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Working group urges Raleigh to create reparative justice commission it says was removed from prior resolution
Summary
Representatives of a Reparative Justice working group urged the council to form a commission to study systemic racism after the 2023 reparative justice resolution removed a commission component, calling an apology without redress insufficient.
Deborah Bromley told the council she represents a Reparative Justice Resolution Working Group and urged the city to establish a commission or task force to study and make recommendations on how to remedy the lingering effects of slavery and Jim Crow on Black Raleigh residents.
Bromley recalled the council’s unanimous 2023 resolution acknowledging the lingering effects of slavery and Jim Crow and said the original version had included a proposed reparative justice commission that was removed before adoption. She said the working group reported to more than 25 community organizations and that an apology without a mechanism for redress is “insincere and totally unacceptable.”
John Shuford and other speakers also urged the council to “keep this on the palette” and to find a way to form a task force to study housing, employment, education and criminal‑justice impacts tied to systemic racism. The working group said it has sought the commission for four years and asked the council to restart the process to create a study body that would make concrete recommendations.
The council did not take a formal vote during public comment. Speakers asked for the city to follow through on the 2023 resolution by creating the commission the working group says was in the original draft.
