Dear Fellow Supporters of the Reparative Justice Resolution in Raleigh,

We have made a lot of progress with the Reparative Justice Resolution we submitted to the Raleigh City Council, but we knew there would be pushback. The resolution that was adopted did not have the taskforce to study the current damage done to our community by systemic racism. We need that task force if we are to move forward with healing and uniting our community. Our next step is to contact all candidates for the upcoming election to city council and mayor asking where they stand on this critical issue. Our working group has sent the email below to all candidates, but it is easy for them to ignore the four questions coming from our group. It is not so easy for them to ignore if their constituents ask them for answers. So, that is what we are asking: please contact the candidates asking for their response. This is a great opportunity for us to make important progress toward the adoption of a task force. The more of us who directly ask each candidate if they will support the taskforce, the more likely it will come into being. Below is a link to all the candidates and their contact information. Thank you.

https://raleighnc.gov/government/services/vote-local-2024-our-community-our-city-your-vote#paragraph--357142

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As a candidate for (Raleigh City Council or Mayor), we'd like your feedback on the Raleigh Reparative Justice Resolution so we can share your thoughts with our supporters as they make their voting decisions. 

In 2021, the Raleigh Human Commission (HRC) was given the assignment from the Raleigh City Council to work with the Raleigh Friends Meeting (Quakers) on their "Resolution Supporting Community Reparative Justice for the African-American Community in Raleigh." The HRC established a committee to research and review.  The committee comprised six commissioners, of which three are attorneys, and one is now a representative in the NC House.  In April 2023, after many delays by the Mayor and City Council, HRC presented the Resolution to the Raleigh Mayor and City Council.   

The Raleigh Reparative Justice Working Group has been working on getting a reparative justice resolution passed by the Raleigh City Council for over three years.  On July 5, 2023, the Deputy City Attorney (directed by the Mayor) submitted an edited version of the resolution that removed the section requesting the task force to study the impact of systemic racism.  The edited version acknowledged and apologized for past and present systemic racism, which the Council voted on and approved. Without the task force, an apology begins the healing process; however, it will not move our community forward to address the continuing racial issues we currently experience.  There are over 25 organizations [list attached] representing thousands of citizens who are supporters of our original resolution, which included the task force. 

Over the past year, action has yet to be taken.  As a candidate for one of the (Raleigh City Council District X or Raleigh City Council At Large, or Mayor) that will be elected in November 2024, we ask that you provide your thoughts on a few questions that we can share with the supporters of the Reparative Justice Resolution as they make their voting decisions.

1. How do you believe historical injustices, such as slavery, colonialism, and systemic discrimination, have shaped current society and will shape future inequalities?
2. How do you plan to involve affected communities in the conversation and decision-making process about reparative justice?
3. What strategies do you suggest to ensure the reparative justice initiatives are adequately funded and sustained over time?
4. How would you address opposition to reparative justice measures from those who may not see them as necessary, beneficial, or desirable?
 

Best Regards,

Mary Thompson

Diane Bellamy

Deborah Bromiley

John A. Shuford

Mark Davidson

Reparative Justice Working Group

Raleigh, NC 27610

 

 

 

 

OLD UPDATES/NEWS:

To: Supporting Organizations and Individuals
From: Raleigh Reparative Justice Community Working Group
Re: UPDATE on the Reparative Justice Resolution: A SHIFT IN STRATEGY

On Wednesday, July 5, the Raleigh City Council passed unanimously a weakened version of our resolution [LINK to news account]. The Council r
emoved the creation of a commission, the most important part of our resolution - a commission of qualified community members who would study issues of systematic racism for 180 days, and make recommendations of concrete steps to remedy the impact of racism on the African American community in Raleigh. The Council expressed a public apology for past racism against the African American community in Raleigh. We welcome this initial step, but the Council provided no mechanism for redress. We feel strongly that an apology without concrete steps to remedy the destructive impact of both past and ongoing systematic racism is insincere and totally unacceptable. We knew there would be pushback and that meaningful progress would require several steps.

The Reparative Justice Community Working Group met this past Friday, July 7. We debated our next steps, and decided on a shift in strategy.

●       We want the Council to form a Reparative Justice Task Force with a new name but the same job description we gave the commission in our original resolution

●       The Human Relations Commission was able to move the Resolution forward and received the current response from the City Council.  We now need to move to an all-community initiative making a direct appeal to the Council.

●       ACTION NEEDED: We are asking everyone to contact their City Council members and tell them what we want and why (talking points to follow), and to remind them that we put them in office, and we will be remembering how they voted in the next election cycle

●       ACTION NEEDED: We need strong demonstrations of broad community support for our initiative whenever public comment is permitted at City Council meetings –

August 15, September 12, and we will keep you posted about other dates. See dates here.   PLEASE SIGN UP TO MAKE PUBLIC COMMENT THAT WHILE WE ARE APPRECIATIVE OF THE CITY’S FIRST STEP ON APPROVING THE RESOLUTION, WE NEED FURTHER ACTION.  THE CREATION OF A REPARATIVE JUSTICE TASKFORCE IS CRUCIAL TO FURTHERING ANTI-RACISM WORK IN RALEIGH.

