Olympia City Council passes landmark resolution calling for reparations study

Posted

In a unanimous vote yesterday, the Olympia City Council passed a resolution urging the state and federal governments to create commissions to study reparations for the descendants of enslaved African people.  

The resolution was introduced by Mayor Dontae Payne and co-sponsored by Mayor Pro Tem Yen Hunyh and Councilmember Robert Vanderpool. 

The resolution was presented on November 12 to the city council by Susan Grisham, assistant to city manager Jay Burney. She provided historical context, sharing the story of Charles Mitchell, a man born into slavery in Maryland in 1847. He was brought to Olympia in 1855 as a child by his enslaver, James Tilton, a veteran surveyor. 

At age 12, Mitchell escaped to the free British colony of Victoria, Canada, via the Puget Sound Underground Railroad. His plight became an international incident reported in newspapers on the West Coast. 

"His story offers a window into our shared past and the complicated political and social dynamics that shaped the life of this one brave boy, this community, and this nation," Grisham told the council.  

The resolution defines reparation as a process of repairing, healing, and restoring a person injured because of their group identity and in violation of their fundamental human rights by the government, corporations, institutions, and families.  

The resolution states: "those groups that have been injured have the right to obtain from the government, corporation, institution or family responsible for the injuries which they suffered and need to repair and to heal themselves. Such reparations include but are not limited to direct cash payments, land, housing,
college education, and healthcare." 

The proposed actions within the resolution include:  

  • Calling on the Washington State Legislature, Governor's Office, U.S. Congress, and Office of the President to form a commission to study reparations for the descendants of enslaved peoples to initiate the process of rectifying centuries of systemic oppression and intergenerational trauma, which has led to disparities in nearly all areas of life for Black Americans over generations.  
  • Supporting the Washington State Commission on African Affairs' recommendation to create the Charles Mitchell Commission to study reparations.  
  • Urging Congress to pass House Resolution 40, a bill establishing a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans.  
  • Encouraging other Washington cities and counties to pass similar resolutions.  
  • Directing city staff to research possible city-scale actions and explore ways the city can support state and federal efforts.  
  • Olympia will continue efforts in reparative justice to increase Black homeownership with particular focus as part of the city's housing strategy, following the city's Affordable Homeownership research study.  

Payne explained the reason behind the resolution, noting that slavery lasted nearly as long as the United States has existed – close to 250 years.  

The resolution, the mayor said, is not about virtue signaling. "This is a real thing that we need to be in - encouraging our government to do the right thing and repair the harm that has resulted over generations of enslaving African people and how their descendants have suffered as a result of being used for free labor to build this country." 

"To believe that no repair is needed after this extensive period is to ignore the intergenerational trauma that Black Americans have faced and the stark disparities evident across housing, education, healthcare, and other areas," Payne said.  

The mayor argued that these disparities are the result of systemic oppression by the US government. He pointed out that Olympia is also complicit, citing the city's history of restrictive housing covenants.  

Payne emphasized the significance of Charles Mitchell's story, demonstrating that slavery reached the Pacific Northwest and existed in Washington. The Commission on African American Affairs used Mitchell's story to raise awareness that slavery was not confined to the South or East.  

Vanderpool emphasized that "we have a moral responsibility" to address the economic disparities and lowered quality of life still faced by Black Americans due to slavery, Jim Crow laws, and redlining.  

Vanderpool said that the city has to ensure equity to create equal footing in pursuit of universal freedoms—freedom to housing, education, fair wages, and healthcare.

"Every single American has the right to these things," Vanderpool added. "But in order to get that fair, flat, even ground, we have to undo those historical harms—the original sin that we have in this nation." 

Mayor Pro Tem Yen Huynh echoed the same sentiment. She recognized that for the resolution to have a truly meaningful impact, it would ultimately require action at the federal level. However, she said there would be some actions at the local level.  

The next steps include research by the consulting firm, Truclusion, meetings with Mayor Payne, and a city council study session to present findings and discuss the city's approach to supporting state and federal reparations efforts.  

Comments

22 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • RondaLarsonKramer

    Thank you for working on this, Olympia City Council. It’s needed. And it’s fascinating to hear about Charles Mitchell. I want to know more. Maybe the JOLT could write a follow up article

    Wednesday, November 13 Report this

  • JulesJames

    Just fill the pot holes please.

