#Roommates, history has finally been made in the city of Asheville, North Carolina—and Black people are benefitting in a major way! It has just been announced that following a unanimous voting decision, Asheville, North Carolina has approved reparations for the city’s Black residents.
@USAToday reports, the Asheville City Council recently formally apologized for the city’s historic role in slavery, discrimination and denial of basic liberties to Black residents—and decided to make it right by providing reparations to them and their descendants. The decision was finalized following a unanimous vote of 7-0 on July 14th.
However, it should be noted that the unanimously passed resolution does not translate to direct payments. Instead, the reparations will be in the form of investments in areas where Black residents face disparities. The resolution also calls for Asheville to create the Community Reparations Commission, which invites community groups and other local governments to join. Furthermore, the commission’s job will be to make concrete recommendations for programs and resources to be used to help Black residents.
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The reparations resolution reads:
“The resulting budgetary and programmatic priorities may include but not be limited to increasing minority home ownership and access to other affordable housing, increasing minority business ownership and career opportunities, strategies to grow equity and generational wealth, closing the gaps in health care, education, employment and pay, neighborhood safety and fairness within criminal justice.”
Asheville Councilman Keith Young explained the decision, saying “Hundreds of years of Black blood spilled that basically fills the cup we drink from today. It is simply not enough to remove statutes. Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature.”
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