●       ACTION REQUESTED: We are asking you to commit to send representatives to these crucially important public comment opportunities and to keep us informed so that we can coordinate our efforts.

 

It is critically important each council member knows that the Raleigh community takes Reparative Justice and its full implementation very seriously. To see who your city council member is, go to: https://raleighnc.gov/city-council

We welcome any questions and feedback you may have. Stronger Together!

Peace,
The Reparative Justice Resolution Working Group
Mark Davidson, John Shuford, Diane Bell, Mary Thompson, Deborah Bromiley (deborahbromiley12@gmail.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

We need your support! The Human Relations Commission will present a Reparative Justice Resolution to the Raleigh City Council.  The resolution is below. Please sign the petition as soon as possible, to show strong community support!  (We are not soliciting funds for this effort.)  We are waiting to hear a date for this to be presented to the Raleigh City Council.

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING COMMUNITY REPARATIVE JUSTICE FOR THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN RALEIGH

Whereas, African and African-American persons have been
unjustly enslaved, lynched, segregated, and incarcerated;

Whereas, African-American persons have experienced housing
discrimination by government agencies, banks, and the private real
estate market, through redlining, steering, blockbusting, denial of
mortgage loans, urban renewal, gentrification, and more;

Whereas, African-American communities have been harmed by the
health effects of environmental racism, including the
disproportionate location of industrial, dump, and toxic waste sites
in African-American neighborhoods;

Whereas, African-American persons have been harmed by economic
disinvestment in their communities by banks and grocery stores,
creating food deserts and lack of access to key services;

Whereas, African-American persons have experienced
employment discrimination, restricted opportunities, and wage
disparities in the local economy regardless of credentials and
experience;

Whereas, African-American businesses and communities have
suffered from a disproportionately low share of economic
development funding;

Whereas, African-American students have been educationally
marginalized through the history of segregated, unequal school
systems, and a persistent achievement gap due to underinvestment,
discriminatory disciplinary practices, and exclusion from academically
gifted, advanced placement, and honors classes;

Whereas, African-American communities suffer from a history of
inadequate and detrimental health care as exemplified by
disproportionate morbidities and mortality rates resulting from the
generational trauma of white supremacy, discriminatory treatment by medical professionals, medical deserts, involuntary sterilizations, denial
of adequate testing, preventive and curative procedures;

Whereas, African-American persons have been targeted by the
criminal justice system through racial profiling, police brutality,
inadequate legal representation, prosecutorial misconduct, unjust
rulings, harsh sentencing, and barriers to reintegrating into society;

Whereas, local, state, and federal governments have a moral and
practical obligation to adopt policies, develop programs, and allocate
funding to redress demonstrable harms to African-Americans to which
those governments have contributed;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF RALEIGH THAT:

The City of Raleigh

1) Apologizes for Raleigh’s past participation in, enforcement of, and
benefiting from the enslavement of African and African-American
persons;

2) Apologizes for Raleigh’s enforcement of segregation and Jim Crow
laws;

3) Apologizes for Raleigh’s designing and implementing “urban
renewal” programs that destroyed multiple thriving
African-American communities in Raleigh;

4) Establishes a Racial Equity and Reparative Justice Commission,
to be comprised of 15 members that shall include residents of
Raleigh with expertise in anti-racism practices, to meet regularly
to identify and study Raleigh’s role in the historic oppression of
African and African-American persons through slavery and any of
Raleigh’s past acts, practices, and policies that discriminated
against African-American persons, including in the areas of
housing, economic opportunity, educational opportunity,
environmental harm, public health, and criminal justice; and to
propose policies to remediate identifiable harms stemming from
any past acts of discrimination by Raleigh against the
African-American community that the Commission identifies,
which are not inconsistent with the City Charter, North Carolina
General Statutes, or state and federal constitutions;

5) Calls on the Commission, with support from the City Manager and
the Office of Equity and Inclusion, to produce a report for the City
Council with findings and preliminary recommendations within
180 days of the passage of this resolution.

6) Will, within 60 days of the adoption of this Resolution,
establish a formal bi-annual review process to review and
assess the progress of work pursuant to this Resolution,
including engaging the public in feedback on these
reviews.

7) Calls on public and private organizations and institutions
in Raleigh that have advanced and benefitted from racial
inequity to work cooperatively with the City to
comprehensively redress policies and practices of systemic
racism within their own structures and programs.

8) Calls on the State of North Carolina, the Governor, and
the North Carolina General Assembly to initiate
reparative justice policies at the state level.