MAKING AMENDS

NC City Unanimously Approves Plan to Give Reparations to Black Residents

The legislation directs city funds to programs meant to build homeownership and aid in career establishment for Black people.

The Asheville, North Carolina city council unanimously approved a measure that would give reparations to Black Asheville residents. The measure, part of an initiative aimed at beginning to make amends for slavery and racial injustice, will route city funds to programs that seek to increase homeownership and create career opportunities for Black people in the city. It does not establish direct payments. Councilors said that their goal in creating the legislation was to build generational wealth for Black people who have historically faced health, income, and educational disparities. “Hundreds of years of Black blood spilled that basically fills the cup that we drink from today,” Councilman Kieth Young said.

Other cities across the country are weighing reparations legislation. The mayor of Providence, Rhode Island signed an executive order Wednesday establishing the beginning of a “truth telling and reparations process,” and the California Assembly passed a bill to establish a reparations task force in June.