A self-described civil-rights group that believes white business owners are victims of racial discrimination is asking the federal government to stop Buncombe County from favoring non-whites in getting federal disaster-recovery money.

WNC Citizens for Equality, which is headed by former Asheville City Council member Carl Mumpower, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Treasury Department’s civil-rights division contending the Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together Grant Fund discriminates against white business owners by giving preference to non-white entrepreneurs. 

The fund offers grants of up to $25,000 each to small businesses affected by Tropical Storm Helene. It is being managed by Mountain BizWorks, a non-profit organization that assists entrepreneurs and small businesses in finding financial assistance from governments and other sources.

The fund, backed by $2.4 million in federal money, directs Mountain BizWorks to favor small businesses headed by women or racial and ethnic minorities. 

In Mumpower’s view, this is a blatant case of reverse discrimination against white males, although gender appears to be secondary. He told Asheville Watchdog that his organization has “a very specific agenda of challenging any organization that seeks to apply filters for race using public dollars.” 

The complaint of anti-white bias could find a favorable hearing in Washington, DC. It comes at a time when President Trump is attempting to kill all federal programs that include so-called “woke” provisions such as those supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). 

Although Mumpower said this complaint “has no connection to the actions of our newly elected President,” it aligns with Trump’s directives.

“In this situation there is no doubt that Buncombe County intended to discriminate against white business owners in the Helene Relief Project,” Mumpower wrote in the formal complaint, which was filed Jan. 22, two days after Trump’s inauguration. 

 “The county directed that the funds be used in a manner that prioritizes one group of business owners over another based solely on skin color.” 

Buncombe County public information officer Lillian Govus said county commissioners have reviewed the complaint, but have no plans to alter the program’s special preferences for non-white applicants. 

She said the county’s “total focus” is to distribute the grant funds as quickly as possible to assist small businesses in recovering from Helene. Govus cited recent state reports showing the county’s unemployment rate, once among the state’s lowest, has rocketed to being among the state’s highest.

Neither the city of Asheville nor Mountain BizWorks has received formal notice of the complaint, according to spokespeople, and also don’t plan to alter the current policy. Matt Raker, executive director of Mountain BizWorks, added in a statement: “The Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together Grant Fid was administered in accordance with federal and partner guidelines.” 

Mumpower contends that, by awarding funds with racial preferences, the local governments and Mountain BizWorks are violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act outlaws discrimination of any kind based on race in programs receiving federal funds.  

Title VI makes no distinction among races and has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to also outlaw discrimination against white people in such programs as university admissions, federal contracts, and hiring where federal funds are involved.

“Buncombe County citizens have been devastated by Hurricane Helene,” Mumpower wrote in the complaint. “Individuals have lost their homes, possessions and, in some cases, the lives of loved ones. Business owners have lost store fronts, inventory, and revenue; making survival difficult if not impossible.

“Yet at a time when county government and nonprofits should be encouraging persons to come together in support of each other, [the local governments] injected the ugly head of racial discrimination into relief efforts.” 

The complaint asks that the federal department “take appropriate action” to require the program be stripped of the provision giving preference to women and BIPOC-owned businesses, an acronym for Blacks, Indigenous, and People of Color.

A recent program status report from Mountain BizWorks to the county commission found that 28 percent of the applicants claimed to be non-white.

WNC Citizens for Equality’s complaint states that the county’s non-white population is only 12 percent, which demonstrates that the program’s money was “in fact distributed in a manner which discriminated against white business owners solely on the basis of race … and is a direct violation of Title VI and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection clause.”.   

Mumpower, former chairman of the Buncombe County Republican Party, has long crusaded against government programs favoring minorities, which he contends inherently discriminate against whites. Among them is a 2023 lawsuit against the county-funded PEAK Academy’s policy establishing an equal white-and-Black balance of faculty and students.

“You don’t fix society’s problems of racism, discrimination, and segregation by engaging in more racism, discrimination, and segregation,” Mumpower said in that case. “You fix them by ending them.” 

Mumpower said in an email exchange with The Watchdog that his organization “has no animosity toward any government or non-profit that is attempting to uplift our community…” 

But he added that he intends to continue to pursue the erasure of racial preferences favoring nonwhites “until there is greater accountability.  We intend to do our part to create such.” 

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Tom Fiedler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter and dean emeritus from Boston University who lives in Asheville. Email him at tfiedler@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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