BERNHARD THUERSAM RESPONDS—–1898 Wilmington “Race Riot” Commission
(Bernhard Thuersam attended nearly all 1898 Wilmington Race Riot
Commission (WRRC) meetings and hearings conducted since June, 2003,
and has compiled a detailed account of the dialogue and discussions
at each. He has studied the 1898 Wilmington conflict since 1995, and
comments regularly on media reports and viewpoints regarding the
1898 event. Thuersam is the Director of the Cape Fear Historical
Institute, and past-Chairman of the Cape Fear Museum Board of
Trustees.)1898 Remembered:
The recent "1898 Remembered" tabloid released in several North
Carolina newspapers on November 17th was yet another attempt to sway
public opinion in support of financial reparations for black
residents, and obscure important facts about the 1898 Wilmington
conflict. Though disguised as "economic incentives" for the black
community and black businesses—it is clear that it
is "reparations" with another name.The tabloid’s intent is to justify the need for reparations with the
author, Timothy Tyson, admitting to heavy reliance on the biased and
revisionist "1898 Wilmington Race Riot Report" version of the
conflict written by State Archives & History researcher LeRae
Umfleet. Make no mistake—the "report" is simply Umfleet’s personal
viewpoint of the event, with little or no visible involvement of the
commission that I witnessed.Tyson was selected and compensated for his tabloid story by the
three out-of-State owned newspapers, and this fits into the pattern
well-demonstrated by the WRRC—pick those with little knowledge of
the conflict to gather carefully-sifted and selected facts to fit
pre-determined results and expectations.An internet search of Tyson reveals that he co-authored a book
entitled "Democracy Betrayed" with David Cecelski, and his sole
chapter dealt with interracial violence in North Carolina during
WWII, not with 1898 Wilmington. A recent book he authored is not
even 1898-related, and one wonders why the newspapers would select
someone so unfamiliar with the topic—but it is obvious that Tyson
was paid to write what is essentially a synopsis of Umfleet’s
version of events, which he readily admits. Like the
commission’s "report," there is nothing original in the rewrite of
another’s flawed work.And how Tyson can claim that democracy was "betrayed" when white
Wilmingtonians opposed a perverted Republican regime that was
appointed from Raleigh—is remarkable. It was clear that the
Republicans Tyson defends were the sworn enemy of the voice of the
people.If the newspapers in question wanted an accurate and truly inclusive
view of the conflict, they could have easily presented acclaimed
Wilmington historian Louis T. Moore’s writings on the conflict, or
spoken with Steve McAllister, a noted expert on Wilmington and North
Carolina history. Moore was 13 years of age in 1898, and lived
through that era as well as being acquainted with the participants.
McAllister could have easily directed Tyson to the multitude of
existing, and privately-funded studies of the 1898 conflict, and
helped him produce an account that respected a diversity of opinion
on the topic, and a wide array of viewpoints.It is an arrogant historian who today denigrates the character and
knowledge of those who experienced an event long ago, writing from
first-hand experience—and himself claims to know the facts,
politics and social environment of that period better than they.Lost on Tyson, as well as the news reporters who regularly
regurgitate the same flawed opinions and innuendo about 1898, is the
actual mission of the WRRC—to study economic losses suffered by
black residents after the conflict. Absolutely no evidence of
property loss was found by the WRRC after four years of meetings and
public hearings, and its members admit so. The "rock solid" economic
research of Sue Ann Cody in June 2000 ("After The Storm") found no
wrongdoing, and Cody admits going into her work expecting to find
many cases of property loss to substantiate the well-worn legend of
widespread property theft by white Wilmingtonians.While the WRRC could have easily relied upon Cody’s excellent work,
it hired an economics graduate student from Chapel Hill to begin a
new study, despite Umfleet stating that there was no time to do more
than a localized review. The student "report" was sprinkled
with "you can make inferences," from the data, and "it appears
that"
the data suggests something, but documented no cases of economic
loss. This student was interned after what NC Department of Archives
& History Research Supervisor Mike Hill called "an abortive attempt
to involve the UNC-Wilmington Economics Department" in the study. It
was clear that the seasoned academics could not be swayed to bend
their professional ethics to support such a sordid enterprise—and
using Cody’s findings certainly would have contradicted and exploded
