The City Council in Asheville, North Carolina, approved a monumental decision Tuesday night that will make the city a trailblazer in efforts to offer reparations to Black Americans who are descendants of slaves.
The Asheville City Council voted 7-0 on a resolution Tuesday night that apologized to its Black residents for the city’s role in slavery, discriminatory housing practices and other racist policies throughout its history.
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“Where as Black People have experienced disproportionate unemployment rates and reduced opportunities to fully participate in the local job market; and Whereas, Black People have been systematically excluded from historic and present private economic development and community investments and, therefore; black-owned business have not received the benefits of these investments...Now, therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Asheville that...calls on the state of North Carolina and the federal government to initiate policymaking and provide funding for reparations at the state and national levels,” reads an excerpt from the City Council’s resolution.
Councilman Keith Young spearheaded the resolution and told ABC News in a statement that the council was looking “to embed 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 completion box to check off.”
It will be a process of “every six months” evaluating the steps toward the council’s goal, Mayor Esther Manheimer told the news agency. She signed the resolution and plans to create a Community Reparations Commission, which will include business owners, local groups and elected officials, to implement the plan.
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“This work does not end and will be adaptive, no matter what governing body holds office or who runs our city.”
Asheville has a population of 92,870, 83% of which is white, according to the U.S. Census. Minorities own roughly 9.7% of the town’s 12,785 businesses, according to Census data.
