The efforts of the Community Reparations Commission — which is trying to decide what compensation, if any, should be given by the Asheville community to local blacks to redress them for, in many cases, their ancestors’ suffering through discrimination and slavery — is fueling a strong negative response from H.K. Edgerton, a black Asheville native who grew up here in the Jim Crow era and who bills himself as a Southern heritage activist. 

As for reparations, “We’re past that. This is not reparations (what the commission is doing), it’s just crap,” Edgerton said in a telephone interview with the Daily Planet on Jan. 26. 

What’s more, if he had a chance to address reparations commission Chairman Dwight Mullen (who is a retired professor or political science at UNC Asheville), Edgerton said he would say, “If you want to talk about reparations, Dwight, give me my $5 million (as is the amount being proposed to give to blacks in San Francisco). It’s a trick!”

Edgerton also said he would like to tell Mullen, “Go back with the rest of the ‘poverty pimps’… or if you want to do something worthwhile, teach my babies (black youngsters) some ‘real history.’”

He then noted that, in his estimation,“affordable housing already is ‘in play.’ ... These folks (who Edgerton believes are the focus for reparations of Mullen and his committee)... even if you gave them a house, they couldn’t afford the upkeep or the property taxes of an ‘affordable house’ in Asheville. It’s just ridiculous.”

Edgerton reiterated, “Instead (of reparations), my babies (black youngsters) need to learn how to read, write, add, subtract, divide and multiply. Help them to be a good part of the economic system.”

What’s more, he said, “Most of the black folks that live in this town (Asheville) now didn’t even live here a few years ago, or during Jim Crow — and certainly not during slavery.

“There will be a lot of folks wth their hands out...  To be fair, anyone with even one percent or two percent black” blood should be eligible for reparations. “You’re starting a dangerous precedent here.”

Edgerton added, “If we were looking for reparations, we should go back to the Africans who sold us into slavery.” (“Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, people were kidnapped from the continent of Africa, forced into slavery in the American colonies and exploited to work in the production of crops such as tobacco and cotton,” the website www.history.com stated.)

Expressing exasperation with the poor quality of many of today’s schools, he then asserted, “(most) black folks don’t even what happened during Reconstruction... All the whining and crying and all – and I’m not saying we don’t need civil rights” — misses the mark for moving forward. While he acknowledged that, given the nature of mankind, “you’ve got to have checks and balances,” he also reiterated that it is not useful — perpetually -— to dwell on past problems and seek a “handout.”

“Now all you’re doing is ‘administrating’ a way” to gain access to resources and power, Edgerton asserted. “It’s just a trick. It’s a duplication of efforts on things already in play — affirmative action, affordable housing, etc. We already have rules and regulations on state and national levels.”

So does Edgerton fear that, through the local reparations commission, an “industry” will develop in Asheville, where certain interests — black and white — will use the process as an opportunity to build wealth? the Daily Planet asked.

“Yes, indeed — I see big-time problems with it (a reparations ‘industry’),” Edgerton replied. “I heard about a City Council member (whom he did not name) organizing a group to give taxpayers’ money to poor people.” 

At that point, Edgerton emphasized that, “Under the Constitution of the United States of America, slavery was legal.” Therefore, he said, those who enslaved others were within the law (at that time), so no reparations are due for that.

Then, rhetorically, he asked, “Who qualifies for reparations for slavery?”

Answering his own question, Edgerton said, “A lot of today’s black Asheville community just moved here — same with the white folks.” And, he noted that the aforementioned blacks often are moving from states where there was no slavery, so he wondered how they could claim to be entitled to reparations.

Further, he said, “The black folks (in Asheville through the Jim Crow era) had to depend on decent white folks to succeed in business because they didn’t have the ability to attract resources. Behind most successful black folks, there was a white man — right here in this town and many towns across the country.”

In reference to San Francisco’s consideration of a proposal to give $5 million to each black resident as reparations, Edgerton quipped, “If you think I’m due reparations, give me $5 million — and I’ll go about my business You’ll never hear a word (of complaint) out of me. That’s (the silliness of) reparations.” 

He added, “For most of those (black) folks (if they receive $5 million in reparations), within 10 months, I guarantee they’d be broke.” Instead of investing (the money), they’d be buying a fancy car, pretty clothes, pretty shoes, nice big TVs....” (Edgerton told the Daily Planet that the same likely could be said for a number of “white folks,” too.)

Regarding his constant assertion that reparations amount to “a trick,” Edgerton then explained that, in his estimation, “The man who gave the reparations money up — he’s going to get it all back” because the blacks will have spent all of the money in reparations within 10 months on the goods and services offered by those with wealth and power.

“They (the reparations commission and others) don’t tell people how to invest it (any funds they are given), so it’s gone” soon, Edgerton asserted.

So does he think that if most people — black or white — were told by officials “how to invest” their reparations money, they would follow the advice? the Daily Planet asked.

“No, they probably wouldn’t listen,” Edgerton admitted.

Continuing, Edgerton then asserted, “As for reparations, they won’t have money. Don’t put Dwight Mullen — with his fancy house and his fancy car and his nice, sizeable bank account — to tell me what I’m going to have coming for my misery.” Given his prosperity, “he (Mullen) can’t tell me what I should get for my misery. If I’ve been treated so poorly,” only someone who has esperienced it can address it.

So what advice would Edgerton give Mullen?

“If he (Mullen) knew what he was talking about, he’d be talking just like me,” he replied, wryly.  

