On Sunday June 20, 2021, Black slaves were taken to the Fayetteville’s Market House for sale in chains by a Whiteman on horseback and another carried a whip. The quiet protest celebrated Juneteenth and commemorated 75 years of slaves sold and separated in the State House and Market House. United States President Joe Biden recognized June 19, 2021, a national holiday in honor of slaves in the South held in bondage 2 ½ years after former President Abraham Lincoln signed the declaration of emancipation of slavery in 1863.
Jubilee celebrations honoring Juneteenth with public events and private cookouts filled the warm air and bright Summer skies in North Carolina.
Kristen Johnson captured Fayetteville recognition of Juneteenth's birthday, “Fayetteville Group Commemorates Juneteenth With Slavery Reenactment At The Market House.” Her story said activist and producer Swan Davis believed, theatre was the best art-form to remind citizens of Cumberland County why the Market House still represented traumatized anguish for many African Americans (Fayetteville Observer, 2021).
One hundred and fifty-six years after the end of slaver, African Americans in the South still fought to oppose racist institution like the vote to repurpose Fayetteville’s Market House despite its dark past.
Jerome Bell Sr. a writer, current board member of Cape Fear Regional Theatre, military veteran, and renowned entrepreneur took time off to explain the shameful experiences Black men succumb to in both the State House and the Market House. He also said, if Fayetteville wanted to compete with Raleigh, Charlotte, or Greensboro then the Market House was out of place.
While the following story was not new, a Twitter posts captivated over 38,000 likes on an article from Live Science and written by Rafi Letzter, “Black People Were Enslaved in the US Until Recently as 1963”(February, 2018). Eyewitness interviews helped accelerate the point of view made by Kathy Greggs, that African Americans were living with psychological trauma due to the cruelty of slavery and modern day racism.
Historian, Antoinette Harrell, a resident of Louisiana, tracked the genealogy of former enslaved people like Arthur Miller (twitter photo). Miller was born and raised on a plantation in the deep South and there he stayed with his sisters who according to Letzter were slaves until the 60’s (Vice, 2018). It was astoundingly evident to watch in 2016 the fear and anxiety Blacks as well as White people experienced when questioned about their past (Vice, 2018).
After listening to descendants of African slaves who appeared emotionally, physically, and psychologically trapped, their stories addressed the perspective why African Americans all over the United States demanded removal of racist replicas and monuments like the Market House.
The citizens of Fayetteville North Carolina reaction to repurpose the National Landmark were received with disappointment because they felt left out.
A follow-up interview by Greggs, co-founder of Fayetteville Police Accountability Community Task, said it's unethical when elected officials break promises.
The local government and COVID-19 restrictions created an absence over the debate with the residents which created a gap; they tried to bridge it with broken promises. Now all that has failed, a wedge appeared splitting the relationship between the community and Cumberland City Council.
Myah Warren was 23-year-old when appointed to serve, with a team, as a Cumberland County, North Carolina human relations commissioner. Warren said, “our most recent project" would be to prepare "for a meeting between the Department of Justice and public stakeholders on the issue of the Market House, as it relates to institutional racism.” Warren said in the community she received mixed emotions, but the majority wants it gone.
"I believe the decisions they have made regarding the Market House, has not been in the best interest of the citizens," said Warren. "If you haven't had a chance to hear publicly from your citizens as to what they want but, yet, you already have taken off the option not to demolish it altogether.”
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