Reflections on Occupy Greensboro

*Disclaimer: This blog is written from my own perspective and does not speak on behalf of Occupy Greensboro or any other person.

                The Occupy Movement has been a beautiful and unexpected gift in my life. I have lived in Greensboro for the past four and a half years and have so admired the willingness of people here to fight back against the parasites of healthy community – racial discrimination, needless poverty, a faulty education system, police brutality, unjust immigration policies, etc. Again, I have seen so many ways that social issues have been addressed in Greensboro. But nothing I have seen so far has had the same ingenious level of possibility as our local Occupy.

                I started attending Occupy Greensboro back in late September, just as word was spreading that Greensboro was going to participate in the international movement. Early on, hundreds of people crowded together for “general assemblies” at Glenwood Coffee and Books to pump energy into this infant hope of transformation. We organized a mass of people in a short amount of time, built relationships, and discovered our own strengths in social activism. By October 15^th, the day we marched through Greensboro’s downtown and began our “occupation” at the YWCA, we were both celebratory and exhausted.

My Motivation to Occupy

                I initially wanted to join Occupy because I was eager to see something, anything big happen in relation to social justice. I graduated college this past spring and entered an economy with almost no job prospects. Immediately, I started to hear pity and remorse from people that my generation was not going to start exciting careers, buy our own homes, get married young, and basically take advantage of the joys that accompany economic (and therefore psychological) security. My friends, talented and beautiful young women, graduated as well and most live at home with their parents, doing the same or similar part-time work that they held in high school. They are the most visible products of economic decline in my life, even though I have also seen great budget cuts, job losses, and lessen income in my family members' lives.

                A lot has happened since I realized that our economy is so deadened that it no longer even wants our contribution.  There was something very disheartening about realizing that there were not opportunities for my voice, even when I clearly was distressed and wanted to be told to do something. But suddenly, there was the Occupy Movement and people all over the world standing up and saying that they knew about social issues, they cared, and they were going to make their input heard. We all know that economic injustice exists - we all live in the world that upholds it. And we all know about dozens of other areas of injustice. These issues seem so obvious that we are both enraged and defeated when our elected officials don't represent our best interests.

                Occupy is about taking that ownership of activism and justice back into the hands of the people. We all have voices and we have thoughts and we all need a space to feel that our contribution is being heard and valued.  People here in Greensboro have feasted upon Occupy because it is an outlet for their frustrations, an arena to recharge their hopes, and as the fulfillment of self-determination that is lacking in our current social-political system. People come to Occupy because we felt the lack of platforms for healthy discussion and community self-determination.

AFSC and Occupy

                I started an internship with AFSC about a month ago. I am working with the organization in relation to Occupy Greensboro and trying to see where AFSC is able to assist the movement in its growth. The focal values of Occupy, to be nonviolent and seek equality, are similar to the values of Quaker processes. In light of this, AFSC Greensboro distributed nonviolence informational pamphlets at our kick-off march last month and upon a few other occasions. AFSC also brought hygiene kits down to the camp when it existed, packed full of basic necessities for campers.

                For right now, AFSC is going to explore opportunities to link up with and support Occupy's attempts to right an unjust social, economic, and political system. We can't predict what is coming next, just as we couldn't predict that encouraging people to go camping in a city would transform the world. But both AFSC and I are eager to do our part and contribute to what does come next.

Accomplishments up until now

                We have accomplished so much in a short time. Over the past two months, Occupy Greensboro has successfully united hundreds of people, created an arena for open conversation, pushed itself into the dialogue of the city, and staged many actions including protests, marches, forums, performances. I would even argue that the spread of Occupy as a topic of conversation is an accomplishment.

               People within Occupy Greensboro have been scrambling around to harness the energy boiling up and out of the Occupy Movement. Participants are so invigorated by the extensive possibilities for action that energy pulses out of everything that we do. We use our creativity to connect with community members – whether that includes dressing up as zombies and robots to protest bank greed, organizing teach-ins on specific topics participants are concerned about, or creating online videos to widen our presence. I know that initially there were so many possibilities within the movement that I shot like an arcade ball back and forth between topics and actions. But we are settling down now to deep, hard work and I think that we will be so proud when it is time to present our efforts.

