By JOHN NORTH

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The focus of the Asheville-Buncombe County Community Reparations Commission — at least for now — is on correcting institutional bias that allegedly is continuing to afflict local African-Americans, and there are no plans to evaluate whether personal responsibility is a factor, according to Dr. Dwight Mullen, chairman of the CRC.

“I think that, empiracally, we (the CRC) can demonstrate that African-Americans do not (now) have equal opportunity” in Asheville and surrounding Buncombe County, Mullen told the Daily Planet during a telephone interview on Feb. 8. 

“We’re starting with (examining) current disparities of policy outcomes” involving institutions operating in Asheville and Buncombe County, “We’re starting where ‘the rubber really meets the road.’”

Pressed by the Daily Planet on whether the matter of taking personal responsibility for one’s actions and outcomes will be a component of the CRC project, Mullen, a retired political science professor from UNC Asheville, replied,  “Philsophically, I take a really different approach. I take things at the institutional level, rather than at the individual level. 

“You can’t expect that institutions to be held responsible for their errors,” otherwise, he said. “I don’t know of any other place in the country that’s doing reparations with five different policy areas simultaniously — education, housing, health care, criminal justice and economic development.”

Continuing, Mullen said, “At the institutional level, for the reparations, I’m going to make the recommendation that the commission study historical data … We need to have clear” information. 

““I’m all for data to be” the determinant of whether reparations — in some form — are due to local blacks.  

“I think for Asheville, we have the data base already, We have the (historical) records that have been digitized by (Buncombe) Register of the Deeds Drew Reissinger,”

“My feeling about it, if we look at the historical data,” it will guide the reparations commission on the right path.

Speaking of history, Mullen said that “I think these areas have transformed (over the year) from being racially discriminatory — education, health care and housing,

“I honestly think that that’s the way to go, “the retired professor said of  scrutinizing the institutional data regarding race.  I don’t think there’s a policy that could be applied locally.

“As a nation as a whole, we’ve never been unclear about race, until now, when we’re starting to talk” about reparations.

When pressed by the Daily Planet to specify the criteria he thinks the CRC will recommend using to determine who will be given reparations, such as requiring a DNA test showing at least 1 percent black blood, Mullen laughed, wryly,.

He then noted that it is, indeed, ironic that there are whites and others in the Asheville-Buncombe area actually hoping they have some discernible black blood (thinking they will then qualify to collect reparations money), when, throughout American history involving whites and blacks, any trace of blackness was deemed a drawback.    

“Ideally, individuals searching their DNA” is a worthwhile and interesting proposition, but he said he doubts the CRC will want to encourage locals going that direction in the hopes of pocketing some reparations compensation.

Besides, Mullen said, “It (DNA testing) doesn’t really answer to institutional responsibility” for racial discrimination and other problems for blacks through the years.

Questioned by the Daily Planet about what amount of money he foresees the CRC recommending — eventually — to the blacks who are deemed qualified for it, Mullen replied,  “Well, one of the things we’re not talking about is money at all in this stage of our reparations discussion.

“Also, who qualifies has not been discussed at all in this stage of our reparations discussion.”

After a pause, Mullen said of the CRC’s current focus, “It’s definitely about institutions and outcomes… not money — or who qualifies” for reparations.

At that point, the retired professor noted his ever-increasing concern about the so-called education gap, between the performance of white and black students (with the former much higher and the latter much lower)  in Asheville and Buncombe public schools.

“We had $106 million spent (locally) on education in the (recent) past, but we’ve got outcomes where only 11 percent of the black kids are OK (on test scores) in Buncombe schools at the end of course exams....

“Regardless what their home life is like... Ideally, it (the black students’ home life) should be in harmony with what’s going on in the classrooms.... When schools have outcomes like they have,” Mullen said, it is nothing less than tragic that blacks are scoring significantly worse than their white counterparts.

Returning to the topic of personal responsibility in the problems that Mullen and the CRC are concerned, which the Daily Planet raised repeatedly in the interview, he said firmly, “Honestly, the most successful ones (schools) have been quick to hold themselves accountable, rather than to hold homes accountable.

He added, “I think we hold homes (parents) accountable for producing the children who need to be educated.” In turn, Mullen said of the parents, “They’re looking at homeschooling, charter schools” and other options byond the public schools. “But those are very limited in which they can do.

“We (blacks) still are very dependent on public education,” the CRC chairman asserted.

In another jab at the view of taking personal responsibility for problems rather than blaming outside forces such as institutions, Mullen noted, “We have an all-voluntary (U.S.) military. We take the people (recruits) and then we train them (in the military). Nobody’s talking about, ‘It’s the home,’” noting that, in his view, the military seems to be able to train most everyone, so public schools, in his view, should be able to do the same.

“The schools are responsible for the things we’ve given them” clear directions to do, he contended.

After another pause, Mullen asserted, “I tend to think about it in the same way I think of health care. We know now that there are social determinants — and we know that social determinants matter with your health. The same social determinants apply in education. In education, it’s called the ‘opportunity gap.’ That matters.”

He then reiterated, “For the reparations commission, we’re primarily looking at institutions and their policies....

“I think we need to understand what happened here” in the Asheville-Buncombe area historically with blacks. “In addition, whatever we decide the data are, then we need to continue along the road that harm occurred and that it significantly affected generational wealth.

“I think that the only level of speculation I have is part of the economic development is not just dependent on the individual assets. I think it’s important that we have institutions that ensure we maintain generational wealth — and I don’t feel we’ve got those now.

“Elements (of his analysis) would include the absence of predatory debtors. Our credit unions tend to be much more democratically directed and locally concerned... They were much more understanding of being a local and potential partner. Cooperation is needed between public, private and nonprofit sources... Banks (that are large) tend to operate in a way” that is not black-friendly.

So how does Mullen view Asheville’s place in American history, in regard to race relations with blacks? the Daily Planet asked. 

“One thing I’m sure of is that Asheville was in complete harmony with the racial policies of the South‚ during the era of segretation, the era of civil rights and the era of post-cvil rights — and even today.”

 Yet, Mullen added, “We were not necessarily ‘the heart of the Confederacy’ either...

“I think that, empiracally, we can demonstrate that African-Americans do not have equal opportunity” in Asheville-Buncombe County.

“We (the CRC) are looking at having a final report (with recomendations) ready by April 2024. But we should be closing our activities down by the end of the calendar year. Between the end of 2023 and April 2024, the final recommendations should be ready,” Mullen said, as the Daily Planet interview concluded.