By Rev. William J. Barber, President State Conference NAACP
Durham, October 2, 2007
The violent overthrow of the bi-racial government of Wilmington in 1898 was a social and economic catastrophe for the State of North Carolina, and indeed for the African Americans throughout the country. Charles B. Aycock's role in this illegal terrorist attack can not be denied. This ugly history must be confronted, and the pain it has caused must be healed.
But the discussion is broader than what we do and say about a dinner. It is broader than whether to change the Democratic Party Vance-Aycock Dinner's name. Of course it should be changed. But far beyond that, Republicans and Democrats must come together to implement changes in public policy to repair and redress the catastrophe of Wilmington, 1898.
Symbolic sorrow is not enough. Democrats must do more than change the name of a dinner. Republicans must do more than criticize the name of a Democratic function when they are still unwilling to join with our broad People’s Coalition to pass public policy legislation to deal with racial injustices of the past and present.
In a real sense what we all must do, if we are serious about answering the ugliness and the dispossession of the Wilmington violence, is to stop dinner table discussions and start implementing the recommendations of the State Commission Report, deal with the issue of reparations, and fully the Fourteen Points of The Historic Thousands on Jones Street People's Agenda. We must ensure that every county in southeast NC is covered under the Voting Rights Act. We must fight resegregation in our public schools. We must seriously address the continuing legacy of minority contract disparity and economic injustice which yet plague our public life. We must stand against attempts by our courts to take back majority/minority legislative districts.
This was the NAACP's position while the legislature was talking about apologizing for slavery. It is our position now. And it will be our position at the NAACP National Symposium on the Wilmington Riots at our State Convention on Friday at the Riverside Hilton Hotel in Wilmington at 2 p.m. on October 12, 2007.
Symbolism at the dinner table is not enough when it comes to righting wrong and turning the page on historic injustice. In fact, too much symbolism becomes disgusting and upsetting to those truly interested in change. We must have real public policy change to fill the void and to overcome the disorder caused by the Wilmington Riots. Anything less leaves us hungry for justice. It leaves our democracy craving for equality. It leaves our society starved for true reconciliation.