    Wednesday, November 13 Report this

  • Deskandchairs

    The country has moved on, only Olympia (and western WA) are stuck in the past. This action is so 'last year'

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • Kruz81

    Wow, and I thought Oly could not get anymore stupid. Glad we have this woke mayor to lead us to a new disaster. There are already budget shortages and now let's start this ****. Anyone supporting this should resign.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • hptrillium

    It is good that work is being done on this. We also should be considering reparations to Native Americans who land we stole and whose children we victimized in boarding schools. Acknowledging the harms done would be a good first step.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • Honestyandrealityguy

    Slavery is wrong,

    Black marketing. Originally, there were indentured servants in the country - white predominantly from the Barbary Coast and black from Africa.

    Then one day, Anthony Johnson, a black man, went to court for the right to own another individual, a slave. After winning, Johnson began selling slaves to his friends and family - then to the natives, then to whites and others.

    The north got rid of slavery after 10 years. When a white Republican freed the slaves, THOUSANDS of black families owned slaves, the natives owned tens of thousands of slaves as did others. Obama's ancestors were slave owners. Many relatives of slaves were slave owners.

    About 300,000 whites and 20,000 blacks from the north gave their lives to end slavery. Should these families get reparations?

    And today, we have modern day slavery and human trafficking from illegal immigration. What can we do to help the innocent? The criminals who have been sent here are another story.

    As to decendents of slaves, thank your lucky stars they lived.

    Or is it time to fix our schools and understand that bad things happened atone time. I wonder if there would ever have been slavery had it not been for Anthony Johnson, a black man and first legal slave owner.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • mbrenman

    Washington did not become a state until 1889, and slavery was abolished in the US in 1865, so Washington State could not possibly have had slavery in 1855. It is also well-known that Washington Territory was free, while Oregon did not welcome African-Americans. That's why settler wagon trains that had Black members turned north to Washington Territory rather than south to Oregon territory. In 1855, Most of the treaties signed with Tribes in Washington Territory were in 1854-1855, so the demographic situation was very fluid at the time of the alleged Mitchell incident. But anyway, if reparations are considered, it should be borne in mind that Washington State was the first state west of the Mississippi to have a human rights commission and a law against discrimination. Washington State has a long history of equal opportunity and nondiscrimination efforts for African-Americans. Reparations for slavery in Washington State would be almost entirely inappropriate.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • Snevets

    @RondaLarsonKramer I agree with you. I also look forward to hearing more on this subject. This country is way overdue in righting the wrong of enslavement.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • tommull

    DEI (Division Exclusion Indoctrination) strikes again! A must read book for all along the Liberal Independent Conservative spectrum "We Have Never Been Woke" by Musa Al-Gharbi.

    By the way, slavery did exist in what is now Washington state in the 19th century! Among the indigenous folks! Look up the "Chimakum People" on Wikipedia for an 1847 ethnic cleansing led by chief Seattle against them. Americans put an end to slavery in this part of the world. Perhaps the Squamish tribe might consider reparations?

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • Southsoundguy

    How do these people with these ideas keep getting elected? These dumb ideas are a decade old, it's like they are taking advice from ~2014 Seattle grad students. Meanwhile, we have structural deficits and vagrancy run wild. The good news is that liberalism is a self-terminating ideology and will eventually wither and die. We will rebuild.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • JW

    Love the juxtaposition of this news article with one about the giant budget deficit the city has.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • PamelaJHanson

    @mbrenmen Many families in Washington State have lost connection with their ancestry, including me. I think my family's Sweden immigration background made them stand proud against slavery issues (with my Grandma's Bible toting Baptist attitude and Grandpa's missing eye from a farm animal putting a hoof in his face). In later years my Dad met with native friends and probably reminisced about their walk to the one room schoolhouse and getting blocks of ice from the lake by horse and sled for the root cellar. Some of the great farmland of my grandparents was donated to Birds Unlimited near Deer Park, WA, for everyone to visit and enjoy in its natural form. That is the way my Dad was raised. He even paid $12,000 for an new orange 78 Dodge Challenger at a Birds Unlimited auction (retail value $6,000), that later became mine. All of us probably have proud ancestry moments against slavery. Thank you for defending people's current day integrity and some of our non-participation in this volitile issue as it moves forward, because most of us travelled to live here.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • Coug66

    I, too, would prefer that our City leaders would focus on constructing (and maintaining) our city streets so we could be as attractive as Lacey and Tumwater. How much will Olympia's residents be paying for this consulting firm?

