ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The city of Asheville made history last year when they approved reparations for the Black community. It’s one of just a few cities across the country to do so.

Now, city leaders are putting together a Community Reparations Commission.

 

What You Need To Know

  • The city of Asheville is hiring 25 members for the Community Reparations Commission
  • The commission will decide how the reparations will be distributed
  • Their goal is to create generational wealth and boost economic mobility in the Black community

 

Norma Baynes, 81, grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Asheville, known as the Shiloh Community. She grew up in her grandmother's house, which is down the street from where she currently lives. 

She says the community is very tight-knit. When she was younger, her family would walk to Rock Hill Baptist Church to attend mass. The church was built in 1898.

“Rev. H.B. Ferguson was the minister at the time,” Baynes said. “I was baptized as part of this church.”

Baynes says she has a lot of memories in the neighborhood she grew up in. Many of them are good ones, but some are a reminder of how things used to be.

“I grew up in a time when you had to sit in the back of the bus,” Baynes said. “You couldn’t drink from the white water fountain in Asheville, and there were times you couldn’t eat in the same places.”

Baynes says she often felt like a second-class citizen. It’s why she has submitted an application to be on the Asheville Community Reparations Commission.

“I want to help them understand what African American people have been through and help them get some of the things that they have been entitled to,” Baynes said.

She’s not doing it just for herself. Baynes has three children, and although they live in a different state, she thinks about the future generation of the Black community.

“It’s about all the opportunities that African American people have not had to make sure they can improve themselves,” Baynes said.

The commission will include 15 members of historically impacted neighborhoods, and 10 additional members for anyone in the community. Commission members are expected to be selected by the end of February.