NAACP offers 'fresh call' for activism

William Barber expects state civil rights activists to get a second wind this week in their race to end racial disparities.

More than 1,000 NAACP members representing North Carolina's 100 counties are expected to attend the 64th annual N.C. State NAACP Convention in Wilmington from Thursday through Saturday.

"Members that come to this convention will get a fresh instillation, a fresh anointing, a fresh call to commitment," said Barber, state NAACP president. "We still have work to do."

Local NAACP officials believe hosting the convention will shed light on local issues. City leaders say the event will not only be a boost to the local economy but may also provide new ways to increase diversity and bring change to the city.

The theme for this year's convention is "The People, The Power, The NAACP, Fighting for Our Children, Not Just For Ourselves." During the three-day event, participants will attend workshops, luncheons and seminars aimed at helping them in grass-roots efforts on issues such as stopping resegregation of public schools, eliminating racial discrimination and bringing economic empowerment to disadvantaged communities.

Focusing on 1898

The centerpiece of the convention is a national symposium Friday on the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot, which the state NAACP calls a "terrorist act." Plans for the symposium are what led to the convention being held in Wilmington, Barber said.

Historians and civil rights activists will talk about the riot's impact on the region, and country, and focus on the issue of reparations.

"In order to address continuing racial disparities today, we certainly must … address racial disparities or injustices of the past," Barber said. "Our symposium will be very thoughtful about the issue of not only disenfranchisement but also dispossession."

Last year, the state-appointed 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission submitted a report to the N.C. General Assembly showing historical evidence that in November 1898, as part of a statewide white supremacy campaign, Wilmington's city government was overthrown, the campaign's black and white opponents were forced out of town and violence claimed an unknown number of lives.

The commission made 15 recommendations the state could enact to bring healing to the city and descendants of 1898 victims. Those included providing judicial redress to compensate heirs of victims who can prove loss and relationship to victims via intestacy statutes, and implementing a new redevelopment authority and economic incentives to encourage minority business and homeownership in the Northside and Brooklyn, which were among the sites of racial violence more than a century ago.

House bills supporting the recommendations stalled in committees after being introduced this spring.

Wilmington City Councilwoman Lethia Hankins, who is co-chairwoman of the 1898 Foundation, said the symposium may help push legislatures to take action on the recommendations sooner.

"Since the recommendations were made, they've been on the books and they have gone nowhere," she said. "I think this is going to be an avenue for us to get these things into reality."

Other highlights of the convention include a legal education seminar, a youth night and the Freedom Awards Banquet. National NAACP Interim President and CEO Dennis Courtland Hayes will speak at the banquet.

The local impact

Harold Beatty, New Hanover County NAACP president, said the convention will bring awareness to issues not only going on around the state or country, but also in Wilmington.

The New Hanover County NAACP has been vocal against the local school district's redistricting plan approved last year, which led to Snipes and Freeman elementary schools being turned into magnet schools to reduce minority isolation. A recent battle the organization has been fighting is the school board's refusal to meet with them.

Beatty said the NAACP remains a vital force in the fight to eliminate racial inequalities and the convention provides members with much-needed information.

"Once they leave here, they will be more educated," he said.

Beatty added that it means a lot to have the convention held in Wilmington again. It was held here in 2002. Local businesses and residents have helped support this year's event, Beatty said.

Bernest Hewett, Brunswick County NAACP president, said when the event was held in Wilmington five years ago it alerted people to many unknown racial disparities.

"That kind of woke people up to the issues," he said. "Now this will really be a big impact."

Having the state NAACP convention means a boost to the city's economy, city officials said.

"Anytime a convention comes to Wilmington it's a good thing," Mayor Bill Saffo said, adding how it brings more people into the city's hotels and restaurants. "They come here and see what a great city we have."

Saffo said the NAACP has been at the forefront of many social issues in our country's history and still leads the fight for equality. He hopes the convention will teach local residents and leaders new ways to effectively combat issues plaguing the city such as youth violence, which he personally has spoken about to Barber.

"It's an opportunity to discuss different initiatives and ideas that are being done in one part of the country and the state and bring them here," he said. "That will be a positive thing for us to be able to … find out what's working in different parts of the state that Wilmington all of a sudden seems to be tackling right now."

Conference awards

The N.C. NAACP has between 15,000 and 20,000 members and is the third largest in the nation, Barber said.

In 2006, the conference was a recipient of the Juanita Jackson Mitchell Legal Activism Award, which the national NAACP gives annually to one state conference for its efforts in legal redress.

This year, it achieved one of the highest membership growth rates in the south.

It developed the "HK on J Peoples Agenda" that is a 14-point campaign for new civil rights movements.

The conference has been involved with efforts for same-day registration for elections, the attack on majority-minority districts, collective bargaining for public service workers in Smithfield and securing $200 million for low-wealth and disadvantaged students.

"We've been there," Barber said, adding that as long as racial disparities exist the NAACP will never go out of business. "We have hope that North Carolina and America can always get better."

Angela Mack: 343-2009

angie.mack@starnewsonline.com