BUSD Reparations Task Force soon to finalize recommendations

The Berkeley Unified School District, or BUSD, Reparations Task Force met Tuesday to finalize the type of reparations they will recommend to the school board and began discussing how they will recommend the board funds the programs. The Task Force explained in its motivation statement on their website that the need for reparations stems from the persistence of inequality as a result of race-based policies. This inequality can be seen in disparities in literacy rates, homeownership and educational outcomes. “The system of chattel slavery on American soil ingrained race-based inequity in American society,” the website notes. “It pervaded every aspect of daily American life and has persisted ever since the Thirteenth Amendment officially abolished slavery in 1865, including in race-based policies such as school segregation and redlining.” If the Task Force’s efforts are successful, BUSD could be the first school district in the country to implement a reparations program. BUSD has been at the forefront of similar progressive movements in the past, as it were the first major school district to voluntarily desegregate schools, having done so in 1968, according to the motivation statement. While the task force, which is made up of five BUSD staff members, three BUSD students...