No, I and thank you to everyone joining online, waiting on a Few more members, and we'll Get Started very soon. You
all right, good afternoon, everybody. Just for the consideration of everyone's time, we are going to go ahead and get started with our meeting today, thank you so much for joining us. I do believe we just need two more members to meet quorum, but until then, we can slide through some things that may not require a vote again. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. My name is Sydney Callaway, for those of you who are just now joining us, and this is the Reparations task force meeting on February 15, 2025, so I'm really quickly going to take a roll call, and those who join us will notate their attendance after a while. Member Calloway is present. Member Williams.
Member Lars Sosa.
Member bias,
member TK,
member Robinson,
member Colin,
yes. Member Parker, hey, hey. Member Collins, how are you?
Member Parker here, remember Hicks present? Member house here. Member Hazel, present. Member for
and member Jack, all
right, looks like we're gonna we're gonna wait for one more person, but in the meantime, I do see that Papa jam on Jordan has joined us, if we could raise him as a panelist and perhaps get his presentation started before we meet quorum and have to go through all the rest of our business.
Thank you. Through his chair, he's joining as a panelist now. Oh, wait, does he decline? Let me try it again. Okay,
just moving some things around to allow for more time, for about for our next couple of members to join us. Applause.
Good afternoon, Baba. Jamon, how are you? Good
afternoon. It's great to see everybody. Good to see you, Sydney and good to see well, I can't see everybody, but I know there's other people here. Alright, what I want to do is quickly share my screen. So let's see it says sharing, not turned on. It says Send Request. So I'm sending a request so I can share. Alright, now I can share. Okay. Want to do it now. Yes, I can. Thank you,
right? So let me share my screen. All right, I'm going to go quickly through this presentation. This presentation is actually a longer presentation, but I'm going to do a short version of this presentation so that everybody, so that you guys can get back to business. But the name of this presentation is for the people, for the culture, and it really shows how black Detroit has brought progress to black America, really, and even more than just black America. So let's go through here as of course, I'm going to be focusing primarily on three areas, because, of course, we have limited time. And you can see the three areas being represented here, and the images on the left, you see the gateway to freedom, international Underground Railroad monument. So the Underground Railroad in the fight for freedom is a major part that Detroit has played a role in bringing progress to black America. In the center, it's Detroit Walk to Freedom in 1963 June 23 1963 which was the largest civil rights demonstration in America's history up to that point, and we know that it will be surpassed by the March on Washington two months later. And of course, Martin Luther King, Jr will give a 30 minute speech here in the city of Detroit, twice as long as the one he gives in Washington, DC. But he ends that speech with the I Have a Dream refrain which the world will hear after Detroit heard it two months prior to that. And of course, Detroit's role in music and bringing progress in music. And of course, I'm using the image you see there of Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, who grew up right here in the city of Detroit. So again, I won't be doing the whole presentation that I that this is, but I'll be doing highlighting some important parts in the 20 minutes that I have So one important part that we need to be talking about is, of course, why we're here. And in November 2021, residents voted to create a Reparations committee that will make recommendations for housing and economic development programs to address historical discrimination against black residents right here in the city of Detroit. This created the city of Detroit Reparations Task Force, which has been working in the last three years on studying the structural and institutional racial inequality in Detroit its history and its present day legacy. When this report is done and submitted, it has the power to be a model for other communities across the nation, although the fight for Reparations began when the institution of slavery began, Detroit has long been a major force in the fight for Reparations. These are just some of the organizations and individuals in Detroit who have been leaders in the Reparations movement. The Nation of Islam founded in Detroit in 1930 Reparations Ray Jenkins, he's a Detroit he was a Detroiter and the leader in the Reparations movement in Detroit, from the time that he organized the slave labor annuity payment, which was known as slap in 1963 to being one of the founders of the National Coalition of blacks for Reparations in America in Cobra in 1987 the Republic of New Africa, which was founded in Detroit in 1968 the black manifesto was presented by James Forman at the National Black Economic Development Conference in Detroit in 1969 and of course, he was demanding Reparations. And of course, HR 40, which is a bill to study the effects of slavery and racial discrimination and proposed remedies, including Reparations, was proposed by Congressman John Conyers, a Democratic Representative from the city of Detroit. So here's the Nation of Islam. And of course they had many more, what we want statements, but I just picked these four because they really encompass what we're talking about. And of course they we want freedom. We want a full and complete freedom, is what the Nation of