By Dreisen Heath, Human Rights Watch
Researcher/Advocate, US Program
There is a lot of misinformation about reparations in the public sphere. There is absolutely no substitute for what the federal government owes descendants of enslaved Africans in the U.S., but violations also happened at the local, state, and institutional levels.
Specific harms require a specific remedy or repair mechanism. The right to an effective remedy for human rights violations, including acts of racial discrimination, is guaranteed under international human rights law (applicable to the U.S.).
Reparations for the legacy of slavery should rectify past and ongoing harms resulting from violations to the human right to freedom from discrimination, including with respect to housing, health, education, life, security of person, water and sanitation, a healthy environment, and etc.
Reparations can take any of the following forms as defined by international human rights standards:
- Restitution
- Compensation
- Rehabilitation
- Satisfaction
- Guarantees of non-repetition
(See further explanation at the Human Rights Watch)
Ultimately, affected community members (victims of rights violations) must be the ones to determine their own recipe for repair. That may also include targeted investment and programming measures, as a result of specific harm(s).
Following the horrific crimes and abuses during enslavement and after the US declared enslaved Black people free, federal, state, and local governments passed anti-Black, racist, and gender-biased policies that further entrenched structural racism.
This includes racialized and class-based housing segregation. At the federal level, more than 270 million acres of land (via Homestead Act) was granted to mostly white people. “Urban removal” and federally-financed highway construction destroyed Black neighborhoods across the U.S.
At least 239 cities were “redlined,” making it virtually impossible to obtain a home mortgage loan. The federal government and local governments colluded with private lenders to create barriers to homeownership exacerbating the wealth gap.
At the local level, housing inequities were further compounded by additional discriminatory housing policies and practices, such as local exclusionary zoning laws.
Under the leadership of Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, Evanston, Illinois City Council just approved the 1st phase of their reparations program to acknowledge the harm caused by discriminatory housing policies, practices and inaction going back more than a century.
As mentioned above, communities must determine their own recipe for repair. In July 2019, an Evanston city commission held community meetings to solicit feedback on what reparations should look like. Affordable housing and economic development were the top priorities identified.
The first remedy proposal earmarks $400,000 for $25,000 homeownership and improvement grants, as well as in mortgage assistance for Black residents who are descendants of people impacted by the city’s discriminatory housing policies between 1919 & 1969.
This is just ONE piece of a larger plan which will use $10 million over an estimated 10 years, collected by the city, primarily levying a cannabis tax on sales revenue, in addition to community and other corporate donations.
Local governments should continue to examine their racist past and present that impacts the livelihoods of Black people. Local remedy is not a replacement for federal action, but rather supplemental given the harms were inflicted at various levels. We need to have an informed and fact-based discussion on these issues. The only way this country will see holistic remedy for the legacy of slavery is if there is action taken at the institutional, local, state and federal level.
What happened in Evanston, Illinois today is historic and will help provide a pathway for other cities. It should be treated as such, knowing there is a long way to go for the city of Evanston and the country at large. A Black woman did that! Next up H.R. 40.
Reparations Now!