the WRRC’s theory.On top of this, another student was interned to create an essay
dealing with the fictional accounts written about the 1898 conflict,
as if this had any bearing on a commission charged with reviewing
facts and real economic losses after the event.To summarize—instead of responsibly reporting the absolute lack of
evidence to the public and properly disbanding, the WRRC
irresponsibly directed its researcher to compile a commodious
assortment of sifted facts, opinions and assumptions to obscure
their mission failure. The primary achievement of the WRRC has been
to severely worsen racial relations in Wilmington as it demands
financial payment from people, white and black, who had no
involvement in the political shenanigans of a long ago era. As we
can see, the Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News & Observer, and the
Wilmington Star News are all opponents of free speech as they thwart
a broad and inclusive view of the 1898 conflict; and they are all
complicit in the demise of amicable race relations in this State as
they blindly pursue the folly of reparations for those who lost
nothing.Bernhard Thuersam, Executive Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
Post Office Box 328
Wilmington, NC 28402
http://www.CFHI.net———————————————————-
For a diversity of opinion and viewpoint on the 1898 Wilmington
conflict and social-political environment it evolved from, I suggest
the following as a start:Reconstruction in North Carolina, Jos. DeR. Hamilton
Politics in Wilmington & New Hanover County, 1865-1900, McDuffie
Editor in Politics, Josephus Daniels
Maverick Republican in he Old North State, Crow & Durden
After The Storm: Racial Violence and Consequences for African-
Americans, Cody
Life and Speeches of Charles Brantley Aycock, RDW Conner
The Story of the Wilmington Rebellion, Harry Hayden
Chronicles of the Cape Fear, James Sprunt
Ballots & Fence Rails, William McKee Evans
North Carolina History, Hugh Talmage Lefler
Memoirs of an Octogenarian, John D. BellamyAnd websites—
http://www.mith.umd.edu/courses/amvirtual/wilmington/wilmington.html
http://www.1898Wilmington.com— In NCSouth@yahoogroups.com, northcarolinasouth@yahoo.com wrote:
Several readers of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer respond today
to the newspaper’s coverage of the 1898 Wilmington "race riot"
commission and its thinly veiled attempt at race-based reparations.
__________________________________________________________
http://www.newsobserver.com/580/story/512217.html
THE ULTIMATE GOALWhile what happened in Wilmington at the turn of the 20th century
was horrible and lamentable, the recommendation for reparations by
the Wilmington Race Riot Commission is nothing more than a thinly
veiled attempt to take another step closer to obtaining
reparations for pre-Civil War slavery.Matthew Bossman
Raleigh
__________________________________________________________
http://www.newsobserver.com/580/story/512216.html
NO REPARATIONSThe first 15 pages of your special section "The Ghosts of 1898"
were historically interesting, considering it happened over 100
years ago and no one from the incident is still living. The 16th
page’s "Recommendations of the commission" were nothing more
than
blackmail of the taxpayers of North Carolina. "Repair the wrong"
equals give us something for free!I was born in North Carolina and have lived here all of my 60
years. I’ve never been so disgusted with a newspaper article in my
life. These people need to get over it!Arthur T. Pittman
Raleigh
__________________________________________________________
http://www.newsobserver.com/580/story/512215.html
LET DEMOCRATS PAYI applaud The N&O for taking its share of the blame for what
happened in Wilmington and throughout the South at the turn of the
20th century. The Wilmington Race Riot Commission’s findings and
recommendations did come up just a little short, though.Since the oppression of the period came at the hands of the
Democratic Party, the party should be held accountable. If there
is any compensation or other financial payment for these atrocious
times, it should come from Democratic Party coffers. I doubt that
the Baptists, for example, would want to help pay for a wrong done
by a Catholic priest, even though they are all Christians.
Likewise, Republicans, who stood for interracial rule and
equality, do not want to pay for the sins of the Democratic Party.Paul Donovan
Cary— In NCSouth@yahoogroups.com, northcarolinasouth@… wrote:
Bernhard Thuersam, president of the Cape Fear Chapter, North
Carolina League of the South, responds below to inaccurate
claims in the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer about the League as
well as the 1898 Wilmington "Race Riot" Commission, a taxpayer-
supported pro-reparations organization. The original N&O
article follows Thuersam’s response.
