Irving Allen Wants Another Shot at City Council

Irving Allen walked through the growing crowd at Dame’s Chicken and Waffles earlier this month, shaking hands, dabbing up supporters, and smiling at those who walked through the doors. Friends, family members, and various elected officials had gathered at the restaurant after hours for Allen’s Greensboro City Council campaign launch event. At 38, Allen is almost a decade older than he was the last time he ran for council in 2017. Since then, he said he’s learned a lot.

A seasoned organizer whose family has deep ties to civil rights in Greensboro, Allen has used his experience over the years to launch a bid for an at-large council seat this year. The race is stacked—10 candidates, including Allen, all vying for the three at-large seats on the nine-member council. Two current at-large members—Hugh Holston and Jamilla Pinder— are running for re-election. The third, Marikay Abuzuaiter, is running for mayor.

There are a lot of contenders—some incumbents, some well-known and well-funded names running for the first time. But Allen told The Thread he thinks he has a shot.

When he ran for council in 2017, Allen was an activist with the Black Lives Matter movement. President Donald Trump was less than a year into his first term. Allen and others saw the need for a grassroots, Black-led movement to combat police brutality, but also to address issues such as housing and food insecurity. Now, as the country faces a second Trump presidency, Allen said that the need is still there.

“Fresh off the heels of that first movement, that put the wind at my back to run because I saw what we were able to organize and accomplish,” Allen said. “I feel like we’re living in a similar time. It feels like we’re reliving a déjà vu period of the Trump administration coming in, us losing rights, debating the Voting Rights Act, the heightened sense of aggression and division.”

Even before getting involved with Black Lives Matter, Allen had an activist sensibility. His uncle, David Richmond, was one of the N.C. A&T Four, who helped launch the sit-in movement. Allen’s father, Steve Allen, is a longtime civil rights attorney.

Civil rights and community organizing are at the core of Allen’s campaign.

“All we have is the person standing next to you, your neighbor living next to you, the folks in your community,” Allen told the crowd at the launch event. “That’s all we have at this moment. But guess what? That’s enough. That’s enough. That’s all we need right now is each other.”

In the past, Allen has worked with city officials to build programs like Thrive GSO, which works with formerly incarcerated people to reintegrate into society through job training. He also helped form the city’s first criminal justice advisory commission, which monitors and reviews police practices.

Last year, he and other Black candidates made a bid for Ashton Clemmons’ North Carolina House District 57 seat, which was eventually filled by Rep. Tracy Clark. There’s still more to do, he said. 

“We want to build power for the community and do the things that we worked on over the last 13 years,” he said. “Which is to move the city to be more equitable.”

Allen pointed to issues like affordable housing and investing in the younger population to avoid brain drain. The city also needs to invest in youth programming to curb community violence, he said.

All of that is possible this year, Allen said, because of the huge shift facing city council.

With every city council seat up for grabs, Allen said this year’s election has the potential to change the direction of the city for years to come. He points to other activists he’s worked with who are running on similar platforms to his. In District 1, he talked about his connections to incumbent Sharon Hightower and candidate Crystal Black. In District 2, he pointed to Cecile Crawford and Monica Walker, both seasoned organizers. In District 3, longtime friend and collaborator April Parker is running. In the at-large race, Allen mentioned incumbent Jamilla Pinder.

Many of Allen’s collaborators and mentors, including Parker, attended the launch event. Political organizer Nicole Quick, Sen. Gladys Robinson, former state representative Marcus Brandon, and County Commissioner Frankie Jones also came out. Brandon, who served from 2011-15, said he’s excited by Allen.

“I’ve been in politics a long time,” Brandon said. “I know when change is in the air. The incumbents should be very scared. The city is way past a new direction, and I support young people doing that.”

When asked why he decided to run for at-large rather than in his district, District 2, Allen said it’s because the issues most important to him and the city aren’t just “east side issues or south side issues.”

“These are main concerns that everyone cares about,” Allen said. “Everybody speaks about equity when they come to the table. Everyone is concerned about violence and the work that we’ve done to combat that. Everyone is concerned about public safety and wants us to lean into community policing. So all of these are issues that are at the core of the entire city.”

Sayaka Matsuoka is a Greensboro-based reporter for The Assembly. She was formerly the managing editor for Triad City Beat.

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