Special committee reviews new ordinance that looks to provide reparations for Black residents

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Kansas City leaders are one step closer to providing reparations for Black people.

A new ordinance just filed gives us an idea of how the city plans to do it.

“A lot of people don’t remember what we went through back then,” Mickey Dean said.

Dean grew up in rural Georgia during racial segregation back in the ‘50s and ‘60s. It was a tense time in American history, which he vividly remembers.

“I was never in a situation where we had the dogs and the fire hoses and all of that, but we would have our marches down to the courthouse,” Dean said. “Some of the local whites would come out. They would circle around us and shout and yell stuff.”

Dean moved to the Midwest to attend school at KU. There, he found himself marching once again. That time, it was as the President of the Black Student Union.

Fast forward to 2022 and Dean is a member of the KC Reparations Coalition. It’s a group that is working to get reparations for Black people in Kansas City.

“The condition that Black people find ourselves in was intentional,” Dean said. “This is not a result of anything that Black people did wrong or anything we did not do.”

He said reparations are a way to help Black people catch up in society after years of being set back. He said it goes deeper than just handing a check over.

“We are looking at issues like homeownership, education, health care, criminal justice, business and economic development,” Dean said. “Those are the areas we want to do a historical dive in to see: what the condition of Kansas City is right now, who’s responsible for that, and then what would reparatory justice look like.”

The city has recently filed an ordinance sponsored by Councilwoman Melissa Robinson that would create a commission to look into slave reparations for Black residents.

The proposal says the 17-member Mayor’s Commission on Reparations would be a group of people who are sensitive to and understanding of the needs of the Black community. That group would study and develop reparations proposals for the city to review. They would meet monthly and each member would receive a stipend of $75 per meeting.

“Reparatory justice, even though it’s directed at Black people, it could really benefit all of society,” Dean said.

Currently, the proposed ordinance is under legal review by the city’s special committee. They were supposed to meet Tuesday afternoon, but the meeting got canceled.

The special committee meets again in January. They might discuss the proposal then.

Previous coverage:

Kansas City ordinance outlines proposed slave reparations for Black residents

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