Task force on forced Western NC railroad labor, drug war; Asheville reparations extension

ASHEVILLE – Creating a truth and reconciliation task force to deal with enslavement, forced railroad work, the war on drugs’ disparate racial effects and other historic harms to local Black residents will be one of the last jobs of the city and county’s inaugural Community Reparations Commission, which has now received an extension to complete its work by early 2025. Leaders of the ground-breaking commission representing one of the only government reparations initiatives in the country for Black residents said they had struggled with the heavy historical burden and repeated changes in staff supplied by the city and Buncombe County. “All the trauma, all the harm all the perpetuation of that on Black people, the disenfranchisement, it didn’t happen in two years,” CRC Chair Dewanna Little told the council at a May 27 meeting. Because city staff had already agreed that more time was necessary, City Manager Debra Campbell said no vote was needed and the CRC’s two-year term would run another six months, finishing in January 2025. That will come with continued government support that has included stipends for members of up to $150 a month for two or more meetings. The Citizen Times reached out Aug. 28 to...