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • ViaLocal

    Really impressed that Olympia is showing interest in something so important and historically ignored on a massive level.. Despite everyone's opinion about if slavery existed in Washington's history or not, we can all agree that segregation, Jim Crow laws, redlining and more have had a significant impact on African Americans' ability to build wealth and secure housing in this country, including this state. I also support the idea of reparations for Native Americans.

    We simply cannot keep trying to move forward while blatantly ignoring the history of abuse (putting it lightly) that occurred for African and Native Americans. Anyone who thinks it's "in the past" or "not a priority" probably never had to live one day in the shoes of the oppressed. Not them or anyone in their immediate family.

    I will support every initiative that creates for space people of color, especially in Thurston County. Let's not forget that we only talk about inclusion so heavily now because of the social and economic impacts that came from centuries of EXCLUSION. For more information, please see:

    https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d70140860791400013fe3ce/t/6154a7aed71b142481211fc2/1632937937212/The+Racial+Wealth+Gap+is+the+Housing+Gap.pdf

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • RedskinPatriot

    I don't care if my neighbor is black, yellow, white, brown, etc... I care that my neighbor is American! Government must stop legislating through the lenses of class warfare - victims and oppressors labelled by government officials is foolhardy! This has never turned out well for either side.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • wolfmanner

    Hey Dontae, You think Blacks were the only ones enslaved ? All races have been slaves one time or another. Even American Indians had Black slaves. Why don't you ask their casinos to pay reparations.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • wolfmanner

    Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote:

    The percentage of free black slave owners as the total number of free black heads of families was quite high in several states, namely 43 percent in South Carolina, 40 percent in Louisiana, 26 percent in Mississippi, 25 percent in Alabama and 20 percent in Georgia. Henry Louis Gates African American scholar.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • wolfmanner

    n the years leading up to the Civil War, Antoine Dubuclet, who owned over a hundred slaves, was considered the wealthiest black slaveholder in Louisiana.

    The historians John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger wrote:

    A large majority of profit-oriented free black slaveholders resided in the Lower South. For the most part, they were persons of mixed racial origin, often women who cohabited or were mistresses of white men, or mulatto men ... Provided land and slaves by whites, they owned farms and plantations, worked their hands in the rice, cotton, and sugar fields, and like their white contemporaries were troubled with runaways.[9]

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • wolfmanner

    https://time.com/5954759/slavery-in-indian-territory/

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • Chris_R

    I would like to hear more about the RFP process for a consultant and payment that Truclusion will receive.

    Thursday, November 14 Report this

  • ddttwo2

    Hey Dontae, I would suggest that you concentrate on doing your job while you're in office. If you want to do research on "your time" & not OUR time go for it! This shouldn't be born by the taxpayers. After all we're paying 9.8% sales tax as it is now to do business in Olympia. Don't worry about something that happened hundreds of years ago.

    Friday, November 15 Report this

  • MrCommonSense

    What is meant by "reparations"? What is meant when Vanderpool says, "...we have to undo those historical harms-the original sin that we have in this nation."? What does "undo" mean? There is no way to "undo" most injustices. We have to make the changes required to repair (origin of "reparations") or undo the causes for the injustices. Just like there is no way to undo the financial crisis that cost millions of Americans their homes. Or undo the harm caused by two world wars, or sending kids to die in Vietnam for no valid reason. Or undo the internment of the Japanese Americans during world war II. Or undo the taking of Native American land and culture. Or undo the harm fossil fuels have caused the world with climate change. Making the "playing field" level is a great place to start so everyone has the opportunity for, among other things, education, housing and universal health care. This means looking to the future and changing policy and attitude. Given America's obsession with monetary self-indulgence, not such and easy task.

    Saturday, November 16 Report this