Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1923-01-27
new DEnlE CITIZENS FIGHT movement
BY WHITES TO PREVENT Them FROM
REBUILDING HOMES LOST IN BIC FIRE
WHITES AIM TO ELIMINATE COLORED SECTION
BY CONDEMNATION PROCEEDINGS.

Colored residents Of the City OF New
Bern, N. c.. whose homes were burned
in the recent disast ;ous fire, arc fight
ing an attempt by white citizens to
prevent their rebuilding their homes
through condemnation proceedings
which would turn the colored section
into cemetery and park, according
to announcement today by the Natio.,
al Association for the Advancement OF
Cclored People. 20 Fifth Avenue, N.
Y.
Reports from New Bern state that
the colored residents have not bean
permitted to rebuild their homes. A
statement sent to the Advancement
Association by a competent investiga
tor asserts:
1.-THE City of New Bern is determin.
ed the burnt area shall not be rebuilt
by or for Negroes. 1t Is proposed to
condemn the land, 0stensibly for Gem
etery and park purposes. but this ID
openly winked at as & subterfuge t.
get rid Of the Negro property owner
In the meanwhile no building Is per-
mitted in the burned district and no
provision Is being made for a suitable
location elsewhere. You can see the
hardships this works on the lot own.
ers; in many cases all they have IL
tied up in this real estate, which viii
be long time in litigation in the con
domination proceedings.
1t is asserted that the City of New
Bern lacks the necessary funds for
condemnation proceedings thus prov
ing the measure to be q suhterfuge to
prevent the colored residents rebuild
ing their homes. Appeals to the white
community having failed the colored
citizens have employed lawyers AMI
are attempting by injunction to pre-
vent tn condemnation and seizure OF
their land.
The report further states that the
Negro districts that were not in the
fire are neglected and have no Inn
provements whatever in the way Of
paving, lighting, sewerage, water sup
ply and street car service. These dis
tricts, 1t Is asserted. into which the
Negro sufferers from the fire are to
be forced to move, have surface toll
cts and the pumps for drinking water
are in close proximity, the water com
ing within a few feet of the surface.
The report censures the attitude of
the white citizens of New Bern in the
following terms:
''The white people of New Bern in
this crisis do not seem to feel any
sense of duty in providing for the
housing of their Negro citizens and
are blind to their economic value. New
B.rn has no white labor and herein is
the only way out that lies in the Ne
gro himself; quietly organize ana
leave New Bern. This had been limited
but the white people do not take 1t
seriously. The only other way Is for
New Bern to be brought to a realiza-
tion OF the injury it will do itself in
the eyes Of the country If it carries
on its present policy"
In the course of the fight by colored
residents to retain their property and
home sites, resolutions were passed
and published in local newspaper on
the anniversary of the Emancipation
Proclamation, protesting against the
injustice being done New Bern color
ed citizens, and stating:
"The proposed condemnation for
park and cemeteries will work griev
GUS hardship and injustice upon the
colored people, making it impossible
for many of them ever to build again
in improved and sanitary localities ac
cessible to the conveniences enjoyed
by the average white taxpayer"