By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – The president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP says part of the state conference next month will focus on 1898.
Chapter President William Barber says there will be a national symposium calling for full implementation of recommendations made by the Wilmington Race Riot Commission. Those recommendations include teaching 1898 in North Carolina schools and making reparations to heirs of the victims.
We know this riot was lead by folk in power, folk in wealth, and we cannot address injustice in the future if we don't address that from the past.
Barber says the conference will also highlight affordable housing and the criminal justice system in the wake of the Duke Lacrosse case.
Also on the list is implementing a building moratorium on prisons and boosting money for state black colleges. Barber says more money is spent on incarceration than all of the state's black colleges combined.
We know that when we have education on the front end, when we have job opportunities, when we have economic development that has a direct impact on cutting down criminal activity.
The conference will be held in Wilmington October 10th through the 13th.
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