AP
PROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY
________________________
C
ITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
O
AKLAND CITY COUNCIL
RESOLUTION NO. ______________ C.M.S.
I
NTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER CARROLL FIFE
RE
SOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS
IDENTIFIED IN THE FINAL REPORT FROM THE CALIFORNIA TASK
FORCE TO STUDY AND DEVELOP REPARATION PROPOSALS FOR
AFRICAN AMERICANS ; AND DECLARING COUNCIL’S INTENT TO
IMPLEMENT THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS WHICH POTENTIALLY
AND SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE CONDITIONS FOR BLACK
OAKLANDERS AND TO ADVOCATE FOR THE STATEWIDE AND
FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REFORMS PRESENTED IN
THE FINAL REPORT
W
HEREAS, in 2020 California State Assembly Bill 3121 (Weber) was passed into law and led to the establishment of a task force to 1) study the issue of reparations for African Americans; 2) propose ways to educate the California public about its findings; and 3) make recommendations on the forms that reparations might take as part of a final report; and W
HEREAS, The California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposal s for African Americans, commonly referred to as the Reparations Taskforce, was tasked with studying and developing reparation proposals for African Americans, with special consideration for African American descendants of persons enslaved in the United States, for ongoing harm arising from chattel slavery; de jure and de facto discrimination against freed slaves and their descendants from the end of the Civil War to the present, including economic, political, educational, and social discrimination; and the lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery on living African - Americans descendants of enslaved persons; and
W
HEREAS, the Reparations Task Force, co nsists of 9 members: Dr. Cheryl Grills, Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe, Kamilah Moore, Lisa Holder, Vice Chair Dr. Amos C. Brown, Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis, Senator Steven Bradford, Assemblymember Reginald Jones - Sawyer, and Donald K. Tamaki; and
WH
EREAS, in the course of fulfilling their mandate and to inform the recommendations found in the Final Report, the Reparations Task Force held 16 public meetings, to consider public
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comments, expert, and personal witness testimony —in total, the Task Force heard over 48 hours of testimony from 133 witnesses, as well as over 28 hours of public comment in the course of its meetings, and received approximately 4,000 emails and 150 phone calls; and
WHEREAS, on June 29, 2023, the Reparations Task Force issued its Final Report to the California Legislature and in the Report, they identify over 100 recommendations from monetary compensation to descendants of enslaved African Americans to a variety of recommendations to repair harms in the areas of housing, criminal justice, environment, education, economic justice, and more;1 and
WHEREAS, some key recommendations, include:
I. Structural change:
• Repeal Proposition 209
• Mandate Effective Racial Impact Analyses
• Abolish the death penalty
II. Criminal justice:
• Amend the California Constitution to Prohibit Involuntary Servitude • Require Payment of Fair Market Value for Labor Provided by Incarcerated Persons (Whether in Jail or Prison)
• Eliminate Barriers to Licensure for People with Criminal Records • Prohibit Cash Bail and Mandate that Those Who Are Acquitted or Exonerated be Reimbursed by the Entity or Entities at Fault • Enact Enforceable Legislation with Penalties that Dismantles the School to Prison Pipeline and Decriminalizes the Youth Justice System • Prohibit Pretextual Traffic and Pedestrian Stops, Probation Inquiries, and Consent-Only Searches
III. Housing:
• Collect Data on Housing Discrimination
• Provide a Right to Return for Displaced African American Californians • Provide Property Tax Relief to African Americans, Especially Descendants, Living in Formerly Redlined Neighborhoods, Who Purchase or Construct a New Home
• Provide Direct Financial Assistance to Increase Home Ownership Among African Americans, Especially Descendants, Through Shared Appreciation Loans and Subsidized Down Payments, Mortgages, and Homeowner’s Insurance
IV. Education:
• Increase Funding to Schools to Address Racial Disparities • Adopt a K-12 Black Studies Curriculum
• Implement Systematic Review of School Discipline Data • Adopt the Freedom School Summer Program
• Improve Access to Educational Opportunities for All Incarcerated People
1 The California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Final Report, June 29, 2023
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• Fund Free Tuition to California Public Colleges and Universities • Identify and Eliminate Racial Bias and Discrimination in Statewide K -12 Proficiency Assessments
V. Environment:
• Increase Greenspace Access and Recreation Opportunities in African American Communities
• Test for and Eliminate Toxicity in Descendant Communities • Increase Trees in Redlined and Descendant Communities • Develop Climate Resilience Hubs in Redlined and Descendant Communities
• Remove Lead in Drinking Water
• Prevent Highway Expansion and Mitigate Transportation Pollution VI. Economic:
• Guaranteed Income Program for Descendants
• Transform the Minimum Wage Back into a Living Wage
• Create and Fund Professional Career Training
• Create or Fund Apprenticeship Grant Programs
• Fund African American Businesses and Banks
WHEREAS, as stated in the Reparations Task Force’s Final Report, “when African Americans are not an exclusive focus of reparative policies and programs, they invariably end up at the back of the line and receive disproportionately fewer benefits than others”; and
WHEREAS, the City of Oakland has taken several legislative actions that are in line with, and complement the statewide reparations work; and
WHEREAS, on June 28, 2022, the Community and Economic Development Committee received and forwarded to the City Council a report on the impact of financing relationships, housing, zoning, and related municipal policies that created the Cypress Freeway, the 7 th Street
Post Office, the West Oakland BART station, and all redlined areas of Council District 3, including an analysis of displacement through eminent domain, lost wealth due to segregation, depreciated property value and gentrification; and
WHEREAS, the Committee report noted the extraordinary level of ex traction and dispossession from Black communities in the City and that West Oakland, as the area where Black migrants from Southern states first settled, is the epicenter of harm; and
WHEREAS, on June 30, 2022, the City Council adopted the fiscal year 2022-23 mid-cycle budget pursuant to Resolution No. 89283 C.M.S., which allocated $150,000 for a “Black New Deal Reparations Equity Impact Analysis” and granted authorization to Rename Fund 2422 to Black New Deal Fund; and
WHEREAS, on May 16, 2023, the City Council awarded a professional services contract to BluSummers, LLC to conduct a racial impact analysis for an amount not to exceed $150,000 to study the on-going effects of public policy decisions and actions such as redlining, displacement through eminent domain, urban renewal, and gentrification of the Black community in Oakland to 3291960/JB 4
assess ways to redress the harms caused through a “Black New Deal”, pursuant to Resolution No. 89744 C.M.S.; and
WHEREAS, the Council acknowledges and understands that the recommendations found the Reparations Task Force’s Final Report are in line with its own efforts to identify the specific harms done to Black residents in our City and ways to redress those harms; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That the Oakland City Council supports the recommendations identified in the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Final Report; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED: That the Council shall work collaboratively with the Mayor and City Administrator to implement recommendations from the Final Report that have the potential to substantially improve conditions for Black residents in our City and shall advocate for the implementation of statewide and federal reforms as presented in the Final Report.
IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,
PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES - FIFE, GALLO, JENKINS, KALB, KAPLAN, RAMACHANDRAN, REID, AND
PRESIDENT FORTUNATO BAS
NOES –
ABSENT –
ABSTENTION –
ATTEST:
ASHA REED
City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the
City of Oakland, California