Debts owed for 1898 riot, panel urges

Blacks in Wilmington killed, swept from power

North Carolina should make amends for an 1898 race riot that killed an unknown number of black people and hobbled Wilmington's black community for generations, a state commission said Wednesday.

For six years the 13-member group studied the events of November 1898 and their aftermath. It released its final report Wednesday, saying that the riot, which ousted the city's Reconstruction Republican leadership, stemmed from a conspiracy by white supremacist Democrats to drive blacks from power.

The report says that the riot destroyed a thriving black community and pushed blacks out of local politics for more than 60 years -- and that blacks in Wilmington still suffer from its effects. Now, the commission says, it's too late for apologies.

"From those who benefited from holding down the dreams of African-Americans, we expect some return," said Irving Joyner, vice chairman of the commission.

The panel asks for incentives for minority-owned businesses, public assistance for minority homebuyers and tutoring for children. It also asks the state to provide an avenue for those who want compensation for family property lost in the riots. The report did not estimate what that might cost.

Add to state's history

Perhaps most important, the commission members said, they want the riot to become part of the state's official history. They want it inserted into school curricula, and want the state to pay for a documentary, historical markers and monuments, and an exhibit at Cape Fear Museum.

Rep. Thomas Wright, a Wilmington Democrat who helped create the commission, said he will push fellow lawmakers to support the initiatives. "Even if I stand alone on some things, if it's the right thing, I'll fight for it," Wright said at a news conference.

But the recommendations are far from reality. Wright said he will present the report to the legislature, but he is not yet sponsoring bills that would fund specific initiatives. He said it might take another commission to decide how to carry out the recommendations, which are more ideas than concrete proposals.

Sen. Kay Hagan, a Guilford County Democrat and a budget writer, said it is probably too late to get money for the initiatives this year. She said it would take a long debate to get the state to make payments for past wrongs.

"Reparations like that are very, very hard to discuss and talk about when it's been so many years," Hagan said. "Something like that could apply to so many people."

The role of the press

The report said newspapers also owe the black community. It asks several publications -- including The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer, Wilmington's Star-News and The Washington Post -- to collaborate in distributing a special section summarizing the 464-page report. It also asks the newspapers to study the effect of racism on the state's black press and to endow scholarships at public universities.

Orage Quarles III, publisher of The News & Observer, said he did not know whether the paper would comply with that request. He said he had not read the report or talked with editors.

An N&O editorial in December called the involvement of founder Josephus Daniels in the 1898 episode "an embarrassing blot on this newspaper's past."

The state legislature created the committee in 2000 at the behest of Wilmington's legislators, after the riot's centennial stirred talk about it.

Wilmington Mayor Spence Broadhurst said the city has been working to help black businesses and bring residents together since that centennial. He said the commission's work was important because it gave the city an accurate history. But he said he doesn't think the city should pay.