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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 12-07-2020; 4-b - Resolution in Support of Reparations for African American Blacks 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: December 7, 2020 Action Agenda Item No. 4-b SUBJECT: Resolution in Support of Reparations for African American/Blacks DEPARTMENT: County Commissioners/ Human Rights and Relations ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Resolution in Support of Reparation for Commissioner Renee Price African Americans/Blacks (919) 245-2130 Annette Moore, (919) 245-2317 PURPOSE: Resolution in Support of Reparation for African American/Blacks on the 155th Anniversary of the 13th Amendment. BACKGROUND: The first unfree Africans arrived in the English Colony of Virginia in August 1619. This period marked the beginning in American history, where people of African descent were forcibly taken from their homeland, transported to the American colonies, and committed to lifelong slavery. On December 6, we mark the 155th Anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States. After ratification in 1865, the immediate impact of the 13th Amendment was to stop chattel slavery in the southern states and involuntary servitude that had increased after the civil war in the South and southwestern states. Section 2 of the 13th Amendment further authorized Congress to "enforce" the ban on slavery and indentured servitude and passing "appropriate legislation." Since the passage of the 13th Amendment, Congress has passed direct legislation banning involuntary servitude. In 1883, the Supreme Court interpreted Section 2 as "empower[ing] Congress to do more" than pass direct enforcement legislation. The Supreme Court indicated Congress should " pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of slavery in the United States." The Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3, 20 (1883). Congress has used the 13th Amendment to enact civil rights laws that target the badges and incidents of slavery by prohibiting public and private racial discrimination in areas such as contracting, housing, and hate crimes. The Supreme Court in The Civil Rights Cases found that the 13th Amendment promised the freed slaves "universal civil and political freedom." The Supreme Court determined Congress was to use appropriate legislative concepts to assist freed slaves in fulfilling the promise of universal civil and political freedom and passing all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all 2 badges and incidents of slavery. The 13th Amendment was enacted to free Black people from slavery and servitude and deputize Congress to fulfill the Amendment's promises. The pledge given freed slaves was that they would receive the full complement of federal civil rights and protections to fully enjoy citizenship denied to them at this Country's inception. This promise was confirmed by the Supreme Court in the Civil Rights Cases in 1883, but yet continues today to be an unfulfilled promise of the full complement of rights of citizenship. After the emancipation of slaves, governments were more concerned with providing compensation to former slave owners for losing their "human property" rather than ensuring the rights of freed slaves. In 1865, General Sherman's Field Order No. 15 divided abandoned and confiscated plantations in South Carolina and low country South Carolina into 40 acres lots. The newly freed slaves were given a lot along with a mule. Later the policy was rescinded by Andrew Johnson, and the land returned to former slave owners. Southern Reconstruction was quickly overtaken by "Redemption" led by While Liners, Red Shirts, and Klansman bent on subjecting freed blacks to racial terror, including lynching, to keep them in their place. Federal Union troops withdrew from the South in 1877, leaving the black citizens to fend for themselves as they had to navigate racial terrorism and governmental laws that allowed them to be segregated, disenfranchised, and held for debt peonage, convict leasing, and in semi-servitude. We see the vestiges of racial terror as the world watched George Floyd die with a knew on his neck. The government has enacted laws that have disenfranchised Black citizens not only politically and socially but also economically. Roosevelt's omnibus programs, passed under the Social Security Act of 1935, was drafted in race-neutral ways that disenfranchised a majority of Black citizens. Congress enacted the Social Security legislation, leaving out farmworkers and domestics; nationally, 65% of black people were disenfranchised, and 70-80% of those Blacks people lived in the South.' The Federal Housing Administration ("FHA") was created in 1930 to assist average Americans purchasing homes. The FHA underwriters warned realtors that even one or two non-white in the suburbs could undermine the property values. In the 1930s, the federal government then institutionalized a nationalized appraisal system that used race as a factor in real property assessments. Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government underwrote 120 billion dollars in new housing loans; less than 2% of those dollars went to non- whites. Consequently, many Blacks veterans returning from the wars couldn't benefit from the GI Bills VA loans. Redlining, blockbusting, restrictive covenants, predatory contract sales practices all served to deprive blacks of building economic wealth and kept neighborhoods racially segregated. Today, the average net worth of white families and black families continues to be disproportionate. Staff is requesting a Resolution in support of Reparation for African American/Black People as a way forward to address and redress the promise that should have been made to the unfreed slaves by the Constitution of the United States "that all men are created equal." Staff is further requesting the Board to support the Resolution because reparation fulfills the promise made in 1865 by the 13t" Amendment for the government to use its authority to remove all badges and incidents of slavery so that black people can enjoy the full complements of rights of citizenship. ' Coates,Te-Nehisi,"The Case for Reparations,"June 2014,https://www.theatlantic.com/ma,gazine/archive/2014/06/the-case- for-reparations/361631/? clg id=CiwKCAiA-_L9BRBQEiwA- bm5fvBR9e6G�zHXvtQg8eNRYAdZwOYgd3clySpS6SbN6EsxlgdhsCyyYYhoCzwgQAvD_BwE,accessed November 25, 2020. 