Juneteenth Festival hits home with all ages
Segers encourages children to wake up and turn dreams to reality
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
On Saturday, June 22, Triad
Cultural Arts Inc. invited the city
to come out and celebrate Afri
can American history and culture
during the 15th annual June
teenth Festival.
Juneteenth is the celebration
of the country’s longest-running
observance of the abolition of
slavery. On June 19, 1885, sol
diers rode into Galveston, Texas,
to announce that slavery had
been officially abolished, nearly
three years after President Abra
ham Lincoln signed the Emanci
pation Proclamation.
According to representatives
with Triad Cultural Arts, the an
nual festival held at the Wake
Forest Innovation Quarter is a
time of reflection and celebrates
the roles and contributions Afri
can Americans have made to en
rich our society. Along with doz
ens of vendors, performances,
and of course food, the festival
also included health displays and
information sessions, a fashion
show, arts and crafts for children,
and several motivational speak
ers. The festival also featured a
Safe Bus, which provided trans
portation for African Americans
from the 1920s until the early
1970s.
One of the most widely at
tended events was the Geno
Segers Talk Back session. For
more than an hour, Segers, a na
tive of Winston-Salem who is
an actor and voice artist, talked
to children about his journey to
pursue a career in acting, which
led to him to play the role of Mu-
fasa in Disney’s Australian stage
production of “The Lion King.”
As the children in the auditorium
listened intently, Segers told
them to stop dreaming, hoping
and wishing, but instead to wake
up and put something real down
on paper.
“Because to believe in a
dream, you have to be asleep to
believe it. You have to wake up
and put something real down on
paper. Now it’s real, you can fol
low steps to get that goal accom
plished,” said Segers. “It sounds
simple, but .if you write it down
and look at it daily, it will echo
in your mind what it is you want
and how you want to do it.”
Segers, who is a graduate of.
East Forsyth High School, told
the children there will be ob
stacles along the way, but it is
important that they don’t make
themselves an obstacle as well.
Before making a name for him
self as an actor, Segers played
football at Western Carolina
University and later played pro
fessional rugby in the American
National Rugby League.
In the mid 2000s at the sug
gestion of a friend, Segers audi
tioned for a job doing voice ads
for a radio, station in New Zea
land where he caught the atten
tion of producers for an on-stage
production of The Lion King
and the rest is history. Segers is
also credited for appearances on
“Henry Danger,” “Stuck in the
Middle,” “Teen Wolf,” “White
Collar,” and several others.
“The world is going to create
obstacles for you. There are so
many obstacles and pitfalls out
there you can’t even count them,
so don’t be one of the obstacles
in your way,” continued Segers.
Photos by Tevin Stinson
The 15th annual Juneteenth Festival hosted by Triad Cultural Arts Inc. on Saturday, June 22, had
something for everyone to enjoy.
“Be active in the steps towards
your goal; whatever it is, write
it down. Put steps in place to
achieve it and check it off.”
If the Talk Back session
wasn’t for you, there was surely
something at the festival that
you would find intriguing. Janet
Willis, who has been attend
ing the festival for the past five
years, found solace watching the
performers take the stage. Wil
lis said she was excited to see
how the festival has grown since
2014.
“I’ve been coming to the
festival for a while now and the
performances are always great,”
said Willis. “To see how the sup
port for this event has grown is
just amazing. It just gives me a
warm feeling to see our people
coming together for something
positive like this.”
Despite heavy rain showers
throughout the day, the festival
continued inside and outside un
til 8 p.m. While making her way
to her car, first-timer Carolyn Da
vis said she has already marked
her calendar for next year’s
event. Davis said what she en
joyed most about the festival was
the vendors and minority-owned
businesses that were showcased.
“This was my first time com
ing, but it definitely won’t be my
last. This event is truly a show of
black excellence,” Davis said.
Yo Gotti’s $6.6 million judgment upheld
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
About a month after
the initial ruling, Forsyth
County Superior Court
Judge Todd Burke upheld
a ruling ordering Memphis
rapper Yo Gotti to pay a
local talent manager $6.6
million.
During the initial trial
on May 28, Judge Burke
ruled that Yo Gotti en
gaged in “unfair and de
ceptive trade practices” in
his dealings with Michael
Terry, a local talent and
event manager, and record
ing artist Young Fletcher.
