UE Convention Resolutions
Repeal of 95-98 as
Part
Of Reparations for
1898
Wilmington Racist Coup D’etat
The white supremacist coup d’etat in Wilmington, North Carolina, on November 10, 1898, overthrew the multi-racial democratic government in the state’s largest city, violently attacked the African American population there, killing dozens if not hundreds of African American citizens and forcing a thousand or more African American citizens to leave the state.
This Wilmington massacre of 1898 paved the way for the white supremacist overthrow the multi-racial, democratic Fusion coalition in state government through fraudulent elections in 1898 and 1900. This disenfranchised African American voters and introduced Jim Crow segregation in North Carolina and the South that lasted until the 1960s
This white supremacist coup d’etat ushered into North Carolina a regime of "racial capitalism," which was based on the disenfranchisement and exploitation of the African American working class and suppression of labor organizations among both white and African American workers. This was the foundation for superprofits in the tobacco, textile, and furniture industries in North Carolina.
The efforts of workers in North Carolina as well as other states in the Black Belt South to challenge racial capitalism by organizing unions in the 1930s and 1940s were met by the passage of state right to work laws authorized by Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Similarly, the passage of North Carolina General Statute 95-98 was an anti-union measure prohibiting public workers from collective bargaining.
The Wilmington Race Riot Commission, established by the North Carolina General Assembly, released its report this year on its investigation of the facts of the events on 1898. It proposed numerous actions to address the economic and political impact of the 1898 events on the African American and working class people of North Carolina and Wilmington. That impact included Jim Crow segregation, disenfranchisement, and suppression of labor organization from 1898 to the present.
Since 1997, UE and UE Local 150 have raised the need to repeal 95-98, most recently through the International Worker Justice Campaign.
General Statute 95-98 is a legacy of Jim Crow, passed when African Americans did not have the right to vote, and for the purpose of keeping workers from uniting and organizing. The continued existence of 95-98 perpetuates the systematic human rights violations of the Wilmington coup d’etat.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS 70th UE CONVENTION:
Supports linking the repeal of 95-98 as part of the reparations for the 1898 Wilmington racist coup d’etat, and to conduct an educational campaign for such in the 2008 General Assembly and beyond.