Cam Gordon
By Cam Gordon
Minneapolis is falling behind in addressing its racist past.
In October of 2020, following the police killing of George Floyd that previous May, the City Council and Mayor unanimously approved establishing a truth and reconciliation process.
Then, the focus was clear. The staff report, presented by Joy Marsh, who was heading up the division of race and equity at the time, said that “the ultimate objective of the reconciliation and transformational racial healing process is to begin implementing specific solutions to the specific harms that created and perpetuate racial disparities with a prioritized focus on healing with Historically Black/American Descendants of Slavery and American Indian/Indigenous communities.”
As of August 1, 2024, no process has happened.
A workgroup was formed, recommendations were heard, a report was filed and staff were assigned, but no process started.
American Indian and Black/African-descended communities have not been offered a formal way “to speak openly about harm” as called for in the resolution. The formal apology, and plan with “dedicated financial resources and accountability measures” has not occurred.
Now, nearly four years later, Minneapolis appears to be as far away from implementing specific solutions as it was in 2020.
“The Department of Justice consent decree findings alone make the case for reparations,” said Trahern Crews, who has been following and advocating for reparations in Minnesota for more than ten years and is the chair of St. Paul’s reparations commission.
Minneapolis, he noted, is leading the nation in the racial disparity wealth gap, being “#1 in home ownership disparities and #2 in income disparities.”
“Considering the great chasm of disparity and need for reparations, more work needs to happen everywhere,” Marsh, who no longer works for the city, said in July.
Lynn Hinkle, a Powderhorn resident who has been working on reparations for years, wants to see Minneapolis turn its attention to realizing the work called for in the resolution.
“Well, we could say it’s a good beginning,” he said, “and we’ve got an example right across the river of what we can do next.”
Hinkle believes that those who have benefitted from the harmful practices of the past are obligated to help repair the historical harm done through generations of unjust racist practices. “You don’t get a 1 to 9 wealth disparity by mistake, it’s an intentional program that has to be undone and it’s not charity,” he said, “it’s a debt that’s owed.”
Earlier this year, state legislators introduced (but did not pass) a bill, called the Minnesota Migration Act, which would provide funding to study reparations for American descendants of chattel slavery in the state, and many cities throughout the country have taken action.
According to the National League of Cities, Evanston, Ill. became the first city to implement a reparations plan. In 2019 they established a $10 million fund to address housing discrimination and segregation from 1919 – 1969. In 2022, the city began paying up to $25,000 to Black residents or their descendants who were harmed by zoning laws that prevented African Americans from buying homes in certain areas.
The league lists Burlington, Vt., Boston, Mass., St. Louis, Mo.; Providence, R.I.; Asheville, N.C.; Tullahassee, Okla.; and Berkeley, Calif. as cities who have programs. Other cities and counties that have authorized commissions to study reparations programs include Fulton County, Ga.; Shelby County, Tenn.; Alameda County, Calif.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Northampton, Mass.; Detroit, Mich.; St. Petersburg, Fla. and St. Paul, Minn.
“St Paul is one of the few that’s actually got a standing commission,” said Hinkle. “It is there for good and now the question is, are we going to get it the kind of funding it needs?” St. Paul has also issued a formal apology via an official resolution and the commission is meeting regularly to develop funding recommendations.
Most of the efforts, in St. Paul and throughout the country, came after the police killing of George Floyd and civil unrest that followed.
“The spectacle murder of George Floyd just a few blocks from here sparked a global movement that moved whole sections of society to talk about how to do reparations,” said Hinkle.
“George Floyd didn’t die just for a statue,” Hinkle said. Following the murder, he recalled, “there was an outpouring of concerns and people were finally saying it’s time to deal with institutional racism and understanding how essentially every aspect of our lives is skewed against BIPOC and every aspect of our life is skewed to advantage white folks.”
According to reports in the LA Times, Washington Post and elsewhere, George Floyd’s great grandfather, Hillary Thomas Stewart, got his freedom from enslavement as a child. As an adult he had 500 acres of land he had acquired stolen from him by white farmers, denying him and his offspring the benefits of generational wealth.
Hinkle believes that it is time for Minneapolis to establish a reparations commission and use St. Paul’s example. Both cities have a past of racially unjust redlining, deed covenants, zoning laws, policing practices, hiring practices and more.
What the specific reparative actions are, Crews said, should be based on community feedback and recommends that, whatever form it takes in Minneapolis, “there should be two separate efforts, one focused on Indigenous people and the other centered on the Black ancestors of slaves.”
So far, he said, the Indigenous priority has been on getting land returned and the ancestors of slavery may be more interested in direct monetary payments.
Hinkle agrees and also thinks it is worth looking at the response from some of the faith communities.
The Presbyterian Center of Lakes and Prairies Restorative Action, for example, is a reparations initiative of the Presbyterian Church and other partners.
They have calculated the harms to American descendants of slavery and Indigenous people and decided to pool 15 percent of their assets to be distributed to trustees, one representing indigenous people and the other American descendants of slavery.
Fifteen percent of the city’s 2024 $1.83 billion budget would be $274,500,000. That amount set aside annually would be a substantial investment. It could be used to purchase land, create saving accounts or trusts or provide income over a number of years for a significant number of people.
Hinkle thinks that one way for the city to show its commitment to reparations would be to include it in the redevelopment of George Floyd Square at 38th and Chicago. The city has purchased the People’s Way property and including reparations as one of the three categories it is seeking input on to determine who’s going to develop that. “Maybe the Global Center for Reparations Organizing could be located in a facility that is transformed from the People’s Way,” said Hinkle.
According to Hinkle, a good reparations process starts with truth-telling, which he thinks Minneapolis has made progress on. That must be followed by building multiracial relationships and political solidarity to get policies in place to actually transfer wealth.
“You have to have racial healing, but it doesn’t happen without repair,” he said. “This is not just an economic discussion. This is about morality.”
“Writing a check without doing the truth and reconciliation is just a hollow gesture,” he added, “Just doing an apology and not moving to wealth transfer is equally hollow.”