__________________________________________________________
REPLY TO COLLINS ARTICLEApparently uninterested in the corruption allegations made by
the Cape Fear Chapter, NC League of the South with regard to the
1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission (1898WRRC) since 2003, News
& Observer reporter Kristin Collins can only muster a claim that
the League is "against civil rights."Collins also claims the commission has worked on the report for
6 years, despite researcher LeRae Umfleet not joining the
1898WRRC until November of 2003 and stating so in their official
minutes. What we have here just another all-too-common case of
a newspaper-employed hack-typist who is just too lazy to read,
research her topic and check facts.This "against civil rights" is all Collins could decipher
from a
20-minute phone discussion with me as I described the reasons
the League saw this as an appropriate local project to study and
monitor. After she mentioned the very popular website
http://www.1898Wilmington.com operated by the 1898 Wilmington
Institute for Education & Research, a well-respected and
valuable resource for information, I asked her what she thought
of its contents—her reply being that it was difficult reading
and hard to understand.Well, there you are.
Further, despite being provided by me with the in-depth records
of the 1898WRRC meetings compiled by the CFC/LS, Collins could
only claim that this local group "denies the report." Instead
of
noting that this public body conducted its business behind
closed doors; or that the commission make-up was nearly all-
black and rabid reparations advocates; that its own members
admitted that they had not accomplished their goal; that no
economic loss has been proven; its economics "expert" was
a
graduate student; or that two of its members are racists; one
white member is a political opportunist after the black vote,
the other a newcomer to Wilmington—she can only muster that
the League "denies the report." The League does not "deny
the
report," it questions the entire foundation it is created upon
and believes it to be a colossal waste of time and taxpayer
dollars that will only serve to worsen race relations. It would
be sheer lunacy to expect that a commission would produce an
objective and believable report.First, the website is not affiliated with the League and it does
not contain any League material or links. It is wholly
independent and states such on its Home Page. It is a superb
resource for local history researchers and we wish the Institute
well in the future.Second, as Collins is unable to discern what the site content
means, except that it questions her client’s untenable
positions, she finds it much easier to attempt to discredit the
site by association with the League of the South, and the usual
whipping boy, the Confederate flag.When Collins describes that site as using "accounts written
decades ago," we see clearly what the 1898WRRC report really
constitutes—the media and NC Archives & History bolsheviki can
create new history by discrediting the "old history" as
reactionary, skewed and racist. We can be assured that the "new
history" written by party stalwarts like Umfleet, will of
course, be above reproach.So, instead of studying her topic deeply and trying to
understand both positions in order to accomplish what was known
as "journalism"—it was much easier (and important) for
Collins
to discredit the website by association with the media’s evil of
the day. This is how hack-typists operate—guilt by association
and character assassination.Lastly, unable to find any evidence of stolen property or
economic loss on the part of black Wilmington residents, and the
commission members admitted such, Umfleet was instructed to
create a weighty "report," better known as her version of
events, to justify the demand for reparations that is coming.
The intent of the commission was never in doubt, even with no
evidence.The local League chapter sees Rep. Wright’s commission engaging
in sordid racial demagoguery that will further damage the racial
harmony we enjoy in Wilmington. We should be working toward
better relations and avoiding what the great Booker T.
Washington referred to as "the class of colored people who make
a business of keeping the troubles, wrongs and hardships of the
Negro race before the public—because it pays."Also, we must not overlook the most important and serious issue
involved here, that the North Carolina Department of Archives &
History, a tax-funded entity that holds the public trust, has
been used for Wright’s nefarious scheme of reparations and
slanted history. No longer does that Department have the
credibility it once held, as it sacrifices historical accuracy,
objectivity and scholarly research for the sake of political
expediency.As far as recognizing that property theft or wrongdoing occurred
in Wilmington’s past— I have steadily maintained that the
courts are open, and anyone with proof of property loss need
only bring suit against the perpetrator to regain their property
—this is the American way and the proper way to redress past
wrongs.Collins’ article was designed to simply further mislead the
public and support the position of the News & Observer—
reparations.Anyone desiring the Cape Fear Chapter’s minutes of the 1898WRRC
meetings need only e-mail me for copies.Bernhard Thuersam, President
Cape Fear Chapter,
North Carolina League of the South
Bernhard1848@
__________________________________________________________
http://www.newsobserver.com/1370/story/508595.html
GROUP DENIES STATE’S RACE RIOT REPORT
Kristin Collins, Staff Writer
