Anton Lumpkin, a professional contractor, highlights racial disparities in local building projects on Monday, April 24, 2023, that he says Black contractors in St. Louis uniquely face at the first meeting of the city of St. Louis’ Reparations Commission at Harris-Stowe State University. Photo by Christian Gooden, cgooden@post-dispatch.com
ST. LOUIS — A special city commission looking at ways to compensate Black residents for the damage caused by slavery and discrimination held its first public hearing Monday night. And they got an earful.
A slew of activists and some residents urged panel members to do something about almost everything: Access to decent housing. The criminal justice system. Mental health. Minority participation requirements on government contracts.
“It was raw,” Dr. Will Ross, the commission’s vice chair, said after the meeting, with a smile on his face.
Members of St. Louis’ Reparations Commission listen to comments from north city resident Josephine Perkins on Monday, April 24, 2023, during the panel’s first public meeting at Harris-Stowe State University. The goal of the meeting was to discuss and collect feedback on ways to address wrongs to African American St. Louisans who are descendants of slaves.
And it’s only the beginning. Commissioners outlined a yearlong process Monday night dedicating their first four months to gathering public input from as many residents and subject-matter experts as possible. After that, they’ll start drafting recommendations for policymakers, and then put those out to the public around the end of 2023 for another round of feedback.
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The commission is joining a discussion already well underway in several cities across the country reckoning with longstanding injustices in the wake of nationwide protests sparked by the killing of a Black man in police custody in Minneapolis.
Similar advisory panels have been formed in , San Francisco and Providence, Rhode Island. And officials in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, have actually approved plans to compensate for discriminatory housing policies by giving grants to Black people to help pay for mortgages, down payments and home improvements.
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, the city’s first Black female mayor, appointed St. Louis’ volunteer-run committee in December, with a mandate to dig into the city’s often-ugly racial history, report on the present-day consequences, and propose a plan to make reparations.
Commissioners said Monday that getting that done will take hearing from more and more people in the coming months, and urged attendees to bring their friends and family members out next time.
“You have the power,” the Rev. , bridge pastor at Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, told the audience at the end of Monday’s meeting. “And we need you behind us.”
The next hearing will be at 6 p.m. on May 22 at the Emerson Performance Center at Harris-Stowe, 3026 Laclede Avenue.
