The State of Black Asheville: A Review by Dr. Dwight Mullen
Lili Jones | February 15, 2024
Gladfelter’s Canon Lounge was alive on Wednesday, Feb. 7 with advocacy and passion. Warren Wilson College (WWC) students and community members gathered in conversation as Black History Month programming stepped into full swing this February.
Wilson Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (WIDE) has continued its monthly Beloved Community lecture series by welcoming Dr. Dwight Mullen, chair of the Asheville and Buncombe County Community Reparations Commission and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at UNC Asheville.
Dr. Mullen presented “The State of Black Asheville: A Review,” a lecture based on his project of over 10 years: State of Black Asheville (SOBA). SOBA is “a tool for community analysis of racial disparities,” which provides access to public data about disparities between races.
Dr. Mullen explained that the effects of Hurricane Katrina on his students in 2007 inspired him to create SOBA by revealing massive inequities between government disaster responses.
“In 2007, Hurricane Katrina had hit, and we had evacuees here in western North Carolina, and in several places in my public policy class,” Mullen said. “They were sitting there, you can see the trauma on their faces. They were sitting there because it was a safe place to be. During that first week, all of them — one by one — came to my office and broke down. So I ended the syllabus. I told the class we're throwing the syllabus out and we rewrote it, to ask the question, ‘what would happen if Hurricane Katrina hit Asheville?’”
Public data across the country suggest that those affected most in the wake of a natural disaster are “all poor, and mostly Black.” Modern manifestations of racism and slavery are the disparity between Black people and White people. According to Dr. Mullen and SOBA data, this disparity is derived from a long-standing administrative “status quo”.
To study the administrative disparities of the Black community, Dr. Mullen’s students divided into five areas of study of public outcomes: education, housing, health, criminal justice and economic development.
They found a myriad of systemic inequalities, such as test scores for Black students in Asheville city schools being far lower than their White counterparts — all remnants of segregation and Jim Crow laws.
“Here in Asheville-Buncombe County, what often you saw were the intrusions of state and federal presence through chain gains and all that kind of thing,” Mullen said. “But usually, what you saw was places like the Department of Health and Human Services — that's where they got expressed. To protect Whiteness — that was a health issue. You can see it in schools, you can see it in the house, law enforcement, health, education [and] housing expenses.”
Dr. Mullen emphasized how these seemingly small disparities add up to the massive social and financial deficits of the Black community, especially in the aftermath of slavery and segregation.
“My question to you this evening,” Mullen asked the audience, “is that as we govern as we identify programs that will address individual issues, and as we identify systemic kinds of sources of the disparity, my question to you is given the background that I've just briefly [mentioned], what else should we be doing? What should the reparations commission be doing?”
The goal of the Reparations Committee of Asheville — of which Dr. Mullen is a chair — is to “establish a process within the next year (from 2020) to develop short, medium and long term recommendations to specifically address the creation of generational wealth and to boost economic mobility and opportunity in the Black community.”
Asheville City is a surprising leader in Black community reparations efforts, being the first city in North Carolina and one of the first in the US, to pursue financial and social reparations for its Black community.
“[Reparation efforts in Asheville have been] been a long, field community-led journey and I think there's a lot of work to be done, but there are so many community members that have done really great work so far in helping return and restore communities that need it the most.” said Jetta Ghosthorse, a WWC second-year student. “We can learn how to give back to the community in ways that aren't just financial but through art, love, time and service.”
Reparations in Asheville are already giving back to the community. One of the most prominent topics of the evening was Black Youths, specifically the Asheville PEAK (Prepare, Empower, Achieve, Knowledge) Academy.
“PEAK Academy was chartered to close disparities in education and integrate exam results,” said Mullen. “And we've been in operation for two years. The third graders took their first test last year. And while Asheville City was the highest disparities by race in the state of North Carolina, PEAK Academy had the highest proficiency of Black students in the state of North Carolina.”
70% of PEAK students come from public housing where test scores are generally disproportionately low, but by providing them with free breakfast, lunch, uniforms and a safe environment to learn, these students are consistently showing the highest test scores in the state. But PEAK Academy is struggling with lawsuits over reverse discrimination for their goals of closing the racial gap between Black and White students.
“When people say it's a White institution, that in your head conjures exclusivity. When I say it's a Black institution, in your head that should conjure inclusivity because that's who we are,” Dr. Mullen said.
PEAK Academy provides a clear example that community reparations can make a massive difference for Asheville’s Black community. SOBA research is helping to illuminate the structural administrative issues throughout the city, and further efforts are being pursued to increase transparency about racial statistics such as the Government Accountability Project (GAP) through the Racial Justice Commission (RJC).
Those wishing to get involved with the Asheville-Buncombe Reparations Committee can attend commission meetings on the third Monday of each month.
WWC students and community members can also attend other WIDE sponsored events throughout Black History Month:
2/16 An evening concert with Sam Waymon (Kittridge Theatre) - 6pm
2/18 Changemakers Summit (Full Day event)
2/19 BHM Read-In (Pew Learning Center & Ellison Library) 11:30am-12:45pm
2/25 OIE Excursion to Flyin West at AVL Community Theatre (RSVP for tickets)