Islam says. We want justice, equal justice under the law. We want justice apply equally to all, regardless of creed or class or code. Number three, we want equality of opportunity. We want equal membership in society with the best in civilized society. And number four, we want our people in America whose parents or grandparents were descendants from slaves to be allowed to establish a separate state or territory of their own, either on this continent or elsewhere. We believe that our former slave masters are obligated to provide such land and that the area must be fertile and minerally rich. We believe that our former slave matters are obligated to maintain and supply our needs in this separate territory for the next 20 to 25 years, until we are able to produce and supply our own needs. And of course, this is the Reparations demand from the Nation of Islam, which was founded right here in the city of Detroit in 1930 the Republic of New Africa founded here in the city of Detroit in 1968 again, they also make a Reparations demand. And much of the leadership of the Republic of New Africa, the RNA will form the structure for in Cobra, the National Coalition of blacks for Reparations in America. And the black manifesto was here in the city of Detroit. We, the black people assembled in Detroit, Michigan for the National Black economic development conference are fully aware that we have been forced to come together because racist white America has exploited our resources, our minds, our bodies, our labor, we have helped to build the most industrial country in the world. Is what James Forman said in 1969 in Detroit, and his manifesto demanded $500 million which is $3 billion in today's dollars, from white corporations and churches as Reparations for slavery and Jim Crow. And of course, John Conyers, his HR 40 goes in. He proposes it in 1989 and of course, it states here to address the fundamental. And I can't read that. It's too blurry, cruelty, bestiality and humanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 historic British colonies. So it's really talking about the period of slavery in in America and and the period of Jim Crow in segregation and racism. And Cobra is founded in May 1989 I'm sorry, it's founded in 87 but it's in May 1989 after library lobbying that HR 40 comes out and the in Cobra, members led by Ray Jenkins get the Detroit City Council to unanimously approve a resolution introduced by Detroit City Council member Clyde Cleveland, Randall Robinson to trans Africa. Randall Robinson worked as administrative assistant Congressman Charles Diggs Jr, from Detroit. While working in representative Diggs office in Detroit and DC, he began to plan and organize trans Africa. Trans Africa is the largest social justice organization in the United States that focuses on the African world. It has served as a major research, educational and organizing institutions for the African and African descendant communities and for the United States public in general. Randall Robinson was a forceful supporter of Reparations. That is his book, The debt, what America owes to blacks and so. So the area of Reparations that we that the Detroit Reparations the Detroit City Reparations Task Force is working on now is a going to be a benefit for all of black America, but when we come to the other issues, including civil rights, another recent case is a part of important civil rights history in the city of Detroit, and will and of course, benefits black people all over this the Gary B versus Snyder case in 2016 seven students and their parents sued Detroit public schools in the state of Michigan for depriving students of right to literacy and refusing to provide equal education in his public schools. They sued in federal court. They lost in the District Court, but they appealed to the Sixth Circuit when Gretchen Whitmer became governor in 2018 the lawsuit was changed to Gary B versus Whitmer in 2020 a three judge panel of the Sixth Circuit ruled that the state is required to provide a basic level of education, and that includes literacy. The court denied the argument that the state has to provide equal education. So in 2020 Governor Gretchen Whitmer settled the Gary B versus Snyder Whitmer case after the three judge appellate ruled that the state is obligated to provide a basic level of literacy to public school students, she agreed to a $94 million fund for literacy programs and dpscd, as well as a financial settlement for the seven students who filed suit. The Republican majority legislature opposed Whitmer selling settlement. Later that year, the full Sixth Circuit agreed to rehear the case and vacated the ruling. But since it was already settled by Governor Whitmer, there was no case to be rehearsed,
right? And as I go through all these other ones,
they just showing how much Detroit contributed in the fight for civil rights, fight for black history, African centered education. Of course, Detroit is where the labor and civil rights movement come together. The labor movement and the civil rights movement, at least the white labor movement was not a part of the civil rights movement until Detroit made it so. Detroit is what brought these two movements together, and the leaders who helped do this are people like Reverend Charles hill of Hartford Avenue Baptist Church, Shelton taps, one of the founders of UAW local 600 Coleman Young, who was the Executive Secretary of the National Negro Labor Council, Lillian Hatcher, the first black woman to be an international representative of the UAW Detroit is the center of these movements coming together, the Black Power and Black Nationalism movement. Detroit is a center, as you already know, the Nation of Islam was found in the city of Detroit in 1930
um. Their first Temple was on Hastings Street.
