Realizing Reparations

An exclusive digital series exploring the leading edges of the reparations ecosystem—and revealing a path toward healing and reconciliation. 4 MIN READ Feb 26, 2024 One of the most concrete solutions to righting the wrongs of racial harm in the United States—slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and ongoing systemic racism—is reparations for Black Americans. While federal legislation on financial compensation has languished in Congress for decades, there have been great strides on local and state levels.  But that progress is likely invisible to a casual media consumer, as coverage of these myriad efforts in mainstream media has been cursory, at best. That’s why YES! has created “Realizing Reparations,” a six-part series of deeply reported stories that illuminate the rich ecosystems of reparations already growing throughout the country. We are proud to present this series, funded by a grant from the Decolonizing Wealth Project, during Black History Month.  As Torsheta Jackson explains in her examination of local reparations efforts, cities such as Evanston and Chicago in Illinois, as well as Asheville, North Carolina, are carrying out their own versions of reparations, paving the way for other cities around the nation to do the same.  But in Tulsa, Oklahoma, home to arguably the...