Decatur commission adopts 'Melinda' resolution, creates reparations task force

The Decatur City Commission voted to adopt Resolution R‑25‑XX, known locally as the “Melinda” resolution, formally acknowledging historical crimes and ongoing injuries inflicted on Black residents and establishing a community-directed Decatur Reparations Task Force.

Commissioner Meyer Franck introduced the resolution and read its findings and directives aloud, stating in part: “This is resolution r dash 25 dash x x, a resolution acknowledging the historical crimes and ongoing injuries inflicted upon black residents of Decatur, Georgia, and establishing a reparations task force to study and develop recommendations for redress.” The resolution documents a multi-century history—slavery, exclusionary ordinances, redlining, urban renewal and displacement—and calls for formal acknowledgment, a public apology, and a task force charged with compiling records, interviewing descendants and producing programmatic recommendations.

The task force, as outlined in the resolution, will include community members with familial ties to Beacon Hill, representatives of the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, historians specializing in African American or Southern urban history, a legal expert in civil rights and reparations, a youth representative, one City Commission designee and a representative from the Better Together Advisory Board. It is required to hold its first meeting within 60 days of membership confirmation and to issue interim public reports at 12 and 24 months and a final report within 36 months. The resolution asks the city to review and consider the task force’s recommendations in policy, budgeting and strategic planning.

Community members and reparations advocates filled the public comment period before the vote. Speakers included local organizers and out-of-town reparations practitioners who described archival research, oral histories with elders, and prior local initiatives that documented the loss of homes, businesses and civic institutions in neighborhoods such as Beacon Hill and Oakhurst. Phil Cuffee, cochair of the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights, and Maoli Davis (cofounder) described the grant-funded research and listening sessions that informed the resolution. Several callers from national organizations voiced support and urged the Commission to adopt the task‑force approach.

Commission discussion following the reading was heartfelt and personal. Multiple commissioners described the material as difficult to read and process but expressed support for the investigative and restorative intent of the task force. A motion to adopt the resolution was made and seconded; the chair announced the resolution was adopted.

The resolution does not prescribe specific remedial payments or programs. Instead it establishes the task force and a public process to research harms and recommend concrete actions. The Commission and staff said the task force’s reports and recommendations will be made publicly available through city and historical websites and will inform future policy and budgeting decisions.

Next steps: the Beacon Hill Black Alliance will recommend candidates for the task force membership slate; within 60 days after the Commission confirms appointments the task force must meet for the first time. The Commission also paused for a commemorative photograph immediately after adoption.