Intragroup Strife

                Of course there are conflicts within our group. We sometimes don't know the best ways to communicate through the internet, in person, or just between working groups in general. We are all unfamiliar with being in a "leaderless space" and lacking a central structure or power source. Voting through consensus, in which every person at a meeting gets opportunities to speak their mind, is a slow process and people get frustrated. But our meeting facilitation is getting better and group organization is working out its kinks as they arise.

                We did also shut down our physical camp site at the YWCA after only three weeks because we were draining our resources sustaining the camp site and it was turning into a place of conflict not representative of the message of Occupy. While there, we experienced sexual harassment, quarrels between participants, and disregard of our consensus decisions. These issues are not limited to our camp interactions, but the intensity of these issues at the camp site did work as a divisive issue for our assembly. Occupy tries to be inclusive towards every person and the realization that we had to exclude some participants in order to protect the wellbeing of other participants was very difficult for us. I don't know how we will handle this issue when it next arises, but I do know that it was difficult, upsetting, and saddening for myself to be confronted with such a divisive issue so early.

                One other topic of frequent conversation is the tug between participants who desire for a more defined purpose of our meetings and the other perspective that to create definition will limit our scope and possibilities. To be honest, two weeks ago I did wonder if the movement would splinter because pockets of people had such different perspectives on this topic. But our group expressed the need to weight this topic in our interactions, and Sundays have been devoted to discussion-based general assemblies over the past couple weeks. There is still disagreement among participants about what we should do or how we frame our purpose, but overall, the group is working to address these needs for everyone.

Reasons I have Hope

                Like many people, I want to have tangible products from this movement. But right now, I am able to close my eyes and be soothed by the sentences of our conversations running across my mind. There is a certain peacefulness in knowing that other people all over the city will do the same as they unwind for the night. This movement will go somewhere. This is something that I know to be true as my hope is reinvigorated daily by the passion visible in other participants.

                It is exciting for me to look around an Occupy meeting and to think that these are my neighbors. These are my neighbors talking about their lives and their city, taking back the topics they have felt isolated from for many years. They may live Winston or Oak Ridge, they may be fifty years older than me or a different gender, but I understand the itch they feel to recreate the meaning of community and justice. Greensboro is a beautiful city with so many decades-old bruises that need to be healed. I am hopeful that the support that we have received during our Occupy actions (such as waving, smiling, cheering) is a signal that Greensboro residents are ready for that healing and the inevitable struggles that accompany self reflection. The wind has shifted here now and people are no longer going to resign themselves to anything less than they deserve. And we will be there right beside them.

Peace Day in Greensboro

For AFSC’s Area Office of the Carolinas, this year’s Peace Day was much more than a one-day ceasefire. Peace, for us, rather than an absence of violence, is about building community through cultural sharing, celebrating diversity, and developing personal relationships based on respect and trust.

In Greensboro, our Day of Peace was a two-day tour of the city for a visiting delegation from AFSC-Indonesia. We used their visit to highlight aspects of Greensboro’s culture and activism.

New Garden Friends School

Monday morning, the Associate Head of New Garden Friends School, Jane Carter, led us and our guests through both the upper and lower campuses so that we could share some different ideas with the students about the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, two days later. In a high school class, and in a group of 7^th and 8^th graders, we showed students two short films about the effects of war on society and on individuals, and brought with us our visiting AFSC staff from Indonesia, Jiway, Nurul and Wiweid.

  The first film was made by an international student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from South Korea. She tells of a once-united Korea, and how the two regions were divided by external forces. Once the war broke out, and a line was drawn, her family was also split, unable to contact each other on either side. Though the support from powerful nations is long gone, the two sides never reached an agreement, and remain in a state of armistice. Nothing has been won through the bombing and fighting, but she is often reminded by her grandmother that much has been lost.

The second film is based on the United States’ spending on wars over the last 10 years. In Iraq and Afghanistan alone, we have spent more than 1 trillion dollars. A number that large is quite incomprehensible. But our summer interns had a few ideas of how better to invest those dollars. Our cities could use community gardens as a way to create jobs, feed the hungry and build relationships between neighbors; local and state governments could use that money to hire more teachers, better teachers for public schools, and could provide scholarships for higher education; in our own city of Greensboro, citizens can hardly get from one part of town to another, and would greatly benefit from an improved public transit system.

