City elections bring historic change
Dec. 30—Editor's note: The No. 1 local story of 2023.
HIGH POINT — The Nov. 7, 2023, High Point municipal elections brought historic changes to the city's governing body.
The voters installed the first majority-Black council in High Point's history, led by new Mayor Cyril Jefferson, the first Black man to hold the city's highest elected post.
The city is planning several events to highlight the historic significance of the council election over Jan. 12-15 to tie in with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, including a parade and inauguration and prayer service.
In addition to Jefferson, the other Black council members elected were newcomers Tim Andrew and Vickie McKiver and incumbents Michael Holmes and Tyrone Johnson.
The historic election came on the heels of another groundbreaking development for the city.
The council in September adopted the One High Point Commission's "Reparations and Reconciliation Report." The 245-page document, based on the research of city-commissioned academic experts, recommended that the city enact policy changes across several areas to address racial disparities that have resulted from past discrimination.
The project, which was initiated by the High Point NAACP branch, did not call for reparations payments to the descendants of slaves.
Instead, the commission said its goal was to craft "restorative policy recommendations that will significantly close wealth and achievement gaps and improve the lives and prospects of High Point's Black residents and historically Black neighborhoods."
Council members said they think the work of the commission and its finished report should be a national model for other cities.
Its recommendations encompass five general areas: housing, economic opportunity and development, health, transportation and education.
The report also called for the city to apologize for its past "sponsorship and enforcement of racial discrimination against African Americans."
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