3 FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with adopting the resolution. SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goals are applicable to this item: • GOAL: FOSTER A COMMUNITY CULTURE THAT REJECTS OPPRESSION AND INEQUITY The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race or color; religious or philosophical beliefs; sex, gender or sexual orientation; national origin or ethnic background; age; military service; disability; and familial, residential, or economic status. • GOAL: ENABLE FULL CIVIC PARTICIPATION Ensure that Orange County residents are able to engage the government through voting and volunteering by eliminating disparities in participation and barriers to participation. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no environmental impact. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the Resolution. 4 RES-2020-073 ORANGE OCOUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF REPARATIONS FOR BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICANS WHEREAS, on December 6, 1865, the United States Congress ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution thus abolishing slavery in the United States, stating: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction"; and WHEREAS, the 13`h Amendment, along with subsequent Constitutional Amendments, civil rights legislation and voting rights acts have sought to recognize and establish equality for people of the Black African diaspora who had been unjustly enslaved and oppressed prior to and since the founding of the United States of America; and WHEREAS,Black/African Americans nevertheless have been segregated,marginalized, disenfranchised, wrongfully incarcerated and lynched through intentional policies and practices including Jim Crow laws, racial terror and the exception clause in the 131h Amendment; and WHEREAS, Black/African Americans have been denied equal access to education and skills development, healthcare, housing, mortgages, neighborhoods, job opportunities and advancement, government grant and loan programs for farms and businesses, and equal rights and equal protections under the law; and WHEREAS, since the desegregation of schools, Black/African American students still are denied access to quality learning, are directed away from advanced courses, and face disciplinary actions at a disproportionate rate from white counterparts; and WHEREAS, as evidenced in morbidity/mortality rates, Black/African Americans received and still receive inadequate and sometimes detrimental healthcare and biased treatment by medical professionals; and WHEREAS, Black/African Americans have been and continue to be unjustly targeted, mistreated and abused by law enforcement and the criminal justice system; and WHEREAS, systemic racism in America, which originated over 400 years ago and has evolved and persists to the present day, has manifested itself as a specific trauma within Black/African Americans and the Black experience, and has affected American society as a whole; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, on behalf of the people of Orange County, affirms the dignity and humanity of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity,national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity,religion or creed; and BE IT RESOLVED, that Orange County apologizes for its role in the enslavement of Black/African American people, its enforcement of segregation, its promotion of prejudicial policies, and its implementation of discriminatory and detrimental practices and procedures; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners hereby is committed to working toward the elimination of racial bias and individual racism, the dismantling of 5 institutional racism and the eradication of structural racism; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners will support and augment the work of the One Orange Government Alliance on Race&Equity[GARS] Team; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners will proceed to collaborate with schools boards, county departments, governmental agencies, private entities and financial institutions with the express purpose of investing in our Black/African American students and their families, investing in Black-owned farms and businesses, investing in Black/African American workers and investing in communities of color as first steps in providing long overdue reparations for the centuries of suffering, loss, anguish, injustice and trauma inflicted upon Black/African American women, men and children; and BE IT MOREOVER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners shall forward this resolution to the Governor of North Carolina, the North Carolina General Assembly, the Orange County Delegation to the US House of Representatives, and the North Carolina Members of the United States Senate. Signed this 7"'day of December 2020. 6 1. Directs the County Manager to give, at a minimum, a bi-annual update to the Board of County Commissioners on the progress of work performed as it relates to this resolution. 2. Calls on the State of North Carolina to begin policy making and enact a program to allocate funding for reparations to governments at the local level. 3. Calls on the federal government to work toward the immediate enactment of the following policies: a. A program to provide reparations to the descendants of enslaved Africans sufficient to eliminate the racial wealth gap. b. A program to provide a universal basic income to all citizens sufficient to meet each person's basic needs. c. An increase in the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. or higher, with regular increases to account for increases in cost of living and inflation. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town of Carrboro requests that the Town Clerk send copies of this resolution to N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, N.C. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, U.S. Rep. David Price,U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, and U.S. Senator Richard Burr. This is the 7th day of December, 2020.