Amherst Reparations Committee’s charge under review

Daily Hampshire Gazette – Amherst Reparations Committee’s charge under review STAFF PHOTO STAFF PHOTO AMHERST — A charge for the municipal committee that will determine how best to make reparations for harms caused to people and their descendants by slavery in the United States will continue to be studied by a Town Council committee. The Town Council Monday referred an overhauled charge, and a possible change in membership for the Amherst Reparations Committee, to the Governance, Organization and Legislation Committee for further examination. The committee, when formed, will examine proposals for using up to $100,000 annually to address harms perpetrated against residents of African heritage. The unanimous decision by councilors came after At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke postponed a vote on the charge at the council’s Oct. 7 meeting and then brought extensive revisions that she said aim “to center the committee to and connect it to the repairing of harms for past actions, those caused by support of slavery and post Reconstruction attempts to continue slavery’s effects, and the harms suffered by those individuals who were enslaved.” Hanneke said the previous version, already extensively reviewed by the council committee, focused on dismantling racism, which is forward looking, and...