From Staff Reports

The issue of “the displacement of black homes due to urban renewal” (in the 1960s) and whether to request that real estate “taken” from Asheville blacks during that era should be “returned to the black community,” was raised in a subcommittee report, but the focus-area group still is discussing whether to seek a vote on the matter from the Asheville-Buncombe Community Reparations Committee, which heard the update during a Feb. 20 meeting.

Specifically, the recommendation is to identify all real estate “taken” from blacks during the civil rights era by the City of Asheville and Buncombe County and “returned to the black community,” according to a Feb. 20 city press release.

The meeting, held in the banquet hall at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in downtown Asheville, was broadcast online via YouTube, where it still may be viewed.

In a brief interview with the Daily Planet on Feb. 26, Dr. Dwight Mullen, chairman of the reparations committee, said of a possible proposal to return real estate to black owners, “It was something that’s being considered by a focus area. It’s a subcommittee idea... It was something that they are reporting to the commission that they are discussing...

“I don’t know if they (the subcommittee) are going to vote to bring that to the commission or not. If it came to the commission, it would be discussed and a decision” would be made on whether to approve or reject it. 

If it were approved by the CRC, Mullen said that it then would be submitted as a “recommendeation” to Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners. In the Daily Planet interview, Mullen did not express an opinion either way on the real estate giveback proposal.

Besides the issue of the real estate giveback proposal being mulled, the Daily Planet also asked Mullen about a call for “volunteer aid for the commission” that was made at the meeting, 

Specifically, the newspaper asked: “If, by ‘vountary aid,’ someone was requesting financial donations, or if it was a request for volunteers?”

“It was for volunteers,” Mullen replied succinctly.

 The city press release also noted there were two “action item(s)” at the meeting, including “approval of agenda” and “approval of minutes,” with both items winning approval.

When pressed by the Daily Planet as to whether the minutes and agenda approval constituted the only “action” at the CRC meeting, Mullen replied that “also” approved at the meeting was a code of ethics for the committee. As for details on the code of ethics, he said it was fairly standard.  

During a “criminal justice” discussion in another segment of the meeting, an update was given on a proposal being considered by a subcommittee regarding “the disproportionate arrest of black individuals” and the need for “funding of record expungement clinics and the funding of re-entry services.”

In the “follow-up” portion of the meeting, the following updates were noted in the city release:

• “Education (subcommittee): Recommendations include teacher recruitment and retention, community-based education programs, and school suspension and expulsion.

• “Economic Development (subcommittee): Recommendations include business and workforce development. 

• “Health and Wellness (subcommittee): Recommendations include provisions of access to free health care, eliminating bias for staff and providers, stopping the harm... To address disparities leading to inadequate health care.  

• “Criminal Justice (subcommittee): Recommendation over the disproportionate arrest of black individuals include the funding of record expungement clinics and the funding of re-entry services

Besides the aforementioned vote to pass a code of ethics, the press release noted that, under the portion of the meeting listed as “old business,” the release stated the vote on the new project timeline will be on hold for further discussion.

 Under the “new business” portion of the meeting were listed the following in the release:

• “Speaker -— Racial Justice Coalition 

• “Roundtable Check-in with commission cembers.”

In other matters, the next meeting of the Community Reparations Commission is scheduled at 6 p.m. March 20 in the Banquet Room at Harrah’s Cherokee Center at 87 Haywood St. in downtown Asheville.