FAMILY MEMBERS of James Cates have penned an essay for North Carolina’s new statewide digital magazine, The Assembly, calling on UNC to rename the Student Stores building for James Cates, who was murdered near the building in 1970. The building is due to receive a new name this summer.
The piece was written by Valerie P. Foushee and Nate Davis, both cousins to Cates on his mother’s side who have been representing the family on the James Cates Remembrance Coalition. The Coalition, which I am a part of, has undertaken a longterm effort to research, document, preserve, and share the history around James Cates that had been largely erased.
Valerie P. Foushee is a state senator representing Orange and Chatham counties. Nate Davis is the retired director of the Hargraves Community Center in the Northside neighborhood.
I can’t say enough about the admiration I have for their strength and resiliency, and their willingness to tell this personal and painful story. They make a strong case for the building name that connects what happened to James Cates to the historical neglect of the local Black community that sustained the university for centuries, writing that “the Chapel Hill we experienced growing up wasn’t the welcoming ‘Southern Part of Heaven’ most imagine either.”
“By naming the Student Stores building in remembrance of James Cates, the university has an opportunity to demonstrate that it’s ready to be a better community partner. Its leaders can make a bold statement that UNC-CH intends to honestly face its past relationship with the Black community of Chapel Hill.”
Do give it a read.