WHEREAS, the majority of African Americans living in the United States of America are descendants of African people who were kidnapped or illegally purchased from the continent of Africa, and endured a tortuous and often deadly Transatlantic voyage being chained together, and later sold as property, and statutorily sanctioned to enslavement and forced to labor for a lifetime without compensation during the years 1619 to 1865; and
WHEREAS, the institution of African American enslavement is inextricably woven into the establishing, history, and prosperity of the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, following the abolition of legalized slavery, federal, state, and local governments in the United States continued to perpetuate, condone, and often profit from policies and practices that disadvantaged African Americans, including voter suppression, unregulated sharecropping, convict leasing, Jim Crow laws, redlining, subpar education, the denial of public services, land seizure, and discriminatory treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS, adopted discriminatory statutes and laws that relegated African Americans to unequal treatment under law and lower-class citizenship deprived African Americans of millions in wage and asset earnings and other economic opportunities and meaningful participation in society; and
WHEREAS, as a result of historic discrimination and often ongoing unequal treatment, African Americans continue to lag behind in economic, educational, social mobility and in critical health outcomes; and
WHEREAS, on April 14, 2021, the United States House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee passed House Resolution 40: The Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, and the bill was re-introduced in January 2023 for the 24th time. The State of California has established, through Senate Bill 490, the California American Freedman Affairs Agency, to implement the California Reparations Taskforce’s Recommendations; and
WHEREAS, more than two dozen local governments have authorized commissions to study reparations, including, but not limited to: Fulton County, Georgia; Shelby County, Tennessee; Alameda County, California; San Francisco, California; Asheville, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Northampton, Massachusetts; Burlington, Vermont; Amherst, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; St. Paul, Minnesota, St. Petersburg, Florida; Providence, Rhode Island; Durham, North Carolina; and
WHEREAS, Evanston, Illinois was the first city to implement a reparations program; and
WHEREAS, the City of Atlanta enacted and implemented segregation policies that discriminated against African Americans.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, establishes the City of Atlanta Reparations Study Commission:
COMMISSION ESTABLISHMENT AND MEMBERSHIP:
The City of Atlanta Reparations Study Commission shall consist of eleven (11) voting members and three (3) ex-officio members, appointed as follows:
a) The Mayor of the City of Atlanta shall appoint one (1) member who has a professional background in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
b) The President of the Atlanta City Council shall appoint one (1) member who has a professional background in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
c) The Atlanta City Council At-Large Post/District clusters shall appoint one member each for a total of three (3) members who has a professional background in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
d) One (1) member shall be a representative from Clark Atlanta University with academic credentials in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
e) One (1) member shall be a representative from Georgia State University with academic credentials in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
f) One (1) member shall be a representative from Morehouse College with academic credentials in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
g) One (1) member shall be a representative from Morris Brown College with academic credentials in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
h) One (1) member shall be a representative from Spelman College with academic credentials in African American history, civil rights, social sciences and/or social science data collection and analysis
i) One (1) member shall be appointed from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.’s Atlanta Alumnae Chapter Reparations Sub-Committee
j) An ex-officio member shall be from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
k) An ex-officio member shall be from the National African American Reparations Commission
l) An ex-officio member shall be from the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA)
COMMISSION LEADERSHIP AND TERMS OF APPOINTMENT
a) The Commission shall elect a chair and vice-chair from among its members. The term of office of each shall be for the life of the Commission.
b) The term of office for members shall be for the life of the Commission. A vacancy in the Commission shall not affect the powers of the Commission and shall be filled in the same manner that the original appointment was made.
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
The City of Atlanta Administration will assist, as appropriate, in providing administrative, technical, and legal assistance to the Commission.
REPORTING DUTIES
The Commission will be responsible for providing quarterly reports on the progress of the Reparations Commission to the Community Development/Human Services Committee. A final report with recommendations shall be submitted by the sunset date of the Commission.
LOCAL REPARATIONS
Any municipal-level reparations actions that are undertaken as a result of this Commission’s recommendations are not a replacement for any reparations enacted at the federal or state levels and shall not be interpreted as such or serve to supplant or substitute for each.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Reparations Study Commission shall sunset on December 31, 2025, unless otherwise extended by legislative action of the Atlanta City Council.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that all resolutions, or parts of resolutions, in conflict herewith are waived to the extent of the conflict only.