Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne says the U.S. government has a debt to pay to the descendants of enslaved people. He said the promise of 40 acres and a mule was never fulfilled after the Civil War, and it resulted in a lack of intergenerational wealth for Black Americans.
"So the United States government has a debt to pay, and I believe that it is incumbent upon the municipalities and state governments to urge our federal government to do what was promised," Payne said during Tuesday's city council meeting. "And so I am calling on us to draft a resolution that calls on our state legislature, the governor, Congress and the Office of the President, to create a task force or commission to study the reparations for the descendants of enslaved African people specifically."
Payne said it is apparent today how the descendants of slave owners have benefited from intergenerational wealth they inherited as a result of their ancestors' ownership of enslaved people. And when enslaved people were freed, Payne said owners received reparations for their "loss of property."
Payne's request, which received support Mayor Pro Tem Yến Huỳnh and council member Robert Vanderpool, directs staff to do four things:
For example, the Renton City Council decided just this week to review a reparations case over the school district's 1968 land purchase.
According to the Seattle Times, John Houston said the Renton School District pursued land near Honey Dew Elementary School for a middle school in the 1960s. According to Houston's recollection, his parents were threatened by eminent domain proceedings and sold their farm land after unexplained fires and an explosion at their home.
The district never built the school and sold the land to a developer a few years later.
Evanston, Illinois, became the first city to pay reparations to descendants of enslaved people. Starting in 2019, qualifying households were given $25,000 grants for home repairs or a down payment on a home. The program is being funded through a tax on cannabis sales.
In Olympia, Payne said some work has been done to repair some of the harm, but it doesn't get directly at what reparations are.
Payne said most of the time reparations refer to direct cash payments. But in addition to that, it could also be housing and land ownership. He said owning land or a home is one of the fastest ways to accumulate wealth in this country.
"Given the work that we've done around our affordable home ownership study, and all of the work that we are doing with a myriad of initiatives under Olympia Strong and work that we're doing to improve home ownership opportunities for Black community members and also other community members of color, I think it's perfectly in line with the work the city is already doing in this regard, and we can certainly find a way to incorporate the language of understanding what reparations are and how it relates to the work that we're doing as a city," Payne said.
According to a staff report, in Thurston County, Black, Indigenous, People of Color households are more likely to be renters with 42% of BIPOC households renting compared to 31% of white households.
Black households comprised 11% of the city's Housing Choice Voucher program participants in 2022. That's compared to 2.8% of the general population. And 20% of applicants on the waiting list for assistance from the Housing Authority of Thurston County identified as Black or African American.
Huỳnh said this is just the first step and that no real action has been taken. She said she wants to ensure action is taken and passing a resolution isn't where it ends.
"I just feel proud that this is something that's a little bit meatier," she said. "And so as we do call on, say, our state legislature, then it's not just, 'Hey, do this. We want you to do this,' but it's, 'Hey, look at what we're doing and see how you can join efforts.' And I always think that's really powerful."
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