Elijah Muhammad becomes a leader in 1931
I'm sorry, 34 of the organization. And of course, the most famous minister in the Nation of Islam was Malcolm X, and we know that he lived in the city of Detroit. He was the Assistant Minister of Temple number one before he left and became the national spokesman for the Nation of Islam and the minister at Temple number seven in Harlem, New York. But he was always in the city of Detroit, and very influential to other activists in the city of Detroit. You see him there at the top with Don watts, the editor of The Liberator magazine, Reverend Albert clay of at that time, Central United Church of Christ, his own brother, Wilfred x of Temple number one here in the city of Detroit. And then at the bottom, you see him down there with Milton Henry, who will go on to found the Republic of New Africa, I mean. And we're at the anniversary, the 60th anniversary of his assassination, and just yesterday, when it was the 60th anniversary of the last message he gives in the city of Detroit. And so this is what happened that day. That morning, of course, he his home was fire bombed. And so there he is outside where one of the Molotov cocktails was thrown. And then in the center, you see him making it to the city of Detroit, because he had a commitment to come to the city of Detroit, and he honored his commitment, even though his home had been fire bombed. So there he is at the airport being picked up by Milton Henry, and because he was coughing so much, Doctor Eddie Warren Evans gives him a shot so the a sedative, hoping that he can sleep off his his his coughing. And so there he is getting the shot by Doctor Eddie Warren Evans, who, of course, is the father of Warren Clegg Evans, who is the executive, the Wayne County Executive. And there's the presentation that he gives. This is the the flyer for that presentation. You see the people were there, the master of ceremonies with Ziggy Johnson, very well known figure from the Paradise Valley period. There's Reverend Albert plague invocation. There's George Bucha Junior, who Governor Romney sent to give a greetings from the governor. And there the Dorothy Ashby trio is performing. Attorney Milton Henry is giving a statement of purpose Brazil. Dinars chorus is present. Is performing. Attorney Lee millet is going to award the scholarships. You see Rosa Parks is there. You see William V banks is there. You see George White is there, and Charles Howard. But William V banks, of course, will be the founder of the first black TV station in the country, before own, before bounce, before b, e, t, Detroit had the first black TV station in the country, founded by William V banks, W, G, P, R, and of course, Rosa Parks lived here after she left Montgomery, after she was really blocked from any kind of employment in Montgomery after the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and She lived longer in the city of Detroit, and she lived in Montgomery, Alabama. You see the messages being given by El Hodge, Malik, Shabazz, Malcolm. X, alright. And it was recorded right here. So I'm going to move through quickly past all of this. Oops. So of course, the when we talk about our music history, if, if you trace our music history, it begins in the lower east side of the city, Detroit and black bottom, which will extend into Paradise Valley on hasty Street, the clubs, restaurants, bars, theaters, concert halls that existed in that period and In that area will influence all of the later music in the city of Detroit, and by the time we get to the 1940s and 50s, we have this area known as Sugar Hill, which is considered an expansion area of Paradise Valley. It's located in the area that we now call the Detroit Medical Center neighborhood. The most famous club in that neighborhood is the flame show bar on the corner of John R and Canfield. It's the most popular bar in the city, most popular nightclub in city, Detroit, in the 1950s it's, it's the it's the blues performers. It's the early rhythm and blues performers. It's the soul performance. It's the beginning of what will one day be known as the Motown sound. Two of the people who own a business there, they own a photo concession shop, where you are in the club and you take photographs, take pictures while you're at the club. And they are Anna and Gwen Gordy. Their younger brother, Barry Gordy Jr, will work with them in some cases. And then Gwen and Barry begin writing songs for some of the singers, including Jackie Wilson. So this is the beginning of what's going to become Motown. Anna and Gwen will start a record company of their own, but those record companies will get swallowed by their brothers, record company, Motown Records. But these sisters, if without them, there would be no Motown without the flame show bar, there would be no more time without Paradise Valley. There would be no Motown without black bottom, there would be no Motown. I'm sorry I keep hitting that. This is Maurice king in the Wolverines. He's the house band leader. Um, his the house band is the Wolverines. He's the band leader for the house band at the flame show. Bob, when the flame show about closes in 1963 due to the expansion of the Detroit Medical Center, he goes to work at Motown as the music director. So he is the one teaching music to all of the performers and some of the musicians at Motown Records. He's a big band performer from the Paradise Valley days, but it is big band performers, who are the band members, the the musicians at Motown, or they are the teachers of the musicians at Motown. And so here we have there he is Maurice King. There he is teaching harmony to the Supremes. And there he is discussing notes with the temptations as the music director at Motown Records, the former band leader at the flame show bar there's Anna records, the started by Anna and Gwen Gordie in 1959 and he folded that business, that that that company folded. But who did he? Who did they have? Who did Anna records have they had a singer named Lamont Anthony, but we know Lamont Anthony, Lamont Dozier, who is part of the three level songwriting group, Holland, Dozier, Holland, and then it was the drummer that they had named Marvin Penske the third but of course, you know that drummer as Marvin Gaye, and they had a singer named David Ruffin. And of course that singer would end up becoming the lead singer of the temptations. Without Anna records, there would be no Motown. And