After the films, the team from Indonesia explained some parallels between our two countries, and how they thought both could be directed towards a peaceful society. They expressed their belief that youth are the key to the future, and explained some of the projects they had done with young people. In Indonesia, tensions have been rising over the last few years, owing to increased religious extremism. AFSC-Indonesia is partnering with youth groups to lift up a different worldview.

In Yogyakarta, a dispute between street kids and transvestites led to a multicultural dance performance of Javanese horse dancing and ethnic-Chinese lion dancing. This performance, and the rehearsals leading up to it, became a forum for mutual understanding as they all worked toward the same goal.

In West Timor, a Protestant Easter parade was expected to cause controversy between religious groups. Young people from different faiths took the head of the parade with a peace torch and banners celebrating diversity. When they reached a neighboring Muslim-majority town, they were greeted with applause and cheering. This Peace Torch, now touring the rest of the country, has become a symbol for “Unity in Diversity,” which is Indonesia’s national slogan.

The students were attentive, and in the short time we were there, we were able to engage in some discussion. Many of the students had ideas of their own about how they would spend a trillion dollars, from local police enforcement to charities, or a mansion for themselves. Both at the high school and the middle school, students made connections between the lack of funding for education and their own lives. Though New Garden Friends School is a private, Quaker school, and most of their educations have not yet been affected, they saw the potential for difficulties in their future. These are kids that see peace at work every day. When asked if they had been affected by war, the answer for most was “not directly.” But by the end of the hour, they seemed to understand that they did not have to see soldiers in the streets or hear bombs going off to feel the impact of a nation at war.

Guilford College and the Underground Railroad

After talking with students, we headed next door to Guilford College, where Max Carter, Director of the Friends Center and Head of Campus Ministries, welcomed us and brought us to the cafeteria. Professor Eric Mortensen, Religious Studies, joined us during his lunch break to learn more about the variety of spirituality in Indonesia and offer his perspective on Islam in America.

Indonesia hosts the largest Muslim population in the world, given that around 80% of Indonesians subscribe to the Islamic faith. The other 20% of the country, however, is made up of Christians, Protestant and Catholic, Hindus, Buddhists and Confucians, and each region has a different demographic. But the extremist form of Islam seeping into all five major islands has no sympathy for other belief systems. Even the Muslims of Indonesia have been targeted and attacked for following an “impure” interpretation of Islam.

Following our meal, Max began a tour of local Quaker history, specifically as it related to the unauthorized transport of slaves to their freedom in the north. The very woods that compose Guilford’s backyard were a known stop on the Underground Railroad. As we learned the different ways our Quaker ancestors risked their own lives to save the lives of thousands of escaped slaves, I reflected on the contradictions they must have had to reconcile. Lying, especially to an officer of the law, would never have been acceptable to the Quaker community, but they kept secret their hidden passages and harbored refugees because they had to obey God’s will that all human beings have the right to freedom. The runaways who spent days or even weeks in the heat of a Carolina summer running through the mud with no shoes and no food are the real heroes; without taking a stand from the inside, change would never have come to our country. But when I think about the white folks who risked their homes to share it with a black man, I wish I could see more like them in our own time and context.

Storyology

Following our Quaker tour, we stopped by HandyCapable, a non-profit that fixes up donated computers and offers them at a low price or for free to low-income families, schools, or handicapped persons. Our office has partnered with them to provide Movies Without Borders, a filmmaking class for immigrants and refugees, with the hope that their personal stories, through the media of short film, will have some affect on the dialogue in America surrounding migration.

The class brings together people of different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities, and provides support for each student through a partner and group sessions. AFSC-Indonesia focuses on the potential of youth, and was interested in learning about this tool as a means to strengthen diversity across the archipelago. They talked with Trish Perkins, from Handy Capable, and our own Lori F. Khamala to understand the dynamic of the class and examine the potential for duplicating the class in an Indonesian context.

Democracy Chat

Every Tuesday morning, the Fund for Democratic Communities (F4DC) invites community members from around Greensboro to meet at a bakery to discuss issues surrounding democracy. Topics vary from education, to working with religious groups, to engaging youth activism.