Although legal representa
tion was not present for the
trial, Yo Gotti was ordered
to pay $6.6 million in dam
ages to Terry. The original
ruling was $2.2 million.
but the N.C.
that
Statute
— ^
fa
Q
Photo by Tevin Stinson
Memphis rapper Yo Gotti makes his way out of a For
syth County courtroom on Monday, June 28.
pertains to unfair and de
ceptive business practices
gives judges the power to
triple the amount.
According to reports,
Terry paid Yo Gotti, whose
legal name is Mario Mims,
$20,000 to appear on a
song with Lamont Fletch
er, who performs under the
moniker Young Fletcher.
Terry says after record
ing the verse for the song
with Fletcher and agreeing
to promote the song, Yo
Gotti never signed paper
work allowing the song to
be released and recorded
the verse on a different
song. Terry also said Mims
tried to persuade Fletcher
to leave him and join his
record label, Collective
Music Group, also known
as CMG.
On Monday, June 28,
Yo Gotti and his team of
attorneys found the time to
make their way to the For
syth County Courthouse.
Yo Gotti and his attorneys,
James Cooney and Brent
Powell, argued that he was
never served with the legal
documents with Terry’s
complaints, therefore he
had no way to defend him
self. Representatives for
Yo Gotti also argued that
the song was released and
currently has 29,000 views
on YouTube.
Terry’s attorneys said
that after trying to serve
Yo Gotti with the lawsuit
multiple times through his
lawyers, they decided to
deliver the documents per
sonally.
After his performance
at the Winston-Salem Fair
grounds on March 6,2018,
Sgt. Joel Gilbertson with
the Forsyth County Sher
iff’s Office approached Yo
Gotti as he was leaving.
After extending his arm to
hand Yo Gotti the papers,
Lamont Wynne, a hired se
curity guard, took the pa
pers and walked away.
While on the stand,
Sgt. Gilbertson said,
“When I went to serve Mr.
Mims, I was stopped by
his bodyguards or security
detail.” Gilbertson said af
ter announcing “I have a
civil paper for you,” some
one reached in front of Yo
Gotti and took the papers.
Yo Gotti denies ever
even coming in contact
with Sgt. Gilbertson.
While on the stand, Yo
Gotti said he didn’t know
anything about the lawsuit
until he saw it on social
media three weeks ago.
When Terry’s attorney,
Clarke Dummit, ques
tioned Yo Gotti, he contin
ued to refer to an affidavit
where Yo Gotti gives his
account of what happened
on May 6. In the affidavit,
Yo Gotti only accounts
for the time period when
he was leaving the stage
and walking to his car, the
same time Sgt. Gilbertson
said he approached him.
Dummit argued that he
only focused on that time
period because he knew
exactly when he received
the lawsuit.
When Wynne took the
stand, he said he recalled
taking the papers from Gil
bertson but he didn’t know
they were legal documents.
Wynne said, “He said he
had papers for Mario.”
Wynne said after tak
ing the papers from Gil
bertson and leaving the
area, Yo Gotti got in a
different vehicle and he
never gave him the legal
documents. Wynne said if
he knew they were court
documents, he would have
given them to Yo Gotti’s
manager.
In the end Judge Burke
didn’t see enough to over
turn the ruling. Although
they declined to comment
while leaving the court
room, Yo Gotti’s attorneys
did mention an appeal.
When asked about
Burke’s decision outside
the courtroom, Dummit
said, “Slam dunk for us.”
8
3
on
^
on
00
co
O'
m
*
8
a
00
00
X
WO
O
in
Q
Ch
8
00
i^
.-4
HH
ID
We Rent U+laul Trucks!
*^ jg^ ^
SWAGE
www.wschronicle.com
Professional self-storage.
SPECIAL
$25
£•! ASSURED
1] (336) 924-7000
M« STORAGE
of Winston-Salem, LLC
(Slice Hours: Mon-Fri gam-Spin; Sat 9am-3pm
Gate Hours: 5am-10pm
4191 Bethania Station Road • Winston-Salem
CM
CO
1
■ S
Wilson
Xw/