Press release from city of Asheville:
In response to residents requests, the City of Asheville is extending the deadline to apply to be a member of the Community Reparations Commission until January 15.
The opportunity to serve is available to all residents of Asheville and Buncombe County and can be found online.
ONLINE FORMS:
Neighborhood Candidate Interest Form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M6CG2MH
Impact Focus Area Application: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M66QM5C
Support Interest Form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B8V6XT7Background:
The Community Reparations Commission is charged with developing recommendations to be presented to the City Council and County Commission to repair the harm done by decades of racial discrimination and systemic oppression against Black Asheville residents. The reparations process in Asheville will focus on five impact areas which include housing, economic development, health, education, and criminal justice.
The Commission will be composed of 25 members; 15 commission members will be nominated by persons from historically impacted neighborhoods, to include public housing and former historically African American neighborhoods (for example Stumptown). These members will be selected through a neighborhood nomination process and the selection is at the discretion of the neighborhood organizations who submit the nomination.
If you are interested, please contact one of these neighborhood associations. A neighborhood contact list is available on the City of Asheville Neighborhood Services webpage. The remaining members of the Community Reparations Commission representing the five impact focus areas will be approved by City Council with five seat appointments and five seat appointments by the Buncombe County Commissioners. The Community Reparations Commission members will contribute approximately 5-10 hours per month,possibly up to 18 to 24 months.
It all seems a bit of a stretch to give cash to folks whose ancestors, even recent ones like grandparents, suffered discrimination in one form or another. Over the past 50-60 years, progress in equal opportunity for all, resulting from unprecedented civil rights legislation, has been astounding.
NO ONE today has to tolerate any form of racial bias with regard to housing, health, job and educational opportunities.
If they do experience such, then any court, especially in the Asheville vicinity, would be very generous in rewarding the victim of the offensive behavior, and inflict severe punishment on the responsible party.
Most folks, of whatever skin tone, likely could dig up experiences in the family past that were unjust. Should all these descendents be given cash from their neighbors tax payments? How much? Who determines the level of offense that decides the amount one receives? How should the folks who are paying for the reparations feel? Does this action improve race relations in our community… create less bias…
make our youth more eager for learning… our families stronger?
Reparations is a very problematic concept that appears to be designed to continue the societal divide that can destroy the American experience.