Boston would form a new commission to weigh how it can provide reparations and other forms of atonement for its role in slavery and its legacy of inequality, under a proposal being presented to the City Council this week:
The commission would then report out its findings within two years, addressing how Boston can formally apologize for its role in the slave trade, how city laws and policies continue to disproportionately impact African Americans and how those injuries can be reversed, according to a copy of the proposal provided to The Associated Press.
Mejia said the proposal was co-authored by Yvette Modestin, founder and executive director of the advocacy group Encuentro Diaspora Afro, and Dr. Jemadari Kamara, a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The proposed ordinance says Boston benefitted from and was complicit in supporting and financing slavery even after Massachusetts abolished the practice in 1780.
The proposed ordinance notes that atonement can take a variety of forms, not just direct financial payments to impacted Black residents. It says Boston can also consider “rehabilitation” efforts that provide care and services for victims, and restitution, which seeks to restore a victim to their position before the violations occurred.
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