of course we get Motown founded in 1959
but when we go to Motown, understand that you're looking at the product of Paradise Valley. We're going to move quickly these great black business women in the city of Detroit. It's just really important to highlight these great black business women. There's Helen Maloy, there's nanny black, there's Rosa Slade grad, there's Fanny Peck, the founder of Detroit housewives League. There's Doctor violet T Lewis, there's Christine Fuqua. All these great black women, Nanny black, she's one of the early leaders of Detroit housewives League. She's the owner of a real estate owned real estate company, and one of the founders of the National Association of real estate brokers. Just look at the founders on the on the right of the National Association of real estate brokers who are starting their own real estate organization because of the housing discrimination in the real estate industry. So look at them. Just look at the names. A third of them are from Detroit. Detroit is really at the at the forefront of fighting against housing discrimination. We at the forefront on every level of civil rights, Nanny black, Mako Maceo Crutcher and Carlton Gaines and WD Morrison Junior, all four of them are from Detroit, Michigan. Helen Malloy, again, one of those Detroit housewives League, League member. She ran the Malloy shoe repair shop her and her husband. Her husband died earlier than her, so then she ran it by herself. There's her husband, Lorenzo Malloy. There she is. This is her this is their shoe shop that was at the Brewsters. And then if you look in the center, there's a young girl working at the cash register named Betty, who's Betty. Well, Betty is none other than Betty Dean Sanders, who you know is Betty Shabazz. And there she is on the right with Helen Malloy, who adopted her and raised her as her own. There's their home on Hague Street in the north end. We wouldn't have a Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall if it wasn't for black people took it over from 1941 to 1951 because it was it had been foreclosed upon by the city, and the city was going to demolish it. And these black millionaires took it over from 1941 to 1951 these black millionaires didn't lose their money when the stock market crashed, because their money wasn't in banks. Their money was in numbers. And I don't have time to tell you what numbers are. And so these important civil rights battles in the city of Detroit, workmen versus Detroit Board of Education 1869 overturning segregation in Detroit Public Schools. 85 years before Brown versus Board of Education, Ferguson versus geese in 1890 well before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 people versus ocean suite in 1925 the Bible excursion company versus Michigan in 1948 and sites versus McGee in 1948 which outlawed racial restrictive covenants. And of course, we got major battles in the city of Detroit over housing discrimination. Just in 1925 alone. You got five major battles, Aldine Mathis, fleet of Mathis, Austin and Susie Burton at 5913 Northfield in March 1925 of course, that home Austin and Susie Burton are the ancestors of Baba Maliki, a king, Doctor Alexander. Leota Turner, 4755 Spokane, June, 1925 vollington and Agnes Bristol, 7804 and 7806 American July, 1925 John and Lucy Fletcher, 9428 stope in July, 1925 actually was a week away from volume Agnes Bristol's fight and Doctor ocean and Gladys sweet, of course, was the most famous of that year at 2905 garden in september 1925 all of these black families moved into these neighborhoods. White mobs showed up to try to run them out. And in a number of these cases, these black people defended themselves. And of course, in the doctor ocean and Gladys sweet case, not only did it defend themselves. A person, one of the white people out in the mob was killed. We're the reason black people in Detroit, particularly Elijah McCoy, is the reason why trains don't have to stop every hour or so and oil all the moving parts, because Elijah McCoy created a lubricating cup that automatically lubricates the moving parts of the train while the train is moving. And because he kept improving on his patent, people wanted the best one. And if you wanted the best one, you would ask for the real McCoy. The major battles against school inequality, we mentioned a number of them, workman versus the Board of Education, the Miller High School battle in 1933 when Miller was turned into almost all, well it would turn to actually all black. High school was a middle school, and the black parents fought for the best teachers, the best instructors, the best musicians to teach music, the best coaches to do the sports in gym and physical education. They if it's the schools are going to be separate. Black people fought for them to be the black school, to be a black excellent school, northern High School. Walk out in 1966 the black student strikes from 1968 to 1971 Millikin versus Bradley lawsuit in 1974 the Highland Park literacy lawsuit in 2012 and of course, Gary B versus Snyder 2016 finally got settled in 2020 and so I'm going to end right here, because this is really the foundation for why Detroit has contributed so much to black people all over the country. On the right, I'm standing in front of the Murphy house, which is where Thornton Blackburn was enslaved in in Kentucky. So I'm standing in front of the house still owned by descendants of the Murphy family. But now I'm going to tell the story of this great, important part of Detroit's history.
