GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2007

S                                                                                                                                                     2

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 1572

Second Edition Engrossed 8/1/07

Sponsors:	Senators Dorsett;  Albertson, Atwater, Berger of Franklin, Boseman, Cowell, Dannelly, Foriest, Graham, Hagan, Hoyle, Jenkins, Jones, Kinnaird, Malone, McKissick, Nesbitt, Purcell, Queen, Rand, and Shaw.
Referred to:	Calendar 08-01-07.

July 31, 2007

A JOINT RESOLUTION ACKNOWLEDGING the findings of the 1898 wilmington race riot commission.

Whereas, public knowledge and historical memory of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot was obscure until the North Carolina General Assembly, led by Representative Thomas E. Wright and the late Senator Luther Jordan, established the Wilmington Race Riot Commission ("Commission") in 2000 to develop a historical record of the event and to assess the economic impact of the riot on African-Americans in Wilmington and across the Eastern region and the State; and

Whereas, the Commission, chaired by Representative Wright and Senator Julia Boseman, both of Wilmington, oversaw a formal investigation of the events of 1898 and approved a 464‑page report, detailing the history of the riot and the events that precipitated it; and

Whereas, the Commission's report concluded that political leaders and others were directly responsible for and participants in the violence of November 10, 1898, engineering and executing a statewide campaign to win the 1900 elections that was vicious, polarizing, and defamatory toward African‑Americans and that encouraged violence; and

Whereas, the effects of that campaign and the Wilmington Riots lasted far beyond 1898, paving the way for legislation that disenfranchised African‑American and poor white citizens, for lynching and violence against African‑American citizens, and for Jim Crow segregation until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s; and

Whereas, the State of North Carolina embraces the Commission's report as a chronicle of an important part of State history, but it is saddened by the full extent of leaders' involvement in the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot as these deplorable actions contradict the spirit of a modern State; Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

SECTION 1.  The General Assembly of North Carolina acknowledges the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission's findings and expresses profound regret that violence, intimidation, and force were used to replace a duly elected local government, that people lost their livelihoods and were forced to leave their homes, and that the government was unsuccessful in protecting its citizens during that time.

SECTION 2.  This resolution is effective upon ratification.