Simply Cheris. . .

Growing up in a small town, I know there are so many stories there. Of course, there's the gossip. Phone lines burn up when Sally Mae gets a new car, but her house in foreclosure. Then there's Mr. Graham and his secret family two counties over. But outside of the gossip, there is so much love and devotion in the small towns. Since I grew up in one, I had a good time creating one, Elmore, South Carolina.  Not too far from Columbia, the state capital, yet close enough to Myrtle Beach for a romantic getaway. This is the kind of town where you can come back for a second chance at love, a new career or to reclaim the one who got away.  I wrote three books in Elmore and I hope you take a moment over the holidays to check them out.  J ust Can't Get Enough (Published 2007)  Both down-home sweet and seductive, Cheris Hodges's new novel is about breaking the rules, going back home. . .and finding more than your heart's desire. . .  Celina Hart had security, a steady job,...

 When you look at other Black women mayors across the country, like Keisha Lance Bottoms and Lori Lightfoot, don’t you feel proud? Like Black women lead.  Then, you remember you live in Charlotte and Vi Lyles is your mayor.  Real tears.  Lyles was super invisible at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic . She hasn’t kept her campaign promises and sat back while Charlotte Mecklenburg Police gassed protesters during a peaceful march in Uptown.  (Why is she not on the ballot so I could vote against her? Next year, y’all/) But earlier this month,Lyles and members of Charlotte City Council made total asses of themselves when they visited a local bar.  This is what the Charlotte Observer reported ,  The initial reservation was for 6 p.m., then it started getting pushed back, DeLoach said. The council members, along with Mayor Vi Lyles, City Manager Marcus Jones, and other city employees showed up at 7:45 p.m., she said. Also in attendance on Monday night was...

I remember May 2, 1999. That’s the day I graduated from Johnson C. Smith University.  All of us excited graduates piled into the Independence Arena, now the Bojangles Arena, early that morning to receive our degrees from our beloved HBCU. Some of us were still tipsy from the night before, some of us were nervous about tripping as we walked across the stage to accept that degree. And some of us were just happy that we made it through. I was excited because four years earlier, I had no idea if my Dad would’ve been in the audience to see my walk across that stage. He had a heart transplant my freshman year. And the family kept the seriousness of his condition from me until that summer. Fast forward four years later and he was in the audience with a big smile on his face, holding my mother’s hand. That day, our commencement speaker was Representative John Lewis. Civil rights icon, an American hero who risked his life and health so that America would live up to the promise of all men...

If the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery haven't taught us the importance of local elections, I don't know what it will take for us to learn that lesson. Yes, the federal government is a dumpster fire right now. But we're touched by what the people in our front yard do. Stream the latest City Council meeting here . (Starts at 5 p.m. today)  And a lot of times, those touches are more like punches to the face. Take Charlotte, for instance, during this global pandemic,   our mayor was basically MIA . When protests started in the Queen City,  Mayor Vi Lyles finally showed up. She wanted to talk. She talks a lot. As well as the Charlotte City Council. Charlotte has been talking since the 2016 uprising after the killing of Keith Lamont Scott by CMPD. Lyles was a city council member during that shooting.  She proposed a seven-point plan to reduce racial and class divisions in the city, parts of which were approved by the council. Present...

What happened to protesters in Uptown Charlotte was city sanction attempted murder. Yep. I said it with my whole chest. Tuesday night, Queen City Nerve live streamed the attempted murder of peaceful protesters and y'alls police chief doesn't know who gave the order to shoot pepper balls, flash bangs and tear gas at unarmed people. According to WBTV, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police chief Kerr Putney addressed a crowd who wanted answers about the deployment of chemical agents on protesters Tuesday night. Chief Putney addressed questions from the community. When he arrived, he expressed his frustrations with police brutality and had a question for the crowd. “I understand the frustration. I have it too. But I want to know, what do we really want to do about it?” Putney said. The crowd had many questions about why Tuesday night’s incidents were allowed. "Who gave the order?” Someone in the crowd asked about tear gas being deployed during Tuesday prote...

Hey, Vi. Girl, where have you been? There's a whole pandemic going on and the citizens of the City of Charlotte, the ones you duped, I mean who voted for you and swallowed your campaign promises,  haven't heard a word from you. Let's face facts, Charlotte mayors are figure heads. The city manager and council run the city. Clearly the police too, but we'll get there in a minute. Not only have you been missing, but you've changed.  I was proud in 2017 that my adopted home of Charlotte, NC had its first woman mayor who was African American. But my grandma was right, all your skin folk aren't your kin folk. But you tricked me, sis. I remember when you stood for something. Following the  shooting of Keith Lamont Scott  in September 2016, (Lyles) proposed a seven-point plan to reduce racial and class divisions in the city, parts of which were approved by the council. It's four years later and here we are—again. So, you sat out the pandemic and whil...