This week, we heard from Jiway and Nurul about the issues surrounding democracy on the other side of the world. The similarities were astounding, and we were able, as a group, to start thinking about creative ways to address these issues. One of the things that struck the group was the lifting up of a national, multicultural identity in Indonesia as a response to violence from a fast-growing force of radicalism within a branch of Islam. For Marnie Thompson, of F4DC, this was an “interesting and more positive reframe for me on nationalism, which I have generally felt mostly negative about, given the US version.” The group was invited to bring Indonesia’s peace torch here to North Carolina, and will be thinking of ways to tie it to the work that goes on in Greensboro.

International Civil Rights Center and Museum

Later in the morning, we took a tour of the historical site of the Greensboro sit-ins from the 1960s. The former location of the Woolworth’s store where four black students from North Carolina’s Agricultural & Technical State University (A&T) demanded to be served at the lunch counter, is now a museum honoring those four men’s legacy and a cultural center for civil rights activism

The tour begins with what the Museum refers to as the Hall of Shame: a visual history of racist attacks all over the country, many of which took place in the South of long ago, but some in the last quarter of a century, in New England or in the Mid-West. We are then taken into different environments of a segregated America. Transportation, education, health care, and entertainment were all very different for blacks and whites.

Experiencing this representation of my national history was very interesting for me. Our guests knew very little about our Jim Crow history, and I felt the Hall of Shame following me as they discovered more and more of the institutionalized racism of our country’s past. I also feel my own experience as a white female from Connecticut living in Greensboro has given me the opportunity to know children who would have a hard time understanding such an environment as reality, but also to know adults who remember what it was like to be kicked to the ground for using the water fountain meant for white folks. Our elders’ memories are now becoming history. The ICRCM makes history personal again, so that we might prevent it from repeating.

Our visit to the museum was a reminder for me that any great movement in history is made up of small, organized action performed by a few brave souls. This is the work AFSC is involved in, from Greensboro, NC to Washington, DC to Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Rally and City Council Meeting

After lunch and a short time to regroup, we once again headed downtown to share some of Greensboro’s contemporary activism with our guests.

In 2001, Greensboro’s City Council voted to close the White Street Landfill in the eastern part of the city. The city had been sued by residents of Nealtown Farms in the ‘90s, based on accusations of environmental racism. By the start of 2007, all residential and commercial waste had to be brought to a transfer station. But less than two years later, a Councilman suggested that the landfill be reopened, as its closing had cost the city and residents up to millions of dollars. Many have questioned the motives and morality of reopening this foul-smelling health hazard. While Greensboro’s entire demographics place African Americans and Hispanics at almost 50% of the population, the community affected by the landfill is over 84% African American and Hispanic. Some contend that if the landfill were located in a predominantly white neighborhood, reopening its gates would not even have been suggested.

After several years of fighting against the City’s motions toward reopening White St, residents of the neighborhood have strengthened their voice beyond their simple demographic to include support from all areas of the city, all races, all classes and students at area colleges, most notably, A&T University, continuing its legacy of equal rights advocacy.

Several companies proposed waste management strategies with the city, and eliminations had finally brought Gate City Waste Services to the top. The final decision to reopen under that contract was to be brought to a vote at the City Council meeting on Tuesday.

Students from A&T, along with other community organizations scheduled a protest to take place before the meeting, so they could share their displeasure and concern with the Council once more before their fates were sealed. Beginning with a march from A&T’s campus, a rally gathered at the city’s municipal building. Hundreds of people held the plaza, a high turnout for an issue-related protest in Greensboro. The idea that many of the city’s own would be exposed to foul smells, vermin, cancer, and other health risks brought a large crowd together in solidarity, the first of its kind in local politics for a long while.

When Gate City Waste Services withdrew their bid at the last minute because of the controversy it has dragged up, the crowd felt they had finally been heard, but knew that, as Mayor Bill Knight says “The problem is still there. It hasn’t gone away.” The city still needs a solution to the money leaking out of town through waste transport, and the citizens must still hold their decision-makers accountable for the health and safety of Greensboro. During the Council meeting, many public voices were heard, not only on the issue of the landfill, but on the Council’s attitude and process throughout the situation.

I was proud to walk away from that meeting with Jiway, Wiweid and Nurul, able to call myself a citizen of Greensboro and participate in the activism that is part of America’s rich history, but I was also reminded how very little we have come since the Greensboro Four took their seats at the lunch counter.

What is Peace?

We will not have peace in our society if our cities’ representatives neglect to take a stand for human rights issues. We will not have peace if we wait for the money to talk, instead of listening for the voices of the marginalized. Peace will only come from our children examining their place in the world alongside their neighbors’. Peace will come from honest discussions about “hot” topics and those that are sometimes forgotten. We will find peace when we learn from history’s mistakes; and when we find our common goals and celebrate our differences. The International Day of Peace means nothing if it means nothing but a ceasefire, for “peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61498975@N08/sets/72157627611290791/

Hawo's Dinner Party

Viewing of “Hawo’s Dinner Party” an adaptation of the documentary Welcome to Shelbyville.

Last Tuesday, September 6, roughly 75 people from the Greensboro community gathered in an intimate restaurant to view “Hawo’s Dinner Party.” This 30-minute adaptation of documentary Welcome to Shelbyville revolves around religious and cultural tensions in a small town in Tennessee, and the beginnings of change brought on by personal interactions shared over a meal.
Annah Awartani, the owner of Zaytoon Restaurant, opened our evening by welcoming the guests into the space. Her hospitality overflowed and she encouraged us to build relationships with each other, as a community should. The Reverend David Fraccaro, of Faith Action International House, joined her to introduce the film and each of the members of our planning committee.
The short film brought us into the world of Shelbyville, TN, home to local residents, migrant workers, and refugees. When a series of articles about the recent influx of Muslim refugees from Somalia fueled tensions between residents, the real conversations began. One Somali woman, Hawo, hosted a dinner party for several townspeople, where they were able to shed the stereotypes that had held them back before. Hawo’s dinner turned strangers into neighbors, allowing the guests to experience new food, laugh over misunderstandings, and start asking the questions that had never been addressed.
When the credits rolled, Annah explained the parallels between feeding our bodies and feeding our souls. Sustenance may keep us alive, but a shared meal can give us a sense of belonging, of unity, even hope. With these sentiments, we lined up for a delicious, local, organic meal, prepared by Annah herself.
Sarah Ivory, of Church World Service, encouraged us to find unfamiliar faces to sit with, not just our neighbor, sibling or spouse. To break the ice, we had the topic of “Hawo” to start off conversation. What about the movie stood out to us? Did we relate to any of the people portrayed in the film? Was there a particular scene that touched any heartstrings? With about 20 tables of strangers, the discussions took off in 20 different directions. Some addressed the conditions of refugees; others, the responsibilities of Shelbyville’s elected officials and citizens; another table mentioned the effects of having a Tyson factory as the town’s main employer.
When all of our varied thoughts and perspectives had been aired, Rev. Fracarro stood and spoke to the importance of personal connections in shaping our opinions. In the shadow of September 11^th, many Americans were fearful of Arab or Muslim strangers, avoiding contact at all costs. This was the attitude shown by the media. But those few who made the effort to make strangers into Arab or Muslim friends gained invaluable education, experience and partnerships. Fracarro asked us to share our own stories of a time we met someone of another faith or culture, and how it had changed us in a positive way. Again, each table had a different experience. Some went on and on, while others struggled to fit their stories in this positive framing, having been faced with so much negativity.
With our time nearing its end, Wasif Jalil Qureshi, Outreach Coordinator for the Islamic Center of Greensboro, led us in a closing discussion. He invited us to share our stories with the large group, and drew on themes that arose to keep the conversation going. Each table had something to share. Wasif spoke to the value of personal encounters, and imagined a time when we would be able to feel unity, just as strongly as we feel fear or joy.
To close Brianna Higgins, AFSC intern, reminded us that while we were off to a good start, unity does not come from one evening. We have to continue having these types of conversations; to reach out beyond the familiar; and maintain the relationships we build, for they can break down barriers much easier than bombs can.

If I Had a Trillion Dollars Video

Three interns in Greensboro, North Carolina's office of the American Friends Service Committee created an "If I Had a Trillion Dollars" video to address the federal spending on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. While federal spending is increasing for war, important programs are being cut domestically. In this IHTD video, interns presented through digital film what they would do with 1 trillion dollars to improve their communities. Education, better transportation, and the creation of community gardens were ideas shown in the film.

