CURRENT INITIATIVES
Acknowledgement. Reckoning. Education.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Remembering Victims of Lynching
In the desire to recognize and acknowledge the lives lost to lynching in North Carolina, NCRP is partnering with EJI in their Community Remembrance Project. In each of the North Carolina counties that housed a lynching between 1877-1950, NCRP will be partnering with local activist and leaders, providing them with the support needed to complete the requirements for remembrance provided by EJI. NCRP will help with all matters of communications, logistics, and other needed support as community members do the important work of acknowledging and reconciling with their county's past. Following the process, NCRP will also help community members work through the proper channels of claiming their lynching monument (pictured alongside) and finding a location for its permanent placement.
This year's action steps:
Create a thorough databased of all lynching sites within the state, organized by county
Reach out to community activists and leaders within the county to organize an official grassroots-group that is dedicated to completing the steps of the Community Remembrance Project
Provide consistent logistical, clerical, and communication support to county activist and leaders so that they can fully engage in the work
RECKONING
Removing Relics of the "Lost Cause"
North Carolina remains home to over 100 statues, memorials, and monuments that celebrate the Confederacy and the men who fought to maintain its white-supremacist worldview. These symbols of hate and division have no place in our public spaces, and NCRP is dedicated to advocating for their lawful removal at the local and state level.
This year's action steps:
Create a thorough inventory of all public memorials to the Confederacy in North Carolina.
Choose five target memorials for the 2020-2021 year, focusing all matters of advocacy on their removal.
Partner with local leaders and activist to develop a grassroots campaign to remove the relics.
EDUCATION
Building a Racially-Conscious Curriculum
NCRP believes that fundamental change begins with future generations, and it is for that reason that education is one of the biggest focal points of our organization. If North Carolina students are not taught the true history of their communities, their state, and their country, they can not be expected to help our state push forward. It is for that reason that NCRP is dedicated to developing a more racially-inclusive and conscious K-12 curriculum, so that all of North Carolina's children understand both where we, as a state, came from and where we have the potential to go.
This year's action steps:
Complete an analysis of the state's current K-12 curriculum, breaking down each standard and the world view it supports
Assemble a working group of experienced educators across North Carolina who will be willing to review the state's curriculum and make public recommendations on how it can better reflect our nation's true history
Create and make public a K-12 history curriculum that successfully contains all of North Carolina's essential standards while also promoting a more racially-cognizant education, so that teachers have an option to implement such in their classrooms