North Carolina Addresses Racism and Reparations
More places across the country are considering what reparations would look like on the local, state, and federal level, as the need to redress hundreds of years of entrenched racial inequality becomes apparent.
The latest cities to join the discussion on reparations are Washington, DC, and Durham, NC. Measures have already been passed to prioritize racial equity in several North Carolina municipalities, including Asheville, Buncombe County, Carrboro, and Orange County.
Orange County, NC
Orange County commissioners approved a resolution supporting reparations in a 6-1 vote. The commissioners apologized for the county’s role in slavery, segregation, systemic racism, oppression, and discrimination against Black residents.
In addition to fighting racism, the resolution calls on the county to work with public and private partners to invest in Black students and families, Black-owned farms and businesses, and Black workers and communities of color “as first steps in providing long overdue reparations for the centuries of suffering, loss, anguish, injustice and trauma.”
The resolution is a beginning and not a plan, which will take more discussion, said board Chair Renee Price, who led the effort. It also marks the 155th anniversary of the 13th Amendment being ratified and abolishing slavery, she said.
It could have gone further, she said, but only marks the time when “we were freed from slavery and supposedly given 40 acres and a mule, and then, of course, that was snatched right away and then the system just perpetuated itself.”
Carrboro, NC
In October, Carrboro’s town council approved a resolution that lays out next steps to making amends for hundreds of years of injustice. The council passed a reparations resolution acknowledging that “systemic racism was created centuries ago and will take time to dismantle.”
The main action is to establish a commission within the year to make recommendations in the short, medium, and long term “that will make significant progress toward repairing the damage caused by public and private systemic racism.”
Council member Barbara Foushee clarified the council’s vision for reparations: “Reparations is not about giving anyone a handout or a check; it’s about community change,” she explained. Council members plan to collect information and engage local residents by holding community conversations.
The resolution asks for state funding for reparations at the local level, and for the federal government to take actions to eliminate the racial wealth gap, including providing a universal basic income and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Durham, NC
In July, a city task force asked the Durham City Council to consider some form of reparations to address systemic racism and human rights violations at the local level.
In October, Durham city officials passed a resolution calling for the federal government to grant reparations to the descendants of enslaved Africans and African Americans. City Council members voted to push for federal programs that would reduce racial inequality. Those include payments to descendants of enslaved African people, a universal basic income, living wage jobs for all citizens, and increasing the federal minimum wage to at least $15 per hour.
