Officials from Asheville and Buncombe County came to the Legislative Building in Raleigh on Wednesday to rebut allegations they were using diversity, equity, and inclusion policies to help Black people to the exclusion of other races.
They were responding to Ruth Smith, an Asheville lawyer and unsuccessful Republican legislative candidate, who told the House Select Committee on Government Efficiency in January that the city and county are using “equity” to allocate resources based on race, NC Newsline reported.
Buncombe County Chairwoman Amanda Edwards told the committee that was not true.
“We are here to correct the record and any misinterpretations,” she told the committee.
Edwards explained that the county used its Racial Equity Action Plan to make sure information is reaching underserved communities, which include public housing, which she said has a growing white population, and rural areas.
“There have been no instances where race-based criteria or other protected characteristics have been used in any of our work, including hiring, contracts, or allocations of revenue,” she said.
Over the last year, Republicans have worked to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and policies in federal, state, and local government.
The legislature passed a bill along party lines banning DEI initiatives in state and local government, and giving government employees the ability to sue their employer if they believe it violated the bill’s provisions.
Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, vetoed the bill, and the legislature has not overridden his veto, though it still may do so.
Republicans on the committee were skeptical of Buncombe officials’ claims that they were abiding by the law.
Rep. Brian Echevarria (R-Cabarrus) asked Edwards what changes the county made to correct past flaws. “Go ahead and confess your faults,” he told Edwards.
Edwards said they didn’t have any.
Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort), a committee co-chairman, didn’t like the word “equity.”
“The moment you inject equity, you lose equality,” Kidwell said, “because equity is going to give you the outcome that is desired by whatever group is setting the equity tolerance.”
Republican legislators keyed in on the Community Reparations Commission that Asheville sponsored and Buncombe supported.
Members were appointed in 2022 and the commission delivered its final report last month.
The commission found great disparities between Black and white city residents in educational outcomes, health-related outcomes, homeownership rates and poverty rates, said Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer.
City Attorney Brad Branham said the recommendations were not about providing individuals money, but were aimed at community investment policies.
Kidwell said the oversight committee may have to revisit the issue “when the payments start flowing out.”
Rep. Phil Rubin (D-Wake) said even though racially discriminatory practices like redlining were outlawed decades ago, their impacts are still with us today.
For example, he said, the poverty rate is 2 ½ times higher for Black Buncombe residents versus white residents, The infant mortality rate for Black infants in Buncombe is also 2 ½ times that of white infants, and the disparity is even greater in North Carolina as a whole.
Rubin said he’d rather see the committee work on those things rather than focus on banning DEI.
“How can we get it to be that infant mortality isn’t so different by race across the state?” he asked. “Because that reflects poorly on us, and it is not getting better.”