In North Carolina, the fight over diversity, equity and inclusion goes coastal

Wilmington Riverwalk (Photo: City of Wilmington)

With state and federal attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs as a backdrop, the Wilmington City Council recently affirmed its commitment to the Community Relations Advisory Committee, which was established by city and county officials in 2016 to address prejudice and discrimination.

But the council’s affirmation highlights a growing divide between the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County over government’s role in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion. The conflict is playing out in real time as state and local government officials await a possible veto override of House Bill 171, which targets DEI initiatives in state and local government.

The measure prohibits state agencies and local governments from using state funds to “promote, support, fund, implement, or maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives or programs.” It passed along party lines with Republicans voting for the bill and Democrats against it. Gov. Josh Stein vetoed the legislation but it could face an override attempt.

The legislation came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive order terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, and programs in the federal government and equity-related grants and contracts.

Wilmington Council member Kevin Spears said city officials must do what they think is right for the citizens of Wilmington.

“I couldn’t care less about what the federal government at this moment mandates or what the state government at this moment mandates as it relates to how we work to better this community,” he said during a recent council meeting.

However, after a lengthy and spirited discussion last month, the New Hanover Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines to withdraw from the partnership on the community relations committee. The three Republicans argued that the committee overstepped its authority by attempting to become a “quasi forum” for fair housing complaints, unfair hiring practices and complaints about other forms of discrimination.

County Manager Chris Coudriet, who recommended ending the county’s participation on the committee, agreed with the three commissioners.

“It should have never been contemplated that the CRAC [Community Relations Advisory Committee] was a clearinghouse for housing complaints,” Coudriet said. “The county had made the decision to eliminate the Human Relations Commission for that very reason.”

In 2009, New Hanover’s commissioners disbanded the county’s Human Relations Commission, which was created decades earlier to assist residents with discrimination complaints regarding racism, sexual harassment or their sexual orientation. Critics of that decision argued that the Human Relations Commission provided ordinary citizens a chance to be heard when complaints regarding discriminatory practices arose.

Similar arguments were made last month in support of the Community Relations Advisory Committee.

“Absent this committee, for the general public, there’s no established platform to be able to come to on a regular basis and bring up issues,” said Commissioner Rob Zapple, one two Democrats who argued in favor of the county continuing to support the Community Relations Advisory Committee.“We pull that away, and we’ve taken a step back 20 or 30 years. I don’t think it’s the best way to serve our citizens.”

 

Concern over civilian review board

For the three Republican commissioners, the larger issue appeared to be the Community Relations Advisory Committee’s past attempt to create a civilian review board for the Sheriff’s Office.

“The sheriff is elected by the people of New Hanover County, that is the civilian review board of the sheriff,” Commissioner Dane Scalise said during a July board meeting. “The sheriff does not need another organization coming in and telling him how to run his office and the fact that that came about is an indication that the committee has misplaced its priorities.”

Commissioner LeAnn Pierce, the board’s vice-chair, was equally blunt in her remarks about the nearly decades-old civilian review board discussion.

“The committees that we appoint citizens to, they work at the pleasure of the county commissioners and if we feel like they have gotten off track, this is where it lands,” Pierce said.

Zapple noted that the committee’s debate over a civilian review board happened long ago.

“We took a look at it and our sheriff weighed in on it and we said ‘No, we don’t think this is a great idea,’” he said. “To use that as justification here in 2025 to disband it [the Community Relations Advisory Committe] was not fair, it wasn’t right.”

Coudriet acknowledged that the the civilian review board discussion wasn’t the work of the current Community Relations Advisory Committee.

“That is not recent discourse but is very prominent discourse in the nature of that body,” Coudriet said.

Antrevonn Tate, chairman of the committee, said a civilian review board does not reflect the mindset of current committee members. The city appointee said it’s unfair to hold current committee members responsible for actions of past boards.

“If someone had talked to me, we could have sat down and explained to them where we are today,” Tate said. “We are not where we were back in 2016. We’re actually shifting and aligning a lot more with what our bylaws are today and that’s really focused on prejudice and discrimination.”

Pushing race relation efforts out of the county

Tate said the committee’s mission is clear.

“CRAC [Community Relations Advisory Community] wasn’t formed to legislate. It wasn’t formed to force anything, any policy or action from a local perspective. It was really more so to advise our elected body and governing officials.”

Tate acknowledged the committee will feel the loss of county appointees, some of who are employed by New Hanover County and brought invaluable insight to the committee

“These are people that are with the county, so they have good perspectives,”  Tate said. “They’re in the health field, so they’re professionals in the health field, they have their doctorates and a lot of these people have master’s [degrees].”

Republican commissioners didn’t push DEI to the forefront of arguments against ending county participation on the Community Relations Advisory Committee. Their critics, however, said the commissioners goal to rid the county of such initiatives has been undeniable.

“I think without a doubt, it seems like anything that dealt with race relations in a community or in an official capacity, is getting a spotlight put on it,” Zapple said. “It either being changed or eliminated.”

The views of at least one member on the subject are well known.

In January, Scalise railed against a request by the New Hanover County Commission on African American History, Heritage and Culture to adopt a National Day of Racial Healing.

Scalise criticized the county’s Office of Diversity for bringing the proclamation to commissioners.

“The County’s Office of Diversity or DEI department has amply demonstrated that it should not be funded in this year’s or future budgets,” Scalise said in a prepared text he later posted on X. “It is time, as President Donald Trump correctly noted during his inaugural address yesterday (Jan. 20), to ‘end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.’ I will work tirelessly to make that a reality at the local level during our coming budget discussions.”

Commissioners approved the proclamation on a 4-1 vote, with Scalise voting against it.

But the county’s Office of Diversity disappeared and a new Office of Civic Engagement took its place. That office’s stated mission is to “promote an engaged, fair and equal environment that fosters a strong community and culture where residents and employees are respected, valued, and contribute to the county’s success.”

“Commissioner Scalise and the other two Republican Commissioners could not deny the good work that was coming from that office,” Zapple said. “I think what they objected to was the name of the office.”

The office did lose three of its five member staff because of deep county budget cuts, Zapple said.

Meanwhile, at City Hall, the council discussed whether to continue the Community Relations Advisory Committee without county participation.

HB 171 does not prohibit local governments from establishing DEI programs Wilmington City Attorney Meredith Everhart, said. But she warned the council that state lawmakers hold the “purse strings.”

“And what they say [state lawmakers] is that the city has to make a report to the state auditor every year [stating] that we do not engage in any DEI programs and the [state] auditor is supposed to check in on those things and if the auditor reports back [that we’re engaged in DEI programs], we could lose state funding,” Everhart said.

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said the Community Relations Advisory Committee has been invaluable in helping Wilmington through civil strife and could continue to play an important role helping to “break through some of the silos” that prevent people from coming together to discuss issues that threaten to disrupt the community.

“I think it can play an important role if it’s properly structured and it’s something that we think could help,” Saffo said.

Saffo said the city understands the risks that come with HB 171.

“We understand the consequences of what’s being held over our heads,” Saffo said. “We get that.”