The Ann Arbor City Council unanimously approved the DC-4 resolution to evaluate the feasibility of a municipal reparations program for Black Ann Arbor residents at a meeting June 18. The resolution directs the City Administrator to determine a source of funding for the study, which will report on the feasibility and structure of the proposed program by December. Additionally, the study will provide an impact report concerning the historical discrimination against the Black community that the program should address.
Councilmembers Cynthia Harrison, D-Ward 1, and Chris Watson, D-Ward 2, spearheaded the initiative. Councilmembers Ayesha Ghazi Edwin, D-Ward 3, Lisa Disch, D-Ward 1, and Jen Eyer, D-Ward 4, also supported the bill.
According to Watson’s statement at the meeting, financial support for the feasibility study may come from two sources: unspent funding from other programs – as was the case with New Human Services Partnership and opioid settlement money from the state – or from the city’s two-year budget cycle, determined next May. Watson said the feasibility study will help determine the most effective source of funding for the reparations.
“This approach allows us to commit to the first step while giving city administration the flexibility to examine the market and find a funding source, rather than (the) council dictating one at the outset,” Watson said.
In the resolution, the council defined municipal reparations not only as financial restitution but also acknowledgments and increased city involvement in empowering Black communities. In the meeting, Councilmember Harrison emphasized that reparations would focus on healing and rectifying the historical damage done to the Black community in Ann Arbor.
“Reparations are not about handouts,” Harrison said. “They are about acknowledging the injustices of the past, understanding their impacts and finding ways to address them so that we all can heal. This process involves looking into our city’s history, confronting the uncomfortable truths and seeking justice for those who have been wronged.”
Many Ann Arbor neighborhoods have been found to have racially restrictive covenants buried in historical property records, while historically Black neighborhoods in the area continue to face ongoing gentrification. Black-owned businesses in both local and statewide markets continue to be underrepresented and face difficulty accessing credit, capital and other entrepreneurial resources.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, Harrison wrote she hopes the potential program will help Black residents feel acknowledged by the city.
“My hope is that Black Ann Arborites, both current and former, feel validated and finally have their voices heard regarding their experiences,” Harrison wrote. “I believe that for the entire community to heal and move forward, it is crucial to document our history, reconcile past events, and repair wounds.”
According to Watson, work towards acknowledging racial inequalities the Black community faces is already taking place in Ann Arbor and elsewhere in Washtenaw County. At the meeting, Watson said Ann Arbor’s future participation in this work would be an important addition to existing efforts carried out by local organizations and the council to preserve Black history and address residents’ needs.
“While this is a first step toward reparations, the form these efforts will ultimately take will come from the community,” Watson said. “Groups like Justice InDeed, which catalogs racially restrictive covenants in Washtenaw County, and the contributors to a documentary about the predominantly African-American Jones School are examples of community members already doing this work. I’m also grateful to our Community Leadership Council members for the Dunbar Tower. At the county level, there is also a reparations advisory council on which Ann Arbor residents serve. It’s time for the city of Ann Arbor to add to these efforts.”
Municipal reparations programs for Black citizens are still new to cities across the U.S. In 2019, Evanston, Illinois, became the first city in the country to introduce a government-funded reparations program. $10 million from Evanston’s recreational cannabis sales tax was dedicated to a housing initiative that offers Black residents who lived in the city from 1919 to 1969 and their direct descendants $25,000 each for property repairs and costs.
In an interview with The Daily, Councilmember Disch said her connection to Evanston contributed to her involvement in the push for reparations in Ann Arbor.
“I’m from Evanston, Illinois, which has one of the first reparations programs in the country, and so I have been following the issue closely,” Disch said. “I’d love to see my current hometown joining the town I was born in to do this kind of work.”
In an email to The Daily, LSA rising junior Amiah Blackwell, the community relations officer for the Black Undergraduate Public Policy Society, criticized the resolution as performative and said it lacked specificity.
“The legislation mentions plans to study reparations, but it lacks details on how these studies will be conducted, their duration, the number of participants and the specific areas they will cover,” Blackwell wrote. “Overall, while the effort behind this resolution is acknowledged, significant improvements are needed in order for it to be effective.”
When asked about the details of the study, Harrison wrote the council does not currently have specifics to provide but would continue to pursue establishing a program.
“We are at the beginning phase of a complex but deeply important process,” Harrison wrote. “While I don’t know what that exact process is, we are committed to bringing forward a reparations program in the City of Ann Arbor which meaningfully addresses past harm while steering clear of the constitutional pitfalls we have seen in programs begun in other municipalities.”
Disch explained it was too early to outline any details on a reparations program but emphasized the importance of taking a first step toward the council’s goal.
“We’re at a very preliminary stage here because we don’t yet have a funding source, and what we’ve asked for is a study,” Disch said. “It’s a preliminary stage, but that doesn’t mean it’s insignificant. It’s a significant stage because there was such strong council support to explore this.”
Summer News Editor Marissa Corsi can be reached at macorsi@umich.edu.
The post ‘It’s time’: Ann Arbor City Council passes resolution to conduct feasibility study on reparations for Black residents appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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