On an autumn afternoon in 1972, the people of Rogers-Eubanks, a historically black community just outside Chapel Hill, North Carolina, gathered beneath a tree to witness the end of a dispute. They were led by David Caldwell, Sr., one of Chapel Hill’s first black police officers, in whose back yard they stood. Before them was a delegation of local politicians, including Howard Lee, Chapel Hill’s first black mayor. For the previous five months, the community had been at odds with the county, the city, and the state university over the placement of a new landfill on Eubanks Road. Now Lee made a proposal. In exchange for agreeing to the construction of the landfill, Rogers-Eubanks would receive some of the municipal services that it lacked—sidewalks, water and sewer connections, a community center. After the landfill reached capacity, it would be turned into a recreation area. Caldwell and his neighbors relented. They looked on as an agreement was signed. Chapel Hill purchased eighty acres of land and began development.
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Finally, in 2012, soon after the E.P.A. announced that it would investigate part of Campbell’s claim, Orange County yielded, pledging to build a community center in Rogers-Eubanks. The following year, county officials decided to extend water and sewer services. The community center was finished in 2014, and engineering studies are under way for laying down sewer and water lines sometime this year. Local, state, and federal officials are finally moving to keep the promises that were made forty-three years ago. Community leaders are pleased with the progress but not yet content. “I don’t feel anybody should fight as long as we’ve been fighting to get something that’s God-given,” Caldwell told me. “It’s not a temporary thing. You fight until the end. You fight until you can’t fight anymore. And that’s my goal, to fight until it’s done.”
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:freehug:
