Residents File Complaint Against Buncombe County Decision

Well, well, well—another day, another blatant case of Democrats playing identity politics with taxpayer dollars. This time, it’s Buncombe County, North Carolina, where local officials thought they could hand out Hurricane Helene relief funds based on race and sex—because apparently, following the law is just too much to ask when there’s a woke agenda to push.

Western North Carolina Citizens for Equality has had enough and has officially called in the cavalry, filing a civil rights complaint with the Treasury Department after discovering that the county’s small business relief program openly prioritized BIPOC-owned and women-owned businesses over everyone else. And by “everyone else,” let’s be clear—they meant white men.

In a stunningly unashamed display of discrimination, the all-Democrat Buncombe County Board of Commissioners announced in November that their $1.5 million relief program would focus on helping businesses based not on need, not on impact from the hurricane, but on the skin color and gender of the owners. Let’s just call this what it is: government-sanctioned discrimination.

The county contracted a left-wing non-profit, Mountain Bizworks, to administer the funds, and—shocker—they designed a scoring system that made race and sex a determining factor in who got financial aid. According to county statistics, of the 137 grants awarded, nearly 30% went to minority-owned businesses, and over 60% went to women-owned businesses. Meanwhile, the county itself is 90% white.

Oh, and if you were wondering whether businesses owned by white men even had a fair shot, just take a look at the application process: race and sex were required fields. That’s right—your skin color and gender mattered more than the actual impact the hurricane had on your business.

Carl Mumpower, president of WNC for Equality, didn’t mince words in his formal complaint to the Treasury Department:

“There is no doubt that Buncombe County intended to discriminate against white business owners… 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.”

And here’s the kicker—this isn’t just a federal violation, it also violates Buncombe County’s own anti-discrimination ordinance, which explicitly prohibits treating people differently based on race and sex. The Democrats running this county broke their own rules—because when you think you’re morally superior, you don’t have to follow the law, right?

Now, with the complaint sitting in the hands of the Trump administration, Mumpower is optimistic that justice will be served. And frankly, he should be. President Trump has been hammering Democrats for their disastrous handling of Hurricane Helene relief, calling out FEMA for failing North Carolinians and hinting that he might dismantle FEMA entirely to put disaster response back in the hands of the states.

Mumpower is also under no illusions about the political climate in Asheville, a city that voted over 60% for Kamala Harris in 2024. He described local Democrat leaders as “ruthless in their willingness to ignore the law”, knowing that their leftist voter base will cheer them on.

“It’s very disappointing that a society has worked so hard to get color off the table… that we would have so many misguided local leaders who are willing to ignore the progress we’ve made and even try to set us back,” he said. “It’s very ironic.”