Economic Justice and the Ethics of Public History (Part II) NCPH 2019 Working Group #8 Case Statement
The Utility of Qualified Opportunity Zones as Tools for Economic Justice through Preservation of African American Historic Sites
The second year of my contribution to this critical discussion involves the examination of the Qualified Opportunity Zone, an item recently introduced into the historical preservation toolbox, and the potential and power of that item either to respond to our call for Economic Justice in public history or to push us further away from our goal.
My questioning for last year’s panel described a phone conversation with Diane Nash, a legacy activist noted for her work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Freedom Riders, and the Alabama and Selma Voting campaigns. Nash embraces a pragmatic attitude about the ethical and economic conflicts that historic preservation projects present. She and fellow long-time activist C.T. Vivian published an open letter questioning the development of civil rights tourism and spaces, asking, ‘Who benefits?’ From Nash’s point of view, with the exception of an elite few, the work in saving these sites does not produce a better income and a better quality of life for the masses in black communities who need jobs and opportunity.
In March of 2018, I learned that South Carolina Department of Commerce staff recommendations for Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs) would be submitted to the Office of the Governor for review. QOZs, created through an amendment proposed by South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and adopted with bipartisan support and signed into law as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 22, 2017, are geographic designations. They offer significant tax breaks on investments in new buildings and substantial improvement of existing ones – including historic buildings and districts.
I compiled a list of thirty-five African American historic sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places, attached the corresponding geographic land tract, and asked the Governor for QOZ designation for historic sectors in those Black communities listed in the document. I defended this QOZ designation as critical to historical areas in South Carolina’s Black communities that:
- were currently the focus of public/private marketing and/or economic development initiatives designed to attract tourism investment and foster startup activity;
- were suffering because of recently experienced significant layoffs due to business closures or relocations or lack of investment prioritization; and/or
- were designated historically significant by state and/or local governments, eligible for protection and funding, and represent opportunities for investment, job creation, cultural renaissance and economic
I also met with the Governor’s staff, along with a company of community preservation partners. When the Governor’s list was published, it included 14 of the tracts that we had requested in their Opportunity Zone recommendations for the state. These have since been approved by the Internal Revenue Service.
If we value these sites, we must also value the process. It is imperative for those active in public history as well as the public to understand ethical and economic challenges posed, and to discover, side by side with community partners, economically just models that further legitimize investing resources in civil and human rights sites. We must consider the manner in which investments, in order to assure that we repel gentrification while promoting the longevity and vitality of Black historic sites and communities. To restate, these models must:
- Move beyond discussion of rights, justice and equality as *concepts* to facilitation of experiences that constitute political and economic action; and
- Present political and economic action in ways that enlarge and strengthen the quality of life for broader segments of the Black
I will use my time on the Working group panel to present updates on this effort, including aggregate data on the economic and political context and operational frames for pursuing Opportunity Zone support.
Catherine Fleming Bruce