City Council in Asheville, North Carolina Calls for Reparations
Demand for reparations painted on a street in
Richmond, Virginia, June 2020.
On July 14, Asheville, North Carolina City
Council passed a resolution that apologized for
the city's historic role in slavery and the
discrimination and violation of rights of African
Americans in the period that followed the end of
slavery in 1863 to the present.[1] It also called
for reparations in the form of investments in
areas where Black residents face disparities (see
full resolution below).
"Hundreds of years of Black blood spilled that
basically fills the cup we drink from today," said
Councilman Keith Young, an African American and
the measure's chief proponent, who noted that
simply removing statues is not enough.
Asheville City Council's resolution comes amidst
the ongoing demands across the U.S. to end racial
injustice, including thousands who protested in
Asheville calling for redirecting funding for
police toward social programs.
Reparations for slavery are a longstanding demand
across the U.S. that is receiving renewed
attention and impetus from the nationwide protests
following the unjust police killing of George
Floyd.
Resolution Supporting Community Reparations for
Black Asheville
WHEREAS, Black People have been unjustly
Enslaved; and
WHEREAS, Black People have been unjustly
Segregated; and
WHEREAS, Black People have been unjustly
Incarcerated; and
WHEREAS, Black People have been denied housing
through racist practices in the private realty
market, including redlining, steering,
blockbusting, denial of mortgages, and
gentrification; and
WHEREAS, Black People have been denied housing,
displaced and inadequately housed by government
housing policies that include discriminatory
VA/FHA practices, Urban Renewal, and a variety of
local and federal "affordable" housing programs;
and
WHEREAS, Black People have been consistently and
widely impoverished by discriminatory wages paid
in every sector of the local economy regardless of
credentials and experience; and
WHEREAS, Black People have experienced
disproportionate unemployment rates and reduced
opportunities to fully participate in the local
job market; and
WHEREAS, Black People have been systematically
excluded from historic and present private
economic development and community investments
and, therefore, black-owned businesses have not
received the benefits of these investments; and
WHEREAS, Black People have been segregated from
mainstream education and within present day school
programs that include AG, AP, and Honors; and
WHEREAS, Black students have experienced the
denial of education through admission, retention
and graduation rates of every level of education
in WNC and through discriminatory disciplinary
practices; and
WHEREAS, Black People historically and presently
receive inadequate, if not detrimental, health
care as exemplified by disproportionate
morbidities and mortality rates that result from
the generational trauma of systemic racism,
discriminatory treatment by medical professionals,
and discriminatory medical practices such as
involuntary sterilizations, denial of adequate
testing, denial of preventative and curative
procedures; and
WHEREAS, Black People have been unjustly targeted
by law enforcement and criminal justice
procedures, incarcerated at disproportionate rates
and subsequently excluded from full participation
in the benefits of citizenship that include
voting, employment, housing and health care; and
WHEREAS, Black People have disproportionately
been forced to reside in, adjacent to, or near
Brown Zones and other toxic sites that negatively
impact their health and property; and
WHEREAS, Black People have disproportionately
been limited to the confined routes of travel
provided by public transportation; and
WHEREAS, Black People have disproportionately
suffered from the isolation of food deserts and
childcare deserts;
WHEREAS, systemic racism was created over
centuries and will take time to dismantle;
WHEREAS, state and federal governments have a
responsibility to adopt programs, policies, and
funding to address reparations;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASHEVILLE THAT:
The City Council of the City of Asheville:
(1) apologizes and makes amends for its
participation in and sanctioning of the
Enslavement of Black People;
(2) apologizes and makes amends for its
enforcement of segregation and its accompanying
discriminatory practices;
(3) apologizes and makes amends for carrying out
an urban renewal program that destroyed multiple,
successful black communities;
(4) calls on other organizations and institutions
in Asheville that have advanced and benefitted
from racial inequity to join the city in its
apologies and invites them to address racism
within their own structures and programs and to
work with the city to more comprehensively address
systemic racism;
(5) calls on the State of North Carolina and the
federal government to initiate policymaking and
provide funding for reparations at the state and
national levels;
(6) directs the City Manager to establish a
process within the next year to develop short,
medium and long term recommendations to
specifically address the creation of generational
wealth and to boost economic mobility and
opportunity in the black community;
(7) fully supports its equity department, staff
and its work, and encourages the city manager to
utilize their talents when forming policy and
programs that will establish the creation of
generational wealth and address reparations due in
the black community as mentioned above;
(8) seeks to establish within the next year, a
new commission empowered to make short, medium and
long term recommendations that will make
significant progress toward repairing the damage
caused by public and private systemic Racism.
Other local government community organizations may
also be invited to have representation on the
Commission. The task of the Community Reparations
Commission is to issue a report in a timely manner
for consideration by the City and other
participating community groups for incorporation
into their respective short and long term
priorities and plans. Accountability for achieving
equity will be enforced in the appropriate
offices. The report and the resulting budgetary
and programmatic priorities may include but not be
limited to increasing minority homeownership and
access to other affordable housing, increasing
minority business ownership and career
opportunities, strategies to grow equity and
generational wealth, closing the gaps in health
care, education, employment and pay, neighborhood
safety and fairness within criminal justice;
(9) calls on the city manager to give, at
minimum, a bi-annual update to the city council on
the progress of work performed pursuant to this
resolution.
Read, approved and adopted this 14th day of
July, 2020.
Note
1. Asheville is located in
Buncombe County. According to 1860 census records,
Buncombe County had 1,907 enslaved people who were
"owned" by 283 enslavers, of whom 54 owned 10 or
more enslaved people.
The number of enslaved people in North Carolina
increased from 100,783 in 1790 to 351,059 in 1860,
about one-third of the state's population. The
percentage of population that was slaves varied by
county. There were 19 counties in 1860 where the
slave population was greater than the free white
population in 1860. These counties were in
agricultural areas producing cotton, tobacco, rice
and naval stores and where larger plantations and
farms existed in the coastal plains, Piedmont, and
counties bordering Virginia.
Segregation was officially in practice until the
1960s for North Carolina's Indigenous peoples and
1970s for the Black population.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 27 - July 25, 2020
Article Link:
City Council in Asheville, North Carolina Calls for Reparations
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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