Hillary Clinton — politician and grandmom — plays to Kay Hagan’s base in North Carolina

CHARLOTTE — Was it happy coincidence that Hillary Clinton’s granddaughter is called Charlotte? It certainly helped the former senator, former secretary of state, former first lady and perhaps future presidential candidate get the audience in the Charlotte Convention Center ballroom cheering with the line, “I can’t tell you how much we love the name.” Another grandmother, Kay Hagan, said, “What a name that was picked for her new grand-baby!” It was all to the point in a homey sort of way, framing the message of the day — family, women’s issues and equality and opportunity. During the wait before both took the stage, Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” set a no-nonsense mood.

In North Carolina, same-sex marriage goes to church

CHARLOTTE — Standing ovations, applause, the sounds of tambourines — and rainbow colors everywhere, on banners and flags and adorning the stoles around the shoulders of clergy celebrating the fact that same-sex marriage is now legal in North Carolina. In a city known for its churches, Holy Trinity Lutheran hosted an interfaith service that resembled a party, as a crowd of 250 – including many same-sex couples and their families — filled seats downstairs and in the balcony.

Though on Tuesday a federal judge said Republican state legislators had the right to challenge the ruling that said North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, on Monday night at Holy Trinity, the mood was joyous.

Is the South really as bad as a report says it is?

CHARLOTTE — When the headline is “Why the South is the worst place to live in the U.S.,” it’s an invitation to trash talk. But isn’t that what makes stories like this one in The Post so much fun? They are bound to unleash regional pride and get the blood flowing and the stereotypes flying in the comments section.

NFL meeting with black women’s groups on domestic violence a ‘productive’ beginning

Representatives of the Black Women’s Roundtable said a meeting with NFL executives on Wednesday was productive, and just the start of a conversation. The roundtable had requested a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after the league announced a domestic violence advisory panel that included no women of color.

“We agreed to have a meeting with commissioner Goodell in the next 30 to 45 days,” Melanie L. Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and  convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable, told She the People.

Black women’s groups to meet with NFL on lack of diversity in domestic violence panel

A meeting has been scheduled Wednesday between the National Football League and representatives of the Black Women’s Roundtable, which had questioned the lack of diversity on a domestic violence advisory panel.  Members of the group are scheduled to meet with NFL executives Anna Isaacson and Troy Vincent at the league’s headquarters in New York City, according to Edrea Davis, communications director for the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the Black Women’s Roundtable. However, the group still wants a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“The women will urge the NFL to add black women experts in domestic violence and sexual assault to the NFL’s recently established domestic violence advisory board,” Davis told She the People. “They will also discuss other issues related to diversity and cultural sensitivity, eradicating the culture of violence within the league, and the date of the meeting they requested with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.”

Fans and domestic violence survivors find common ground on an NFL weekend

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Though Carolina Panthers fans can’t be happy with the Sunday night thrashing their team took in a nationally televised game against Pittsburgh, they didn’t mind thinking about football – just football. But even as Steelers and Panthers fans exchanged some pre-game trash talk while enjoying a meal in the Carolina sunshine, they had some things to say about the issue of domestic violence, one that has enmeshed NFL leadership and the team that plays in Charlotte.

In some ways, their sentiments were not that different from members of a panel of survivors of domestic violence the day before – both groups were critical of the NFL’s reaction to the Ray Rice episode but grateful that the issue is in the open. On Saturday, at a meeting of the Charlotte Area Association of Black Journalists, three women added dimension to the image of victim. And fans and survivors found common ground.

Message in letter to Roger Goodell: NFL women’s advisory panel needs diversity

Amid the controversy and charges of too little, too late hurled toward the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell after publicity involving charges of domestic violence against players, one move has been praised – the announcement this week that the league has named four women to shape new policies on domestic violence and sexual assault.

But while the Black Women’s Roundtable views the step as positive and “appreciates the fact that the NFL has established an advisory group of women,” it also points out what it views as an omission. In a Sept. 16 open letter to Goodell, the roundtable offers words of praise, then states: “However, your lack of inclusion of women of color, especially Black women who are disproportionately impacted by domestic violence and sexual assault; and the fact that over 66% of the NFL players are made up of African Americans is unacceptable.”

The message to the NFL is “you are headed in the right direction, but you have missed the mark,” Melanie L. Campbell told She the People on Wednesday. Campbell heads the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and is convener of Black Women’s Roundtable, an inter-generational network of women leaders representing black women and girls from across the country. “We want to be supportive and helpful.” Goodell needs to know, she said, that “you have to do it right, and make sure you have a diverse group of women working with you and your team.”

Patricia McBride, Kennedy Center honoree, is no tragic ballerina

CHARLOTTE — “Ballerina” is hardly the profession that comes to mind when one thinks of work-life balance or “having it all.” The women in the spotlight conjure images of beauty, but also sacrifice, single-minded devotion and lofty standards, impossible to reach. It’s a story line abetted and reinforced by films from “The Red Shoes” – with its angst-ridden conflicts between love and art – to the dark mother-daughter histrionics of “Black Swan.”

But then there’s Patricia McBride, the New York City Ballet icon who has been awarded a Kennedy Center Honor. (The 2014 honorees also include Al Green, Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin and Sting.) In a three-decade long dancing career, McBride brought to life the works of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins (both already honored by the Kennedy Center) with a list of partners that included Edward Villella, Arthur Mitchell, Jacques d’Amboise and Mikhail Baryshnikov (all with Kennedy Center awards, as well).

When white friends don’t believe what blacks go through, they’re not friends

I still remember it perfectly, more than 10 years later. It’s terrifying to be stopped in your car and approached by first one and then two more white police officers with their hands resting on their holstered guns. I kept my hands in plain sight on the wheel while they inspected my license and registration. On second thought, I recall thinking during the 15-minute stop, perhaps the scruffy sweats and baseball cap that were perfect for my spin class weren’t the best choices when you’re African American and you’ve just bought a red car. (Why didn’t I pick the gray Camry?) I was given a written warning about running a stop sign that I’d actually stopped at, but I knew better than to argue.

“Forty-five percent of blacks say they have experienced racial discrimination by the police at some point in their lives; virtually no whites say they have,” according to a recent New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll. (I’m shocked the 45 percent figure isn’t higher, considering the stories African Americans tell each other all the time.) So when I share the trauma of that particular incident and so many like it – fraught interactions that may have involved a son (stopped driving a nice car in our nice neighborhood), nephew or friend – I expect, first of all, that I will be believed.

Violence – and nonchalance – in shocking Ray Rice video

Ray Rice looks so casual. After he hits Janay Palmer, his then-fiancée, now wife, the Baltimore Ravens running back stands over her, and when the elevator door in the Atlantic City casino opens, he drags her limp body halfway out, walks back and forth, then stands around, even chatting with people who come along. He doesn’t seem shocked. He doesn’t check to see how she is. It takes a passer-by to comfort the still-groggy, disheveled Palmer.

TMZ on Monday released more of the video that the public only saw a fraction of in February. It graphically shows the argument, the punch, the fall and the scene outside the elevator – nonchalance from Rice that is almost as sickening as the violence. Now anyone can view the beginning, the middle and what the NFL hoped would be the end of a controversy that is only heating up.