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Olympia Mayor Dante Payne urges state and federal task force on reparations
Summary
Mayor Dante Payne used BUILD’s Juneteenth platform to call for a formal study of reparations and said he is sponsoring a city council resolution asking state and federal governments to create a task force to study reparations for Black Washingtonians and Black Americans.
Olympia Mayor Dante Payne told attendees at the BUILD Juneteenth celebration on June 18 that Juneteenth requires both celebration and action, and announced he is sponsoring a city council resolution asking state and federal governments to create a task force to study reparations for Black Washingtonians and Black Americans.
Payne framed reparations as part of a continuing moral and economic reckoning. "We must demand retribution, where the call for the reparations for Black Americans grows louder and more urgent," he said, describing reparations as a means to correct "ongoing impacts of slavery and systemic racism." He said his resolution would ask higher levels of government to convene a study task force and invited other local governments in Washington to bring forward similar resolutions.
Payne linked the discussion of reparations to local measures intended to honor Black history in Olympia, including painting the Black Liberation flag colors on crosswalks near Rebecca Howard Park at 9th and Adams and Franklin Streets. He encouraged attendees to visit the park and noted that the city would formally declare June 19 as Juneteenth at an upcoming council meeting.
The announcement was made as part of an event hosted by BUILD (Blacks United in Leadership and Diversity) for state employees and allies; the program did not include a recorded city council vote or an immediate action plan for the proposed task force. Payne said he would "do so as long as I am in a position of power to demand that we rightfully get what is owed to our people," but the resolution’s language, timeline and any scheduled council vote were not included in the event remarks.
Next steps: Payne invited other local governments to sponsor comparable resolutions, but the transcript does not record a mover, second or vote on the resolution, nor does it provide an implementation plan or timeline. Any formal consideration of the city-sponsored resolution by the Olympia City Council or by state or federal bodies would appear in subsequent meeting records.
