By Jess Bellville
In this modern moment, is there a more debate-stirring word than “reparations”? Anyone and everyone seems to have an opinion – and it’s often stated with a tsunami of force, along the lines of “Why should the government issue checks to the descendants of slaves?”
But let’s take a few steps back. As Acoma Gaither, a public historian and the host of Twin Cities PBS’s digital series Jim Crow of the North Stories, explains., the term means “to make amends for historical wrongdoings” and specifically, to repair the damage caused by the history of slavery in the U.S. The driving force behind the TPT series – as well as the original, full-length documentary Jim Crow of the North – draws a clear trajectory between the inequities of racially motivated housing segregation that existed in Minnesota until the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the ripple effects of those racist policies today.
After all, while slavery may have been more concentrated in the South, the practice didn’t become illegal in Minnesota until 1858, and, as Gaither points out, “slaveholder money helped fund Minnesota, both through tourism and investing.”
But in addition to the idea of government-issued checks to the descendants of the Atlantic slave trade, there are other ideas on how we could move toward repairing the lasting damage caused by slavery to the Black men, women and children who also call this place home.
Editor’s note: This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of reparations activities, ideas and plans.
City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT)
With skyrocketing home prices, mortgage interest rates and monthly rent prices, the process of finding affordable housing presents one of our greatest social challenges – and Minnesota continues to struggle with some of the worst racial wealth and homeownership disparities in the nation. But in 2001, a collective of Minneapolis residents and neighborhood associations began looking into steps they could take to ensure the existence of affordable housing in the city. But how does a land trust actually work? CLCLT purchases homes and the land they occupy, allowing income-qualifying homebuyers to purchase the home outside of the speculative, for-profit housing market. While the homeowner owns the home they purchase, the land trust maintains ownership of the land that is leased to the homeowner at a small monthly fee. When the home is sold, it must go back into the land trust so that the price of the home remains affordable. In addition, the CLCLT works with African-American organizations on a downpayment assistance fund that helps homeowners of color purchase homes through the land trust. Learn more about how this works by watching the fourth episode of Jim Crow of the North Stories.
Rondo Land Bridge
The Rondo Neighborhood was once a thriving epicenter of Black culture in St. Paul, a flourishing community of mixed income families, businesses, social clubs, and a vibrant arts scene. Close to 80% of St. Paul’s Black population once lived, loved and prospered in Rondo. That all changed in the early 1960s, when part of the community was demolished to make way for the construction of I-94. While many residents successfully advocated for the highway to be depressed, or set below grade, I-94 still sliced through the neighborhood, displacing more than 700 homeowners and their families, and more than 300 businesses. One proposed solution is to create a freeway cap – or a land bridge – over I-94 between Chatsworth and Grotte Streets, an idea that would create housing, business and revenue potential for a displaced community. Earlier in 2023, the ReConnect Rondo project received $2 million in federal funding to jumpstart the planning process.
Inheritance Fund – St. Paul
A cornerstone of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s plan for the city includes a program aimed at providing forgivable loans for housing down payment or rehabilitation to the descendants of Rondo residents who were forced to forfeit their homes as the construction of I-94 began, a project that essentially bifurcated the vibrant, historic Black neighborhood in the 1960s. Stating that “public apologies are not enough,” the intention of the Inheritance Fund is to help Black Minnesotans with roots in the neighborhood build back some of the generational wealth that was taken from them when construction on the freeway began.
Recovery Act Community Reparations Committee – St. Paul
In January 2023, the St. Paul City Council voted in favor of creating the Recovery Act Community Reparations Committee, a group tasked with developing recommendations to the mayor the council about how to make reparations to Black residents whose ancestors were enslaved. According to the Star Tribune, “The 11-person commission will advise Mayor Melvin Carter and the council on policy and budget decisions ‘to specifically address the creation and sustainment of generational wealth for the American Descendants of Chattel Slavery and to boost economic mobility and opportunity in the American Descendants of Chattel Slavery community,’ according to the ordinance.”
Open Road Fund
Recently, the Bush Foundation and Nexus Community Partnership announced a $50 million grant program aimed at helping Black residents in Minnesota and the Dakotas build wealth, positively impact communities and jumpstart entrepreneurial ideas. While the program isn’t expansive enough to serve as a reparations movement, according to leaders at both organizations, it will award up to 800 Black people who are the descendants of the Atlantic slave trade $50,000 grants to purchase property, spark the idea for a business or add fuel to an existing one, fund resources for healing and mental health, or pay for educational opportunities, just to name a few possibilities. The program, called the Open Road Fund, will be open to applicants starting on Juneteenth (June 19, 2023) and will close on July 28, 2023.
© Twin Cities Public Television - 2023. All rights reserved.
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