As for his guess on Mullen’s motives with the reparations commission, Edgerton said, “It makes him look ‘real pretty’ by helping black folks get reparations” to pollish the legacy he will leave behind. “But he won’t be able to do it. What he’s going to get isn’t reparations. It’s just a trick.”

When pressed for his guess on what the average Asheville reparations will total, Edgerton said, “It’ll be a $500 check — and a promise of affordable housing.” 

Again taking a jab at the reparations commission chairman, he said, mainly in jest, “If Dwight Mullen is going to represent H.K. Edgerton (for reparations), he needs to meet with me and give me a $5 million check,” as anything less would be insulting, given that that total is being discussed for giving blacks in San Francisco, where there never was slavery or Jim Crow laws.

More seriously, Edgerton again lamented that, one way or another, “the state is going to take their (reparations) money back,” so the whole process, in his view, is a charade.

Instead, he reiterated, “I tell my children to work hard and make something out of themselves, then you can do it (make money),” rather than seek handouts, such as reparations.

“So reparations is a dangerous precedent. First of all, you (the localities) can’t afford it. Secondly, you don’t know who qualifies for it. Third, it discourages learning and a work ethic.”

During his college days at the University of Minnesota, he recalled,  “If you were 1 percent black, you qualified for the MLK scholarship,” so there was a constant rush of non-black students striving to prove they had the requisite minimum of 1 pecent black blood to qualify” for the money. 

Therefore, Edgerton surmises that, given the precedent set with the MLK scholarship, in Asheville, “if you have 1 percent black blood, under fairness, they should get reparations.

“It’s a dangerous thing.. You can’t ‘qualify’ people for reparations. How you gonna qualify them? It’s an unfair process to the people it’s supposed to serve. Who are the people it’s supposed to serve?

“If you’re talking about reparations for slavery, Lord have mercy — it (slavery) was legal,” he reiterated.

Then, he asserted, “If I wanted to get real reparations, I’m going to Africa with an army to reclaim land, resources, treasures, because they sold off their fellow tribesmen,” who were Edgerton’s ancestors, to the slave traders for compensation.

Wistfully, Edgerton (sort of) quipped, “They’re still sittiing over there on my property” in Africa.

“Tell them (the local reparations commission), if they really want to help black folks, give me an army — and I’m going to take what they owe me” in Africa.

Shifting the conversation, he then said, “In response to Mullen,” Edgerton said the reparations commission’s assertions all amount to “pure poppycock.

“When I was a kid, I knew all the black families around Asheville. When I went to New York City and San Francisco, Asheville was not like” those places, where the situation, in many ways, was easier for blacks. 

“The black people who did well (in schools) here (in Asheville) went far. Lee Walker Heights and Hillcrest (two historically black areas of Asheville) were basically not considered the ghetto (until recent years) — and I knew all the families there. You had to be an ‘upscale black’ to live there,” then. However, after urban renewal and other government programs, “now those areas are considered a ghetto.”

 Also, he said, “Eagle and Market streets were the historic black business district (in downtown Asheville) — and they had hotels, restaurants, stores…. Those upscale black kids who were really smart didn’t come back to Asheville (after college). Still, there were some very successful businesses among the black community here.”

As for Mullen, Edgerton said, “He needs to re-evaluate his thinking. Again, reparations is a joke. There are too many people — red, yellow, white and brown — to have reparations. 

“I fought as much discrimination as anyone in Asheville — there’s no sense in me crying about being black. Even with discrimination and Jim Crow, if you worked hard, there was somebody who was watching you” and the feeling that “somebody will see you and somebody will help you, but you’ve got to have something to bring to the table.

“When you start giving handouts, boy, you’ve got problems. All I want is equal opportunity,” which he said exists in Asheville now. “You have that — and we’ll make everything else work.”

“I like Dwight Mullen. And I like his wife (Dolly Jenkins-Mullen, also a retired UNCA political science professor). And I understand where he’s coming from. He’s got that ‘bleeding heart’ thing going on. He’s going by what he feels in his heart.” 

As if on cue, Edgerton then fired another verbal jab at Mullen by asserting, “Tell some of his (Mullen’s) black friends to get off the golf course and off their tour boats — and start helping these little black babies (youngsters)” and then, in his estimation, they will be doing something worthwhile.

“All I need is equal opportunity without concern about the color of my skin — look at the content of my character... and go help these (black) youngsters” prepare for life.

Further, Edgerton said, “The white community doesn’t owe me anything. I lived through Jim Crow... Jim Crow didn’t stop anything” in his life.

“I’m not saying a lot of black folks didn’t have to face a lot of problems” through the years in Asheville, Edgerton noted. “A lot of people face problems — even white folks face problems. After the War Between the States, they (the Unionists) burned and rampaged” Southern homes, businesses and farms. “They stole their jewelry — their family heirlooms....

“They — the (Southern) white folks -— didn’t have a whole lot, either. Thanks goodness during Jim Crow, a lot of white folks helped” their black neighbors.

“Wellfare did a lot to destroy the black family,” Edgerton said. Under the welfare system, “the man had to get out (of the house), so the woman could collect welfare. So he was ‘sneaking’ outdoors, while the woman was making babies. It killed our (black) family” infrastructure. 

“Don’t make people pay for something (reparations) that won’t help us move forward. We need to move forward by volunteering to teach the children ....

“And part of that teaching is morality... These ministers (both black and white) need to ‘get to it,’ too. They need to teach *youngsters) some real morality, including saying, ‘yes, sir,’ ‘no, sir,’ ‘thank you, ma’am’ and ‘please.’” It’s pathetic. If you don’t have morality and good manners, it’s a big problem to advance to success anywhere.