schools.
Despite the national efforts to eradicate DEI infiltration, the FCHRC and similar commissions continue working behind the scenes to reshape policies under the banner of “equity.”
When implementing DEI policies, hiring, admissions, qualifications, and promotions cease to be objective. Instead, decisions are made based on race, gender, or other identity-based characteristics—factors that have nothing to do with a person’s ability to perform the assigned task.
For example, if two candidates were applying for a job, it should not matter the sex, race, sexual preference, or any other irrelevant characteristic an applicant has. The only things that should matter are their skills, experience, education, and overall ability to succeed in the role. An actual merit-based society selects candidates based on qualifications—not personal characteristics. And once a candidate is chosen, their race, gender, or background should be irrelevant.
This is the fundamental difference between DEI and a meritocracy, which ensures that all individuals—regardless of background have an equal chance to compete, succeed, and celebrate their achievements. DEI advocates feel that priority should be given to certain identity groups, regardless of ability.
This is why all citizens, regardless of political affiliation (or no affiliation) should reject DEI: DEI removes fairness and replaces it with forced social engineering.
Anyone serving actively on a public board, commission, or committee should be of the highest integrity to ensure honest and objective points of view. Serving in this capacity only matters if individuals uphold their values and keep their constituents and the general public informed about the policies discussed and formulated behind closed doors. Someone seated on any local board who fails to stand up and speak up for their principles compromises their values, or practices a “go along-to-get along” approach when addressing significant issues. These people should not be in a leadership position.
Even more egregious is when someone purposely contradicts their values for personal gain or to enhance their standing and stature in the community. This challenges the faith and trust that citizens have in their governing agencies. Unfortunately, this appears to be precisely what happened when several recent members of the FCHRC board professed conservative values, then surrendered those values by failing to stand firm, exposing progressive and radical overreach, and failing to use their position to inform the public of the DEI ideological movement.
As voters, we should have serious questions about how these board members manage their roles on essential boards and committees while actively serving and advocating for more realistic ideals and conservative values. Values that do not include support of DEI principles. Transparency and accountability should be non-negotiable in leadership.
Fayetteville and Cumberland County do not exist in a vacuum. Our local leadership needs to aggressively implement idealogy that enhances Fayetteville and Cumberland County and our quality of life while returning trust in our government and leadership. Fayetteville needs to lead this movement, not resist it.
Editor's Note: The views expressed in this article are those of Calista Cuevos and do not reflect the views of all of the staff at Up & Coming Weekly. Up & Coming Weekly encourages editorials from the community, and will print letters to the editor as long as they are not submitted anonymously.
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Tuesday, 18 February 2025
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Written by Margaret Dickson
The eyes of America, indeed the eyes of the world, are on Washington as newly re-installed Donald Trump attempts to take Presidential power to new heights by slapping tariffs on friend and foe alike, ceding control to unelected billionaires, and pushing such pressing issues as renaming the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of Americans reel from the speed and audacity of what is unfolding at the highest level of our government.
That said, there is a great deal going on in North Carolina, and our new Governor is off to a solid start. The General Assembly? Not so much.
Josh Stein was sworn in on New Year’s Day and has hit the ground running. His immediate focus has been western North Carolina, hard hit by Hurricane Helene last fall. With many residents still out of their homes and businesses struggling to reopen, Governor Stein has been all about recovery.
A new public-private partnership will provide $30M in grants to help small businesses make it through the winter and head into warmer weather and the tourism that comes with it. In addition, the NC Department of Commerce has expanded an existing jobs recovery program aimed at Helene survivors.
With the General Assembly back in session, Stein is also lasering in on public education, what he calls the “launching pad of our state’s future.” Using a combination of federal, state, and local funds, North Carolina spent more than $17.2B in the 2022-23 school year, the largest slice of the state budget. That eye-popping number is misleading. The General Assembly is actually reducing education funding.
The price of public education, like virtually everything else, has risen over time. The percentage of public resources directed at public education has declined dramatically. Even as North Carolina’s population has more than doubled to 11 million people and counting, the percentage of public education spending declined from more than 52 percent of the state budget in 1970 to a relatively meager 39 percent in 2023-24. In other words, public schools are now expected to do much, much more with much, much less.
Layer on the fact that the General Assembly shifted $6.5B of state education tax dollars to private and religious entities last year under the slyly named Opportunity Scholarships, it is obvious that the legislature put public education on a starvation diet.
The General Assembly has engaged in more hijinks as well.
The 2023-24 state budget decreed that only legislators can decide “whether a record is a public record and whether to turn over to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, or retain, destroy, sell, loan, or otherwise dispose of, such records.”
In plain English, if legislators do not want you to see something, you will not.
Then there is the General Assembly’s stripping the Governor of appointment power to the NC Board of Elections buried inside a bill dealing with Hurricane Helene relief. It is a sure bet that there is more to come as the legislative session unfolds.
A quick Google of the term “eyes wide shut” yields definitions along these lines—"an idiom to describe someone who intentionally ignores or refuses to acknowledge something that is happening. It can also imply a deliberate choice to remain unaware or uninvolved, even when what is happening is clear and even dangerous.”
It implies being an ostrich who does not want to understand.
We Americans are apparently quite good at that.
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
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