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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: April 18, 2023 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 8-e <br /> SUBJECT: Resolution Apologizing for Past Racial Terror Lynching <br /> DEPARTMENT: Asset Management Services <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Draft Resolution James Williams, Orange County <br /> Community Remembrance Coalition <br /> Commissioner Sally Greene, 919-245- <br /> 2130 <br /> PURPOSE: To approve a resolution: <br /> 1) acknowledging criminal acts of racial terror lynching that occurred across the United States <br /> in the aftermath of the Civil War and from Reconstruction through the middle of the <br /> twentieth century, and specifically acts that occurred in Orange County; <br /> 2) apologizing to all victims of racial terror lynching in Orange County perpetrated or <br /> condoned by past Orange County elected officials; and <br /> 3) expressing deepest sympathies to the families and descendants for all women and men <br /> who were murdered by racial terror lynching, and for the denial of their dignity and basic <br /> human rights. <br /> BACKGROUND: Racial terror lynching was known widely to occur across the United States in <br /> the aftermath of the Civil War and from Reconstruction through the middle of the twentieth century. <br /> These criminal acts were committed against numerous named and unnamed individuals, and <br /> claimed the lives of more than 120 Black people in North Carolina. Such criminal acts specifically <br /> known to have taken place in Orange County occurred against Daniel Morrow, Washington <br /> Morrow, Jefferson Morrow, Cyrus Guy, Wright Woods and Manly McCauley. <br /> The Orange County Remembrance Coalition, in communication with Commissioner Sally Greene, <br /> developed the attached draft resolution. The resolution acknowledges the criminal acts of racial <br /> terror lynching that occurred in Orange County; apologizes to all victims of racial terror lynching <br /> in Orange County perpetrated or condoned by past Orange County elected officials; and <br /> expresses deepest sympathies to the families and descendants for all women and men who were <br /> murdered by racial terror lynching. <br /> FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with consideration of the <br /> resolution. <br />