Reparations commission completes voting, recommends 38 policies

Asheville and Buncombe’s Community Reparations Commission has completed its recommendations, passing 38 suggested policies and programs. After more than two years of research, reckoning, debate and dialogue, the Asheville and Buncombe Community Reparations Commission held its final vote, approving the last of its 38 policy recommendations for local government to address some of the systemic wrongs created by racism. The 25-member group finalized plans for a range of proposals including monetary reparations for urban renewal harm, a Black-led economic development center and universal early childhood education for Black children. At the June 17 meeting, members approved a proposal that would pay settlements of $148,000 to families and businesses negatively impacted by urban renewal. The money seeks to address the downturn that once-thriving Black neighborhoods – StumpTown, East-End, Hill Street and Southside – experienced as a result of the City of Asheville’s urban renewal policies in the late 1960s and 1970s which changed the housing code and in some cases, seized and demolished property from Black owners. Under the guise of rehabilitation and redevelopment, the city seized 930 parcels of land from primarily Black business and homeowners over the span of a decade, according to a 2022 study by Advanced Information...