RALEIGH— On Saturday, June 29th, Dr. Kimberly Muktarian spoke to a group gathered at MLK Memorial Gardens to discuss the Preservation of the Rock Quarry area and it’s long history with the city and state.
The event was a communing of local government reps, activist organizations and those who live in the community.
In a recent 2nd Quarter report released by the City of Raleigh’s Police Department, the homicide rate had risen 75% year over year. This statistic is very concerning to the residents that live on the periphery of the downtown corridor, which is where many of the crimes occurred.
The history surrounding the Rock Quarry reaches back to 1833 when the quarry was built. Rocks from the quarry were used to build Central Prison, the first of its kind in the state, as well as the Capital Building that sits at the center of downtown Raleigh.
The goal of this event was to get both the city and state to recognize the slave labor that went into building these two institutions. In addition, the group wants a equal beautification project done on the Rock Quarry Rd. corridor, similar to the ones being done downtown on Fayetteville Street.
The push for recognition and beautification is accelerated due to the overwhelming effects of Urban Renewal, which has seen most of the historically Black neighborhoods in Raleigh completely gentrified.
County Commissioner Tara Waters and Wake County Board Member Monika Johnson-Hostler were in attendance to receive requests from the group in hopes that those requests will be presented to the commission and the Wake County Board.
The City of Raleigh recently apologized for its roll in urban renewal which lead to its Black citizens being disenfranchised. This group, comprised of Raleigh Pact, Emancipate, NC Black Alliance, Katch the Kite and the SOS Agency are asking for a disparity study as well as a socioeconomic impact study. The study’s should yield the results of “engineered poverty” according to Dr. Muktarian.
The downtown corridor is continuously expanding into areas that were previously labeled as “black neighborhoods.” This expansion has driven up the cost of living and driven out those who had called this area home for generations.
