The press managers covering this issue in the area of Rocky Mount NC are predominantly "white" (of european descent) and have been for a long long time. The News Industry hasn't reformed itself in the area, while the area itself has a majority (56%) african american population.

Let's just call it their "Local Newsroom Apartheid". For example, according to published reports and studies, the Rocky Mount Telegram had ZERO non-white employees in the year I was commissioned to do the Dr. King figure for their town. The town itself is over 56% African American (roughly 30,000 out of 56,000 people). This newspaper's hiring ratio has only very slowly changed over the past three years as this controversey over my artwork erupted. Yet crazily, the same editor and publisher are quick to blow hard with opinions about race matters, hiring practices, inclusivity, and opine alone and with much hubris about any number of other community matters in their pages. Meantime, the City Council approving my work was 42% African American. Go Figure.