Forum exposes racial inequalities in Asheville

The second annual State of Black Asheville forum will feature research presented by UNC Asheville students highlighting the disparities between white and black citizens living in Asheville.

"The thing about this conference is it looks like these issues are particular to just one population, but really what we're finding is that they instead confront the entire community," said Dwight Mullen, UNCA political science professor and creator of the SOBA conference. "This is not just something that is isolated by race, but is implacable across the board in varying degrees that happens to hit African-Americans greater than it might hit whites."

The conference will be held in the Highsmith University Union from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 16. The event consists of UNCA students presenting their research on some of the most pressing issues affecting the African-American population in Asheville, including employment, law enforcement, education and health care.

"Students will present their research to the panel, and appointed and elected officials will then comment primarily on the student's research and what has been done since last years conference," Mullen said. "The topics depend on what students want to research, and we've had people focusing on employment and economic development this year."

One student who will be presenting research at the conference is Zofia Wleklinski, a senior political science student. The information she will present will be on the topic of education, specifically about the Advancement Via Individual Determination program.

"I decided to get involved with SOBA because these problems are real and have been ignored for far too long," Wleklinski said. "I am doing research for the AVID program to supplement the overall education findings from last year. In doing my research, I found the AVID program is extremely successful in helping to assure that African-American students are not only graduating from Asheville High, but also pursuing further education at four-year colleges and universities." 

Mullen said the SOBA forum initially grew out of author Tavis Smiley's national idea of the covenant with black America, which grew out of city conferences in urban areas in an attempt to address the primary concerns of the black population.

"These conferences began because of problems in cities that were killing black populations, so people started having these meetings where health care, education and such issues were discussed," Mullen said. "So we thought of having similar in house meetings, and later the university agreed to host the conference on campus."

Another reason for the conference, Mullen said, was to expose his students to black public officials working in Asheville. The first SOBA forum was held in spring 2007 and had an unexpectedly high turnout. UNCA has since adopted the SOBA forum as a university program, which will take place annually.

"I initially wanted my students to meet black public officials in town, and I wanted to get the officials together to talk with each other and have students listen in and ask questions," Mullen said. "That's really how it all started. All the officials had agreed to come to campus, and then the number of people attending just kept growing. People started asking if they could come, and it just grew out of that."

Senior political science student Courtney Langston, who conducted research for last year's SOBA, said the first conference exceeded everyone's expectations and that she expects it to do the same this year.

"The conference last year was unlike anything I could have expected because the turnout was unbelievable, the diversity was shocking and the topics and responses were honest, which is hard to come by when discussing such issues as gender differences, inequalities and crime in the city in which we reside," Langston said.

The statistics concerning topics that will be discussed at the forum show the real disparities between the races, according to Mullen.

"In health care, one of the most disappointing and very discouraging statistics is the differences in mortality rates between black and white people here. It doesn't matter what age; people who are black die at greater rates than people who are white," Mullen said. "There are also large achievement gaps and educational disparities between white and black students, which can be seen by graduation and drop out rates."

Mullen said the first SOBA succeeded in making several improvements in the black community. In the future, Mullen said, the conference will hopefully raise important problems that can be worked on in the Asheville community.

"One of the things that emerged last year from this discussion was the conclusion that we were going to refocus efforts to prevent kids from dropping out of school by starting a new program that addresses dropping out at the elementary level," Mullen said. "Just yesterday the state announced that Buncombe County was one of the few counties in the state to have a decrease in dropout rates this past year. So, it looks like this is working."

The conference is free to the public, and will provide lunch at no charge as well as child care. Community members, including UNCA students, are urged to take part in the dialogue. Those wanting to attend should sign up in advance.

"I would encourage people to come out and get involved with SOBA because it is an opportunity to make a difference in our own community," Wleklinski said. "The disparities between the treatment of blacks and whites in this town have been ignored for too long."

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