Activists Ask Berkeley City Council to Consider Reparations for African-Americans

The Social Justice Committee (SJC) of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian-Universalists (BFUU) has asked Berkeley City Council to consider giving an apology and reparations to its African-American residents.

The letter requests the politicians to study the reparations reform that Evanston, Illinois, delivered to its Black residents, to compensate for the many decades African-Americans were unable to secure home mortgage loans and were thus deprived of building up the massive ownership equity that was enjoyed by privileged whites.

Reparations for African-Americans are presently being discussed in Boston and Cambridge (MA), Asheville (NC), Providence (RI), Palm Springs (CA), and via New Jersey and California state task forces.

The concept of reparations is supported by numerous groups and individuals, including National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Color Of Change, Human Rights Watch (HRW), The Reparations Project, DOS Advocacy Foundation / ADOS movement, African-American Redress Network (AARN), Coming to the Table, Center for Racial Justice (CRDJ), Why We Can’t Wait Coalition, H.R.40 / “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Angela Y. Davis, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Nkechi Taifa, Patrisse Cullors (co-founder, BLM), Alicia Garza (co-founder, BLM), and local actor Danny Glover.

Will the Berkeley City Council join progressives nationwide in the reparations movement? Once lauded as a bastion of left-wing activism, the city has slipped drastically off this list in recent years, largely due to its repeated failure to condemn Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The Social Justice Committee of BFUU has a long, cherished history of being in the vanguard of ethical political movements.

The letter emailed to each Berkeley City Council member includes a formal statement the activist group wants to see their representatives approve and publish. It is displayed below:

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City of Berkeley Apology and Commitment to Reparations for African American Residents

WHEREAS, the City of Berkeley acknowledges that African Americans and their descendants have endured centuries of enslavement, segregation, redlining, and systemic racism in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Berkeley itself—despite its reputation for progressivism—was not immune from these injustices, and in fact perpetuated them through policies and practices such as:

· The redlining and housing discrimination that denied Black families equal access to mortgages and homeownership opportunities in Berkeley neighborhoods from the 1930s onward;

· Exclusionary zoning and restrictive covenants that confined African American residents to West and South Berkeley, creating segregated communities and limiting wealth-building opportunities;

· The use of eminent domain and urban renewal projects in the 1960s and 1970s that displaced Black families and businesses, particularly in South and West Berkeley;

· Discriminatory policing practices that targeted African American youth and adults disproportionately, causing harm that continues to echo through families and communities; and

WHEREAS, the effects of these policies remain evident in today’s racial wealth gap, disparities in homeownership, health, education, and incarceration rates among Black residents of Berkeley; and

WHEREAS, the City of Evanston, Illinois in 2021 became the first U.S. city to implement a reparations program by providing housing grants to eligible Black residents harmed by discriminatory policies; and

WHEREAS, the State of California’s Reparations Task Force in 2023 recommended that the state issue a formal apology alongside material reparations, acknowledging California’s role in enforcing racial oppression; and

WHEREAS, Berkeley—long home to civil rights struggles and the Black Panther Party’s organizing—has a moral responsibility to not only acknowledge its own history but also take leadership in repair and redress;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

1. The City of Berkeley formally apologizes to its African American residents, past and present, for its role in perpetuating and upholding systemic racism, housing segregation, economic exclusion, and discriminatory policing.

2. The City of Berkeley acknowledges this apology is not sufficient alone, but is a necessary first step toward meaningful reparative action.

3. The City commits to advancing a Berkeley Reparations Framework that includes:

o Community engagement sessions led by Black residents and organizations;

o Development of policy recommendations for housing assistance, educational equity, business support, and health investments targeted to African American communities;

o Exploration of funding sources, including progressive taxation mechanisms and partnerships with philanthropic institutions;

o Consideration of models pioneered by Evanston’s housing reparations as a guide.

4. The City Clerk is directed to transmit this resolution to the California Reparations Task Force and to the City of Evanston, as an expression of Berkeley’s solidarity in the national reparations movement.

Closing Statement for Public Release

"With this resolution, Berkeley acknowledges its past, apologizes for the harms caused, and commits to a future rooted in equity, justice, and repair. We join sister cities like San Francisco and Evanston in affirming that reparations are both a moral imperative and a practical necessity to undo the harms of racism."