The North Carolina Asheville City Council apologized for its role in slavery and racial discrimination, voting unanimously to provide reparations in the form of community investments to help black residents.
The council voted 7-0 on Tuesday night on the measure to mitigate racial disparities. The repairs will not provide direct cash payments, as some have suggested, but will provide investments in housing, health care, and professional growth in black neighborhoods.
Councilwoman Shaneika Smith, who is black, said the council had received emails from those who “asked, ‘Why should we pay for what happened during slavery?'”
LAWYERS PUSH FOR SLAVERY REPAIRS
“[Slavery] It is this institution that serves as the starting point for building the strong economic floor for white America, while trying to keep blacks forever subservient to its progress, “Smith said, as reported by the Asheville Citizen Times.
The resolution calls on the city to create a Community Reparations Commission to make concrete recommendations on where to channel programs and resources.
“The resulting budgetary and programmatic priorities may include, but are not limited to, increasing minority home ownership and access to other affordable housing, increasing minority business ownership and career opportunities, strategies to increase equity and generational wealth, closing gaps in health care, education, employment and pay, neighborhood security and justice in criminal justice, “the resolution read.
“Hundreds of years of spilled black blood that basically fills the cup we’re drinking today,” said Council Member Keith Young, one of two African-American city council members, and spearheaded the proposal.
“It is simply not enough to remove statutes. Black people in this country are dealing with problems of a systemic nature,” Young continued.
Councilman Vijay Kapoor, known for separating from Smith and Young on police and budget issues, said he supported the resolution on moral grounds, but urged skeptics to consider the “practical reason”: data showing vast disparities between African Americans and others. Asheville. residents
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“We don’t want to be held back by these gaps,” said Kapoor. “We want everyone to be successful.”
