🧵 In Today’s Edition

1. Akir Khan Wants to Be Mayor. A First Time Candidate, He’s Not Waiting His Turn
2. A Personal Reflection on Last Week’s Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting
3. The Agenda

Akir Khan (Photo: Courtesy of Akir Khan for Mayor)

‘Not Waiting My Turn’

Akir Khan is a Muslim son of immigrants with concerns about ICE, cuts to the social safety net, and food insecurity. He’s also a Republican. He wants to be mayor of Greensboro and believes he can build a broad coalition of the underrepresented.

Read our interview with Khan here.

— Joe Killian

Thanks for reading The Thread, a 3x week newsletter written by Greensboro editor Joe Killian and reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Reach us with tips or ideas at greensboro@theassemblync.com.

This week, police shot and killed a man in my Greensboro neighborhood. They blocked off the roads and I saw them erect a tent where his body lay.

I didn’t know him. I don’t know what happened.  Neighbors say he was living in a shed and struggled with staying tethered to reality. I don’t want people struggling with mental health issues to be living in sheds. And I don’t want them to be shot.

The Glenwood neighborhood has always been poor. I’ve lived here 16 years now and it’s clear to me that more and more people have nowhere to go. More people are sleeping in backyards, in abandoned houses, and in the stands of trees along the creeks. I’m not surprised. Rent has easily tripled since I’ve been here. Renting a room could be 700 bucks a month.

Last week, someone shared an article from the front page of the Indianapolis Star. It was about my old neighborhood in that city—the one I moved here from.  A large homeless camp has been given two weeks to relocate. Where? No one seems to know.

Since I left Indianapolis, that neighborhood has gentrified with little coffee shops and galleries downtown and new, modern infill houses in the vacant lots. Back when I lived there, we were all broke. But we had homes, even if they were in disrepair. Now it’s a study in extremes — wealthy hipsters and people living in tents, as if there is no in-between.

We can blame people for their missteps and trespasses — for being bad with money, drinking too much or catching a charge. But when such a significant percentage of our towns’ populations are facing homelessness, when the majority of us struggle to pay rent, we can no longer blame the individual. We need to look at ourselves. 

Of course, it’s not just gentrification or housing prices causing endemic homelessness.  We are rapidly taking away any kind of support for anyone who momentarily trips up in life. We are letting them fall down all the way. We are defunding programs already stretched thin and criminalizing homelessness, with the Trump administration leading the charge and local municipalities using this federal callousness as cover for their own inaction. Our government is abdicating all responsibility — as if losing your home, having to live doubled up with a friend or out of your car somehow makes you less of a citizen, no longer worthy of representation.

What happens when we do this? What happens is a man who is not well and receives no care ends up living in a shed. Then, eventually and almost predictably, he is shot dead in the middle of the street.

Then, only then, they erect a tent over him. They focus on him, perhaps finally see his situation, and learn his name.

This is not fair to him. It is not fair to the woman who birthed him, the teachers who taught him, the friends who hung out and laughed with him. It is not fair to his childhood best friend.

It is not fair to the neighbors trying to navigate his mental illness, as he lived on their block. It is not fair to the little kids riding bikes, whom I told to go back home so they wouldn’t see a body on the street. It’s not fair to the other people living in tents and abandoned houses in my neighborhood, knowing they are “unwanted” and scared they could be shot, too.

It is not fair to our neighborhood, our city, state or country to act with such negligence toward such fundamental human and community needs.

Gwen Frisbie-Fulton is a mom, organizer, writer and long-time resident of Greensboro’s Glenwood neighborhood. She is the author of the Working-Class Storytelling Substack.


Good morning! This week, local leaders from the county school board to city council meet to make financial and policy decisions. Plus, there’s an opportunity to air comments, questions, and concerns on updates to the county’s hazard mitigation plan. 

City of Greensboro

City Council Work Session

Thursday, Aug. 14, at 2 p.m. @ 300 W. Washington St. in the Plaza Level Conference Room

This agenda hasn’t been published yet, but when it drops, it’ll be posted here.

Guilford County

Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan Update Meeting

Thursday, Aug. 14, at 6 p.m. @ Virtual or Guilford County Cooperative Extension Building Auditorium, 3309 Burlington Rd.

The county’s existing hazard mitigation plan—last updated in 2021—expires on Jan. 19 next year. With public input, the upcoming update aims to “adapt to changing risks, increase community resilience, ensure full compliance/funding eligibility across federal and state programs, and promote general hazard preparedness throughout the region.” Sign up for virtual access to this meeting or attend in person.

Guilford County Board of Education Meeting

Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 6 p.m. @ 712 N Eugene St. in the board room

The school board’s meeting will consist of:

  • Approving a bond deferred capital replacement project ordinance transfer. Plus, since Washington Elementary is closing, $3.8 million originally designated for that school will go to: Page High School’s existing auditorium and bathroom renovation, HVAC upgrades at Southwest and Fairview elementary schools, Penn-Griffin School for the Arts’ roof replacement.
  • Hearing a report from Superintendent Whitney Oakley.
  • Approving a personnel action report—appointments, resignations, and terminations from teaching and staff roles.
  • Updating several longstanding policies related to school safety, the board’s voting methods, student and staff technology use, staff-student relations, and student accountability.
  • Approving HVAC repair and maintenance contracts for at least $350,000 in services from Hoffman Mechanical Solutions, Inc., and Brady Trane Services, Inc.

Links to Local Board Meetings and Agendas:

Guilford County – Board of Commissioners

Guilford County – Board of Education

Greensboro – City Council

Greensboro – City Calendar

High Point – City Council

— Gale Melcher

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