Vote for new reparations commission passes in Greenbelt, but what next?
Greenbelt City Council members agreed to have a reparations referendum on the ballot for November’s election in August (https://greenbelt2012.wordpress.com/)
Residents in Greenbelt, Maryland voted to start a reparations commission for African Americans and Native Americans on Tuesday after the City of Greenbelt election.
City council members approved a resolution to put the commission on the November 2 ballot. This past Tuesday, the referendum passed with a 63% approval vote. Mayor Colin Byrd, who said that the issue was personal to Greenbelt, proposed the idea.
Greenbelt was built as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal plan in the 1930s to provide easy access to jobs in D.C. and affordable housing. To Byrd, the city is one of the most appropriate places for conversations about reparations.
Despite the Black workers who built the city, Black families were left behind economically.
Greenbelt is not the only city locally that wants to explore the possibility of reparations. The Lakeland community in College Park still suffers from the renewal projects that tore apart Black neighborhoods in the ‘60s.
Dr. Rayshawn Ray, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, said that College Park used to be a sundown town where Black families would see burning crosses in their front yard.
“There are a lot of Black people who live in this region who’ve lived in the houses that their families have lived in for decades that have been devalued,” said Ray. “They don’t necessarily need to move, they need money to restore their communities.”
Now that Greenbelt is one step closer to receiving restorative justice for reparations, what are the next steps for nationwide justice? There are only a few cities that have made successful steps toward reparations, such as Evanston, Illinois and Asheville, North Carolina.
Before it is taken to the national level, local governments need to work towards restorative justice. According to Ray, local governments need to listen first, then conduct a local study about the ways racism has impacted local cities and counties and finally formulate a restorative justice and reparations plan.
When it comes to the national level, Byrd said that there has been little progress compared to what state governments have been doing. To him, the national government is the best suited to deal with this issue because they don’t have the same financial restraints as other levels of government.
“We’ve never had a White House that is committed to reparations,” said Byrd. “There is a lack of appetite and a lack of moral clarity from leaders in Washington on this issue.”
Since President Biden has been elected, Ray said that his promises to the Black community have fallen flat. Although the Black vote helped him get in office, his actions have’t matched his words. The anticipated George Floyd Justice in Policing Act wasn’t passed. According to Ray, instead of police reform, more money has been given to the police.
“This is why we have to rely on the words of the great James Baldwin who says ‘I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do,’” Ray said to describe his disappointment.
Although Greenbelt made a historic decision this Tuesday, there is still more learning and planning to do on the state and national level.
“I believe that in light of that history and in light of various other things, there is more work for us to do when it comes to helping African American residents and having greater access to accumulate wealth,” said Byrd.