Community and Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes - July 22, 2021

1) Reparations Discussion See below the rest of the minutes to see the first draft.

2) Forum Ideas & Dates Discussion - we are considering having our forum on the topic of Reparations and we are examining one date this year for a short forum and one date next year around MLK Day for a longer, more in-depth forum.

3) The Zoom link for the meeting has changed! Please check the Google calendar invitation for details.

An Outline of Topics for a Forum on Reparations

I.  Definitions and History:

Reparations is “the making of amends for wrong done by paying money or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.” 

Understanding reparations: Session 1- “Unpacking the Meaning,” Union for Reform Judaism, Professor Darren Johnson.

 -What is owed to whom-harm committed against recipient, individually/collectively;

400 years slavery, 90 years Jim Crow, 60 years so-called separate but equal, ongoing state-sanctioned violence;

The Five Injuries of Slavery (Defined):  peoplehood/nationhood, education, criminal punishment, wealth/poverty, health (https://www.ncobraonline.org/five-injuries-slavery-defined/)

-What is the vehicle for payment:  judicial fiat, political agreement, voluntarily;

-What is form of payment:  compensatory damages, restoration of property, financial payments, systemic/institutional reforms. 

Reparations for slavery. Wikipedia

Addressing women in slavery: “In seeking reparations for slavery, it’s time to speak up. And it’s okay to be angry,” Courtland Milloy, June 25, 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/milloy. 

“The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, www.theatlantic.com/archive/2014/06/.

II.  Theological bases:”

Understanding reparations: Session 3- “A Jewish Perspective for Repair,” Union for Reform Judaism.

“Reparations: Seeding a Better Future,” Rabbi Mary L. Zamore, ReformJudaism.org.

“Resolution on the Study and Development of Reparations for Slavery and Systemic Racism in the U.S., Union for Reform Judaism.

“The Case for Reparations,” David Brooks, March 7, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/opinion/case-for-reparations.html, (cited by Coates).

“What Jews Understand About Reparations, Andrew Silow-Carroll, The New York Jewish Week, July 4, 2021

III. Psychological value and meanings:

“Do Black Lives Matter? A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Racism and American Resistance to Reparations,” Jeffrey Prager, Political Psychology, Vol.xx, No.xx, 2017.

“Transforming Ghosts into Ancestors:  Un-silencing  The Psychological Case For Reparations to Descendants Of American Slavery,” Bryan K. Nichols and Medria L. Connolly, Other/Wise.

“Learning to Love White Shame and Guilt:  Skills for Working as a White Therapist in a Racially Divided Country, Lynn M. Jacobs, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self-Psychology, 9, 2014.

“Becoming an Ally Step One: Managing Our White Fragility Dysregulation,” Karen Rachels, 2021, unpublished paper.

IV. History of activism:

 Waves of issue being raised: 

 after slavery (ridiculously and tragically, Lincoln asked for payment to slave owners, during Great Migration, WWII and Civil Rights era; 1989 after passage of reparations for Japanese Americans (called the Civil Liberty Bill of 1988)-John Conyers tried to pass HR 40; early 2000’s-Professor Carl Ogletree filed court case, Randall Robinson: founder of TransAfrica movement, The Debt-What America Owes to Blacks, compensation for Rosewood, FL massacre, current Black Lives Matter movement.

Understanding reparations: Session 2- “The Historical and Economic Perspective,” Union of Reform Judaism.

“Reparations for Blacks in America: Four Centuries of Struggle Now on the Cusp, UWI Centre for Reparation Research, in Essays, http.reparationresearch.org/category/essays/.

V. Current national efforts:

“HR 40 Primer, Seize the Time!” NCOBRA

NAARC (National African-American Reparations Commission)

Grassroots Reparations Campaign, www.grassrootsreparations.org

America Reckons With Racial Injustice, “’From Here to Equality’ Author Makes A Case, And A Plan, For Reparation,”  America Reckons With Racial Injustice, June 17. 2020, Morning Edition, www.npr.org/, conversation with economist William Darity author with A. Kristen Mullin From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century.

VI. State efforts:

Governor Newsom Announces Appointments to First-in-the-Nation Task Force to Study Reparations for African Americans, May 7, 2021, www.gov.ca.gov/2021/05/07/.

California reparations committee confronts harms of slavery, debates direct payments, www.calmatters.org/california-divide/2021/06/.

“Affirmative Action in California as a Type of Long-Overdue Reparations for Black Americans,” Zoe Brown, August 2020, www.californialawreview.org/.

“New Law Mandates California to Study The Issue of Reparations For Slaves’ Descendants,” October 7, 2020, All Things Considered, www.npr.org/. Conversation with California Assemblywoman Shirley Weber.

“Explaining the Reparations Effort,” Jill Cowan, California Today. Conversation with Shirley Weber.

VII. Local efforts:

“Reparations plan begins to emerge in The City,” Carly Graf, June 20, 1921, SFExaminer.com/.