Towns Like Kinston Need True Investment
What would it look like to invest in Eastern North Carolina? This is a question that I ponder often as an ENC native, and an individual that works professionally to create solutions for some of the region's most poignant issues. Some people have argued that investment looks like reparations for the Black community. As the Build Back Better infrastructure and reconciliation fight lagged on this year, some community advocates purported that investment would be job creation, or increased access to affordable housing. I say that to think of true community investment in any way other than all incomposing, is short sighted, unsustainable, and it robs working families of an ability to truly thrive. I’ll use my home as an example.
I grew up in Kinston, North Carolina. We are not fortunate enough to be a stone's throw away from a beachside, nor are we privileged to even have a mall food court to waste a Saturday in. Kinston is truly rural. I'm told by my grandmother and other elders of the city that Kinston used to be one of ENC's main attractions for several industries. There was a T-shirt factory, shops and boutiques lining the streets of downtown, a fully functioning mall, and a baseball stadium that hosted sold out games every week. These days the Hampton shirt factory has long been demolished, the mall is defunct, and culturally reverent name changes to the city's baseball team have left Grainger Stadium games feeling a lot less nostalgic for some Kinstonians. Now the city's claim to fame, other than a branding as one of the most dangerous and unfruitful places to live in North Carolina, is the CSS Neuse Center dedicated to commemorating the Confederate Navy during the Civil War.
Though Kinston’s history outlines glory days, I know that many within my community have honestly never really had an opportunity to thrive. The same can be said today. The state and local government will tell you that Kinston, like many other Eastern North Carolina cities, has experienced a major uptick in the last few years in job creation and housing access, as well as a major downturn in crime rate. What they won’t mention, is that many of the jobs that have been brought to Kinston by way of the opening of Sanderson Farms, or the Global Transpark boom of 2019, are not accessible to everyone. Many Kinston natives struggle with a challenged criminal background due to mistakes from their past. Or they simply cannot benefit from the overt nepotism that is active in candidate selection practices at local businesses. Additionally, local leadership will construct moments to celebrate the efforts of wealthy white men as they “revitalize” and “invest” in downtown Kinston with only tourism in mind, caring nothing of the predominantly poor and working communities in nearby neighborhoods that they are harming.
The idea of investment, and what should be prioritized in historically underserved populations, is a major point of conversation at the moment due to the recently passed Build Back Better Act. The perspective of some elected officials that reconciliation, and prioritizing BIPOC and working communities was somehow optional when penning a solution for recovery, has been the main point of contention for many community advocates. Build Back Better, only when coupled with all of the initiatives etched into the reconciliation package, would be a significant step toward true investment in rural Eastern North Carolina communities like Kinston. Our town needs the billions of dollars designated for section 8 vouchers, and the creation of more affordable housing. We need the 45 billion dollars toward the replacement of lead pipes, 60 million to expand our use of electric vehicles and buses for public schools, and the creation of millions of jobs across various industries. Clean water. Cleaner air. More homes. Focused attention on those who have been forgotten for far too long.