The racial disparities in North Carolina that must be addressed

Rep. Robert T. Reives II is the House Democratic Leader of the NC General Assembly.

When you sit down at your kitchen table, what do you talk about? 

For many of us, after the kids go to bed and we share a moment of quiet, we talk about how our family is doing. Can we afford to take our kids on that summer vacation or fix that dent on the car? Can I take that course to advance my career or is there not enough wiggle room in our family budget? With rent continuing to increase, can we piece together enough money for a down payment on our first home? 

As lawmakers, we have the power to pass policies that help families. We can make those kitchen table conversations easier. But as Democrats, it’s been a lot harder to pass what we know North Carolinians need. Republicans have essentially written the laws in North Carolina for over a decade now. Because they have a monopoly on public policy, they determine what is prioritized at our state legislature. 

I think it’s important to look at the impact of one-party control at the North Carolina General Assembly. How have the legislative priorities of the NC GOP impacted the lives of Black people in North Carolina? Many racial inequalities have stagnated or gotten worse by many measures since 2010. For many Black families, we feel it in our pocketbooks. Nearly half of Black North Carolinians have debt in collections, while for White North Carolinians that share is less than a third. 

Debt is a dark, looming cloud. Too many hard-working families are facing extreme debt loads, which creates a significant burden. 25% of communities of color have medical debt. According to Treasurer Dale Folwell, Black and Hispanic citizens incur larger amounts of interest to pay on their medical debt. 

Paying off your debt is hard when you have a job, but it’s nearly impossible when you are unemployed. While unemployment has been reduced overall since 2010, white unemployment has been reduced more than Black unemployment. In North Carolina, there is a persistent gap between white unemployment (only 2.6%) and Black unemployment (5.9%) in NC. That’s by design. In 2014, Republican leaders in the NCGA made the largest cut to the state unemployment compensation program in American history, making it harder for folks to get back on their feet after losing their job.

Outsized debt is one of the factors that makes it harder to buy a home and, over time, accrue wealth. Since 2010, the percentage of Black homeownership has declined from roughly 15% to 14%. There is a persistent racial disparity between white and Black North Carolinians. Republicans aren’t prioritizing common-sense policies to expand affordable housing and make it easier for families to buy homes. It hits Black families harder. 

It’s not just our wallets that have suffered; it’s our livelihoods. Since Republicans have taken control of the state legislature, your life expectancy as a Black person has gone down. On average, a Black North Carolinian lives four years less than a white person here. Life expectancy for Black people (74) in North Carolina has declined since 2010, while the white life expectancy has increased to 78 years. And if you’re a child born to a Black family in North Carolina, you’re twice as likely to die. If you’re a Black mother giving birth to that baby, you’re three times as likely to die compared to a white mother. 

Don’t like what the Republican lawmakers have prioritized in their public policy? Well, it’s harder to hold them accountable because they’ve made it harder for Black people to vote. The Republicans have led a persistent effort to intimidate voters. Their plan is working. As they reduce early voting capacity, require photo identification, and draw their own gerrymandered districts, they instill a culture of fear, especially felt by Black communities who have historically been suppressed in civic participation. The numbers show it. Despite the percentage of the Black population growing in NC, the percentage of total Black registered voters has decreased. 

Black voter turnout has declined by 3.5% since 2008. That percentage point translates to over 194,000 votes. Cheri Beasley, the first Black woman to be NC Chief Supreme Court Justice, lost her judicial election by only 401 votes in 2020. 

There’s a line in Gene Nichol’s book “Indecent Assembly” that sums it up: the NC Republican House & Senate caucuses have attacked the “participatory rights, antidiscrimination guarantees, educational opportunities, and equal dignity of African Americans.” (“Indecent Assembly” Nichol 6) 

Black families in North Carolina shouldn’t need to have harder conversations at the dinner table. It isn’t right, and we can make better policies to change it. That’s why I’m proud to be a Democrat and to serve as your House Democratic Leader. 

And that’s why on November 5, you should cast your vote for a Democrat to serve in the state legislature. In the meantime, you can volunteer to support competitive candidates, especially through County-to-County’s strategic partnerships. Don’t forget to tell your family and friends too. Together, we can break the Republican supermajority and finally address the racial disparities that are causing preventable divisions across our state.