The city will make investments in areas where black residents face disparities.
Leaders in Asheville, North Carolina have taken a historic step to redress centuries of racial prejudice by voting unanimously to provide redress.
The Asheville City Council voted 7-0 in a resolution Tuesday night that formally apologized to its black residents for the city’s role in slavery, discriminatory housing practices and other racist policies throughout its history.
The move also calls for a plan to provide reparations to its black residents in the form of investments in their community, such as “increasing minority home ownership,” “increasing minority business ownership and career opportunities,” and “strategies to increase generational equity and wealth, “according to the resolution.
Councilman Keith Young, who spearheaded the resolution, told ABC News in a statement that the council sought “to incorporate systemic solutions.”
“This process begins and is perpetual, repeating this process over and over again,” Young, who is black, said in the statement. “There is no end box to check.”
The resolution, which was signed by Mayor Esther Manheimer, calls for the creation of a Community Reparations Commission that will be made up of companies, local groups and elected officials. The commission will issue detailed recommendations, with plans to implement the repairs in the short and long term.
“As far as the timeline is concerned, we will have some steps to report within six months and every six months after that,” Young said in a statement.
Asheville has a population of 92,870, of which 83% is white, according to the United States Census. Minorities own approximately 9.7% of the city’s 12,785 businesses, according to census data.
The council’s resolution also calls on state and federal governments to come up with their own redress policies.
“This work is not over and will be adaptive, no matter what governing body is in office or who is running our city,” Young said.
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