Thursday, June 01, 2006

Action called for regarding 1898 Wilmington race riots

It's one of the saddest (and less-talked about) moments of North Carolina's history: In November 1898, Wilmington's city council was overthrown in a rash of statewide white supremacy movements that was propogated by the Democratic party and egged-on by newspapers, including the Raleigh News & Observer. Up to that point, African Americans served in a variety of state and local government positions.

Even more tragically, however, was the fact that an untold number of people were killed at the height of the race riots, which are well-known in the Port City but rarely discussed anywhere else.

Perhaps no more.

"The legacy of the 1898 Wilmington race riot, according to recommendations made to state lawmakers on Wednesday, should be aggressive redevelopment of the city's Northside and a statewide effort to make sure the lessons of the event are not forgotten," according to this article from the Wilmington Star-News. "After six years of research and debate, the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission presented its completed 660-page report to the N.C. General Assembly on Wednesday."

The report states that, among other things, minority homeownership should be increased in Wilmington, and the commission suggested "as a possible action that the government 'use its eminent domain power to acquire vacant commercial properties,' and sell them to poor residents with guaranteed mortgages."

Statewide, the commission hopes to make the race riots a more well-known event. "Among the recommendations with statewide impact, a unit on the 1898 events would be made a permanent part of the state public school curriculum. Also, the commission recommended that a television documentary be produced and aired nationally."

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