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St. Louis mayor appoints committee to seek reparations for nearly half the city’s residents

December 9, 2022 | | Print Article

Louis Tishaura Jones, who is the Democrat mayor of St. Louis, signed an executive order on Wednesday that creates a commission to determine the viability of paying reparations to black residents of the city in a purported effort to right injustices from “slavery, segregation, and racism.”

(Video Credit: KSDK News)

St. Louis reportedly has a population of 300,000 and 45 percent of the residents are black. The cost of such a move would almost certainly tank an already struggling city.

The nine-member volunteer commission will explore and recommend reparations following in the woke footsteps of blue stronghold cities in Illinois, California, and Rhode Island, according to the Daily Mail.

“The people closest to the problems are closest to the solution,” Jones declared. “I look forward to reviewing this commission’s work to chart a course that restores the vitality of black communities in our city after decades of disinvestment. We cannot succeed as a city if one-half is allowed to fail.”

Each member of the committee has to live in St. Louis and has to represent a different background. There has to be at least one young person, clergy member, attorney, public health professional, civil rights advocate, and one academic.

The executive order describes the committee’s proposed work as, “Establishing a community-driven commission to assess the history of slavery, segregation, and other race-based harms in the City of St. Louis; explore the present-day manifestations of that history; and, ultimately, recommend a proposal to begin repairing the harms that have been inflicted.”

Leftists assert that St. Louis is one of the nation’s most segregated cities. Almost half of the city is black and many live in north St. Louis, where crime and poverty are rampant.

The median household income for white residents is reportedly $55,000, which is almost twice what it is for black households, which is $28,000.

Racial justice advocates blame decades of racism for income inequality.

Nimrod Chapel Jr., who is the president of the Missouri NAACP, asserts that segregation and racism have “without a doubt” hurt blacks in the city and across the state.

“Reparations would be one way to begin, and it’s important to consider all the options,” Chapel claimed.

There is no word from Jones on how much reparations might be or how they would be doled out.

“I am totally supportive of this. It is long overdue,” she crowed as she signed the order. “Let’s be frank. It is time for our people to win.”

Jones belongs to the Mayors Organizing for Reparations and Equity (MORE) Coalition. It is comprised of 12 city leaders and was founded by the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti.

Esther Manheimer of Asheville, North Carolina, who is one of the 12 mayors, launched a committee to study reparations in 2020. It began looking at the issue in April this year. Citizen-Times reported in September that discussions were ongoing and heated.

The city of Providence in Rhode Island allocated $10 million for reparations in November that will be given to black and indigenous residents. The money will go to black businesses, media organizations, and efforts to place residents of color in jobs.

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, who is also a member of the MORE Coalition, signed the budget into law in November to deliver the funds to some of the city’s black and Native American communities. The city has a population of 190,000 with 29,000 black residents according to US Census data.

Providence will spend approximately $400,000 on “recognition of harm,” $1.5 million on “creation and development of the media,” and $300,000 on “creating a more equitable healthcare system.”

The reparations budget was finalized as part of the COVID-19 Equities Budget, which is funded with President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act money.

A similar nine-person reparations committee, created by Governor Gavin Newsom’s legislation in California, put forth that every descendant of slaves in the state be paid out a sum for “housing discrimination.” That could potentially equate to $223,239 per person according to the Daily Mail.

The group is also calling for the government to compensate for “racial terror, stolen culture, unequal education, housing segregation, stolen labor, and climate change.”

California has an estimated 2.6 million black residents. It’s alleged that about 2 million of them are descendants of slaves and therefore could receive reparations.

In 2021, Evanston, Illinois became the first city to make reparations available to black residents. The city is planning to use revenue from recreational marijuana sales to distribute $10 million over the next decade.

Eligible black families will get $25,000 for home repairs, down payments on property, and interest or late penalties on property in the city.

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