Providence mayor signs order to pursue truth, reparations for Black, Indigenous people

PROVIDENCE — Mayor Jorge Elorza on Wednesday signed an executive order to pursue a “truth-telling and reparations process” in the city, although exactly what form the reparations will take is yet to be determined.

“Today’s announcement is a commitment that we’re making to a process,” Elorza said during a news conference at the Dexter Training Ground, a green space next to the Cranston Street Armory where the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, the first Black company from Rhode Island to serve in the Civil War, trained and camped.

Political leaders for years have discussed the idea of reparations as financial compensation to the Black community for the wrongs of slavery and the decades of racism and discrimination that followed it. While no sweeping reparations measures have been enacted nationwide, groups of Americans have received compensation for historical injustices, including Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II, survivors of police abuse in Chicago and victims of forced sterilization, though each program came with its own problems.

Calls for reparations have renewed, along with demands to rename sites that honor people with ties to slavery and to defund or abolish police departments, amid waves of protests over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of white police officers in Minneapolis.

The process in Providence, Elorza said, will start with members of his administration and a group of African-American advisers meeting with historical societies and researchers to come up with a plan for sharing the state’s role throughout history in the institution of slavery, genocide of Indigenous people, forced assimilation and seizure of land. The history could be shared through methods such as exhibitions, community conversations and guest speakers, he said.

City leaders will also review local and state laws as part of this process, particularly those that result in discrimination against Black and Indigenous people in the public and private sectors, according to the city.

The city will then engage in a broad community conversation on the state’s history and the ways in which historical injustices and systemic racism continue to affect society today.

Determining what form reparations will take will be the last step of the process.

The mayor’s African American Ambassador Group, an ad hoc collective of about 100 African American leaders from the community, will advise throughout.

“What we’re doing here together is truly something historic,” Elorza said. “But most importantly, it comes directly from the voice of our Black community.”

Mike Stenhouse, founder and CEO of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, said in a statement that school choice, rather than reparations, was the best approach. He called the lack of quality education opportunities the biggest wrong of our time.

“While acknowledging that the liberal-left agenda has failed black and minority communities in contemporary times … by forcing their children to attend failed schools and by enacting policies that make it easy to become dependent on the government … it would be an unprecedented and immoral act of government to seek reparations - even for the horrible wrongs that were committed generations ago," the statement says.

But Jim Vincent, president of the Providence branch of the NAACP, said racism exists across party lines and cannot be considered a partisan issue.

“Rather than saying that, join us in sitting at the table and let’s find a way to make the Black community whole in Rhode Island,” he said.

Vincent said he agreed with Elorza’s approach to first expose the truth behind the state’s historical ties to slavery before beginning the discussion about what form reparations should take.

“Until we understand how we got here, there’s no way we can talk about what we can do to resolve this problem,” he said.

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North Carolina city moves to right wrongs

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Officials in the North Carolina city of Asheville have apologized for its historic role in slavery and discrimination and voted to provide reparations.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that unanimous vote was taken by the City Council on Tuesday.

The resolution on reparations does not require direct payments but will mandate investments in areas where Black residents face disparities.

“Hundreds of years of black blood spilled that basically fills the cup we drink from today,” said Councilman Keith Young, one of two Black council members and the measure’s chief proponent.

“It is simply not enough to remove statutes. Black people in this country are dealing with issues that are systemic in nature,” Young said.

Priorities could include efforts to increase minority home ownership, access to affordable housing and minority business ownership. The resolution also mentions strategies to close the gaps in health care, education and pay.

The resolution calls for the creation of a Community Reparations Commission to recommend programs and resources to be used.