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By Julia Oliver, Published May 2, 2004
Civil rights organizations are studying the way black communities
have been affected by their exclusion from some Moore County towns. The Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities,
a nonprofit organization in Mebane, uses advanced mapping technology and North Carolina census data to find boundaries drawn
along racial lines. It also looks at where utilities are built.
The institute says that Pinehurst's boundaries, while
not unique in their exclusion of black communities, raise concerns. The boundaries keep some unincorporated communities under
zoning control, but do not provide them services. Pinehurst controls zoning within a two-mile radius of the village.
The
institute's research has gotten the attention of the Center for Civil Rights at UNC's law school. "It seems like something
that is both old and new," said Jack Boger, the center's deputy director. He considers the new mapping technology a fresh
look at discrimination that may have been going on for a long time. He said the center wants to find out whether black communities
are being excluded in a manner that violates civil rights protections. "We want to find out the extent to which this is permissible
and appropriate."
Anita Earls, director of advocacy and senior lawyer at the center, said she is concerned that residents
are being regulated without a voice. "They don't have control over their property and they don't have representation in the
body that does have control over their property," she said.
Responsibility for the phenomenon that some have called
"municipal underbounding" is unclear. Town laders in Moore County say that decisions to annex are based in economics, not
race: Towns are most likely to consider annexing wealthy neighborhoods that can bring in taxes to offset the services the
town provides. The towns say that the communities that seem excluded have resisted annexation.
Andy Wilkison, Pinehurst's
village manager for 15 years, said maps showing the racial disparity in and out of the village boundaries are misleading.
"I think if you just looked at the map and didn't know the background, you would think, 'Gosh, Pinehurst is trying to keep
those people out,'" he said. He said residents of Monroe Town and Jackson Hamlet, a black neighborhood to the south of Pinehurst,
were asked whether they wanted to be part of the village. Afraid of higher taxes, they said no, he said. "These maps don't
tell you that story."
Recent meeting
The Center for Civil Rights met recently with members of four black communities
in Moore County that do not have reliable water or sewer service, said Heather Hunt, a fellow at the center. She said the
center is trying to help the communities figure out whether they would like to be part of a town.
"A lot of people
have questions about, what does it mean to be annexed?" she said. "We're here to tell them, 'if this is what you want, here
is the procedure.'" Hunt said the center has met with people from:
A neighborhood northeast of the airport off N.C.
22 that has neither water nor sewer service.
A neighborhood between railroad tracks and Saunders Road that is almost
surrounded by Aberdeen and has no water or sewer service.
Jackson Hamlet, which is sandwiched between Aberdeen and
Pinehurst and has water, but no sewer service.
Taylortown, an incorporated town to the north of Pinehurst that has
both water and sewer, but has had problems with water quality.
Because a federal grant brought Monroe Town water and
sewer service last year, and because the center did not have any contacts there, Monroe Town was not included, Hunt said.
But she said the difference in racial makeup between Pinehurst and Monroe Town is striking. "It just seems kind of egregious
when you're outside the town but you're surrounded by it," she said.
| Exclusion of Minority Neighborhoods. |
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| CLICK ON MAP TO ENLARGE. |
Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities
6919 Lee St. * Mebane * NC * 27302
phone (919) 563-5899 * fax (919) 563-5290
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