A Sleeping Tiger Awakened: An Immigration Story

By: Starlet Tetteh

On July 9th I helped put on an Immigrant Know your Rights Program in Charlotte with the AFSC.  It felt good educating my self and others on how the immigration legal system works in North Carolina.  Little did I know someone dear to me would become a victim of the system.  

When I heard my friend had been taken by ICE I was confused.  Yes they are an immigrant but they are also apart of my community.  I thought to myself, you can’t take them away! Whenever I saw my friend on Guilford College campus they would always joke with me.  Even though they are only a couple years older than me they have wisdom.  They would always call me their daughter and ask me how school was going and tell me how important it is to keep going with my education.  They would then tell me an elaborate story that they said was true and had a moral somewhere in it but was mostly just ridiculously hilarious.  Guilford is known for their bonfires and when they would grace us with their presence at one they would always turn the atmosphere into one of a campfire story time.  Everyone knows them and loves them.  

I remember doing an Islamophobia program with AFSC at New Garden Friends Meeting for the youth.  They were there to help out and as soon as they stepped into the room the children swarmed to them  I didn’t have to introduce my friend because they all knew exactly who that person was.  

The community was tense, upset, and saddened by the detaining of my friend  We all used a Facebook group to keep in the loop and help out however we could. All of the procedures I had learned about in the know your rights training were applied in their case.  Unfortunately ICE was not following their own rules.  My friend was moved several times, and initially denied access to their attorney.  Only because of an out-pour of community support, dedication, and perseverance of church, friends.  and family, that they were not immediately deported. In our office we see many cases but this was the first time that it was a close friend.  

I am grateful that my friend is here at home.  It is nice to hear a success story amongst so many stories that are sad and silenced.  This is one of several stories of detainees that we need to lift up and work around.  A community is only as strong as the people in it.  Let us stand with one another and work to keep our community members safe.  

Islam, A Film Series

Saturday, August 13, 2:00p.m., Islam, A Film Series

Learn more about the beliefs and practices of Islam in this film series about followers of the Prophet Muhammad. We will view three 30 minute documentaries: Islam, An American Faith, African Americans and Islam, and Women in Islam.

Wasif Jalil of the Greensboro Islamic Center and others will lead an engaging discussion with the audience.

Cost: $4.00 for Youth; $6.00 for Adults, Seniors & Students

134 South Elm Street Greensboro, N.C. 27401

Location

International Civil Rights Museum

134 South Elm Street

Greensboro, NC 27401

Take Action For Erick

Erick Velazquillo, who is facing deportation due to driving without a proper license, will have his last court hearing today where an immigration judge will decide whether he should be deported. Velazquillo, 22 yrs., graduated from South Mecklenburg High School and is a Central Piedmont Community College student who aspires to be a nutritionist. He has been in the US since the age of two – it’s the only place he calls home.

 I had the opportunity to meet Eric and his sister Angelica during a Know Your Rights Program in Charlotte.  There Erick, lawyers, community resource people, and other Young Activist shared their concerns and helped one another to understand the immigration process and how to change it so that people like Erick are not taken away from their home and loved ones. 

Please take a moment to call JOHN MORTON, and SENATOR HAGAN. Erick's court date is around the corner and we need to show our support take a moment and call.

1. ICE – John Morton (202.732.3000)

Sample Script: "Hi, I was calling to ask that Erick Velazquillo's deportation be deferred. Erick (A# 200-97-0380) has been living in the United States since he was 2 years old. If deported, he will be returned to a country he hasn’t been to in 20 years. Erick wants to contribute to this country as a nutritionist. Don’t deport Erick."

2. Call Senator Hagan (202-224-6342)

Sample Script: "Hi, I was calling to ask that Senator Hagan introduce a private bill for Erick Velazquillo (A# 200-97-0380). Erick has been living in the United States since he was 2 years old. If deported, he will be returned to a country he hasn’t been to in 20 years. Erick wants to contribute to this country as a nutritionist. Please introduce a private bill for Erick." 

Erick petition: http://action.dreamactivist.org/erick

Vigil article: http://www.charlotteobserv​er.com/2011/07/01/2420335/​immigrant-hangs-hopes-on-d​ream.html

Photos: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/08/2440169/vigil-for-erick-velazquillo.html