Public Comment: Amherst Could Become The Second City In The Nation To Offer Reparations To Black Residents

Editor’s note: Starting this week, The Indy will publish Public Comments offered at Town Council and Committee Meetings, in an effort to increase awareness of concerns of residents that are being voiced to government bodies.  During the Council’s first year, The Indy and some Amherst residents requested that the Town Council accept written comments from the public and that such comments be made available in an accessible public record.  To date, nothing has come of that request.  Those wishing to have their comments posted in The Indy should submit the full text of their comment, specifying the meeting and the date where the comment was made to amherstindy@gmail.com.

The following public comment was presented to the Town Council at their meeting on March 22, 2021.

Good evening Councilors. I’m here tonight on behalf of Reparations For Amherst to comment on Mr. Bockelman’s memo — 7c Update on Funds Appropriated to Address Systemic Racism. 

First, we commend the Community Safety Working Group for their deeply transformative work on behalf of our community. We congratulate 7 Generations Movement Collective for winning the bid and are confident they will do exceptional work to support the group. 

We’re also very happy to see Mr. Bockelman’s thoughtful consideration with respect to the remainder of funds available to address systemic racism. We wholeheartedly support the work of the Core Equity Team (proposal #1) and the data collection (proposal #3) and do not wish to compete with either of those initiatives for funding. 

And, we firmlybelieve both of those things should be incorporated as line items into the regular operating budget and be considered ongoing work of the town. If we are to become a truly anti-racist community, we will need to be addressing equity and collecting data regularly. Our municipal budget is a direct reflection of our values as a community and must therefore include addressing the town’s systemic racist practices and collecting racial data in the regular planning of our budget. 

Our request is a one-time ask specific to time-related items and, if approved, will be directly used to support the town’s commitment to engage in a path of remedy for Black residents. Specifically, the funds will be used to compensate Black folks for engaging in our research work and facilitating educational opportunities for our community. The town council’s support of this request will have benefits for all. 

At this very moment councilors in Evanston are getting ready to vote on the first iteration of their reparations bill.  If the vote passes they will become the first U.S. city to offer reparation money to Black residents — Ever. We could be the second, but we need your support to help us advance. Thank you. 

Michele Miller

Michele Miller is Co-Chair of Reparations For Amherst and co-owner of Yoga Center Amherst.