NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Earlier this week, New Hanover County passed its recognition of the National Day of Racial Healing, but not every commissioner was in support.
The proclamation passed 4-1, with Dane Scalise dissenting, at the Jan. 20 commissioner’s meeting. He stated opposition to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a philanthropic organization that provides children, families, and communities with economic, health, and education initiatives that tackle issues of racial inequity.
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The National Day of Racial Healing was started by the foundation in 2017 to encourage reflection and mutual respect. It takes place the day after Martin Luther King Jr.’s federal holiday each year. Other municipalities in North Carolina that have passed a proclamation for the National Day of Racial Healing include the City of Wilmington, Raleigh and Carrboro.
The proclamation encourages communities to reflect on shared values and commit to respecting and understanding one another despite differences. It also promotes fostering a welcoming environment for all and strengthening community relationships.
However, due to the proclamation’s relationship to the foundation, which advocates for undoing the prevalent issue of systemic racism, Scalise did not support it.
It is the second year in a row he opposed the proclamation. In 2025, the commissioner stated that MLK Jr.’s “dreams” were maligned with systemic racism and Critical Race Theory, while claiming the foundation promoted the idea that racial division and government were “permanent and pervasive.”
“There is plenty in the proclamation that I don’t find objectionable,” Scalise said at Tuesday’s meeting, “but I do find objectionable the W.K. Foundation, what they stand for, and what they advocate for which includes — and I directly quote — ‘a pre-existing harmony and unity among groups is not the case in the United States, a deeply entrenched system, a system of racial hierarchy and colonization.’”
Scalise believed the resolution is more divisive than unifying because of the foundation’s suggestion there is something inherently wrong with the core system of government — that unity and connection needs to be actively fostered and is not inherent in the U.S.
The foundation’s website describes a desire to move away from using terms like “reconciliation” when it comes to racial healing and transformation.
“Reconciling connotes restoration of friendly relations — ‘reuniting’ or ‘bringing together again after conflict,’” it states. “It also implies a preexisting harmony and unity among groups, which is not the case in the United States amid a deeply entrenched system of racial hierarchy and colonization. There is no time period in our collective, national history that we could return to and experience racial equity and wholeness.”
More so, Scalise added the foundation does not have local branches and thus no foothold in the county.
“I have a higher opinion of our fellow citizens than the W.K. Kellogg Foundation does — our capacity for love, our desire for purpose, our longing for home, our devotion to family,” Scalise said at the dais. “These things are more powerful than what differences we may or may not have with our neighbors, and these things are powerful enough to stand on their own.”
Scalise proposed a substitute proclamation he wrote instead:
“Whereas, the NHC Board of Commissioners affirms that We the People of the United States have inherent value regardless of race, religion or creed. And whereas dignity and respect are not granted to We the People by the government, but are the unalienable rights of every such person. And whereas the ultimate recognition of human dignity and respect lies in honoring the unique worth and value of each individual member of ‘We the People.’ And whereas We the People both as individuals and as fellow citizens deserve dignity and respect regardless of immutable characteristics. Now therefore, be it resolved by the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners that New Hanover County supports, recognizes and affirms the dignity and respect due to We the People and encourages all of its citizens to live in harmony together because our strength comes from our shared commitment to each other and this great county and country we call home.”
However, his suggestion did not receive a second and thus failed to move forward.
Commissioner Rob Zapple said the original proclamation represented the desires of residents. While the idea originally was born from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, it came at the request of the New Hanover County Commission on African-American History, Heritage and Culture. Commission Chair Nadira Nash spoke on behalf of the group at the meeting while standing with the other members, thanking the commissioners for passing the proclamation.
Zapple argued there was no conversation between the county and the foundation, and the proclamation was the county’s own decision and work.
“Dragging them into this conversation, I think, is a red herring — simply not correct,” Zapple said.
Scalise still took issue about passing a proclamation he thought was the “brain child” of a foundation philosophically at odds with his own beliefs.
Commissioner Stephanie Walker attempted to subvert the disagreement between the two commissioners and reminded Chair LeAnn Pierce there was already a motion and a second on the floor to vote on the original proclamation.
Scalise responded: “We have extended commentary on any number of issues.”
He later added: “I understand I am not going to prevail on my vote, and I respect that. But I do ask that I have the opportunity to explain myself. I am not excitable. I am not doing this in some untoward way. I have an opinion and I’m trying to express it to the public, Commissioner Walker.”
Walker defended the proclamation and referred to her prior experience as a member of the Commission on African-American History, Heritage and Culture when it was first launched. She noted the importance of the commission’s work, unrelated to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The commission researches, preserves, catalogs, and promotes African-American culture, history, landmarks, arts, and heritage.
“I can promise you the work that is being done — when I was on this commission and continues to this day — are of local matters that are important to our community,” Walker said.
Scalise opted not to pose for a photograph with the Commission on African-American History, Heritage and Culture following the proclamation’s passing.
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