Going to Lucy Blackburn. Have escaped from slavery in Kentucky. They've come to the city of Detroit. They've lived here for two years. Slave catchers have found out that they're here. They've been captured, taken to the jail with assistance from the sheriff and deputy, and once that happens, black people have a meeting. That's what I'm discussing here.
Okay, we're getting the audio. Baba.
Jamal, all right, I'm sorry, we gotta go.
Oh, no, I was just saying we weren't getting the audio portion of your video. You're
not getting the audio. It's not coming through. My bad. All right, so what I'm gonna do is I tell the story, since you can't get the audio, um, throwing the Lucy Blackburn escape from slavery. They came to the city of Detroit. They lived Detroit. They lived here for two years. Slave catchers find out that they're here. Those slave catchers come get the help from Sheriff and Deputy capture Thorn and Lucy Blackburn placed them in the jail, the old Detroit jail, which was located on Gratiot and farmer and they will be held there until a boat came up the river to take them down to Ohio and then wagon them back to Kentucky. A meeting is held at the home of Benjamin Willoughby, a prominent black man, well respected. Two black women are also leaders at this meeting, Caroline French and Tabitha Lightfoot. Those women, along with the rest of the group, will come up with a plan to free Thornton and Lucy Blackburn. The first part of the plan occurs on Sunday, June 16, 1833, they go into the jail to visit Lucy Blackburn while in the jail and praying with her and bringing her some food. Caroline French switch clothes with Lucy Blackburn inside of the jail cell when the sheriff and Deputy are not paying attention. And then when it's time to go, Tabitha Lightfoot walks out with Lucy Blackburn wearing Caroline French's clothes. They put her on a boat. She goes over to Canada, and she is free. The next morning, Caroline French announces who she really is, and tells them they must let her go. The the slave catchers, the bounty hunters, don't want to let her go, because, of course, bounty hunters only make money for bringing people back, and so they've lost a big part of their bounty so they do not want to. They don't they want to sell her to make up what they've lost. And Caroline French says, I'm from Detroit, and that's not going to happen. And when they walk out of the jail, there's 400 people outside, most of whom are black abolitionists. There are some white abolitionists who have joined, and they let Caroline French go when they see this mob of 400 people outside, but that crowd is also there for Thornton. That crowd will attack the sheriff. They will get Thornton away from the sheriff. They will put him on a boat, a wagon, first, take him to the river, put him also on the boat, and send him over to Canada, reunited with his wife, and they both are free when the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan, and the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, request Canada to send Thornton and Lucy Blackburn back to America to pay for their crime of starting a riot that caused the death of a sheriff. Canada refuses to send them back because Canada has ended slavery, and they do not want to send anybody to face a penalty that cannot be given in the in the nation of Canada. And so that creates a a precedent for people escaping, not just to the north. Now, now many people will begin escaping on the Underground Railroad and going to Canada. Detroit opens the door for Canada to be a major destination point on the Underground Railroad, and the people free throwing in Lucy Blackburn will be the founders of Second Baptist Church, the oldest black church in the state of Michigan, stationed on the Underground Railroad in the first school for black people in the city of Detroit. So all of the points that we're talking about, fighting against police brutality, fighting against fighting for civil rights, and fighting for education, all of that is at the foundation of the early fight for freedom during the Underground Railroad period, when they free throwing the Lucy Blackburn, they're fighting for freedom, which is at the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement. When they free throwing in Lucy Blackburn, they found Second Baptist Church, which would be the first school for black people in the city of Detroit, which is at the foundation of the fight for educational equality. When they free throwing in Lucy Blackburn, they attacked the sheriff, because the sheriff is going to send them back into slavery, going to send Thorn and Lucy Blackburn back into slavery, and that's at the foundation of the fight for police abuse and police harassment and police brutality against the African American community. All of the major fights that Detroit will bring, bring progress to is at the foundation of the origin of the black community in the city of Detroit. Because the black community in the city of Detroit, the city of Detroit was founded on the fight for freedom. All right. Thank you everyone.
Thank you so much. Baba Jamal, we really appreciate you during this Black History Month, giving Detroiters even more of a reason to be so proud of this city. Baba jam you gave us so many examples of how we've been on the forefront of innovation and our innate desire for change since the beginning of time. So this is why we are continuously fighting for Reparations. This is why we are continuously trying to make some sort of change in this city. It's in our blood, y'all. So this is why we got to give so much preface to this work, so much preface to these presentations, because we have such a long way to go. And this is not this is not nothing new. The fight for Reparations is nothing new. So thank you so much for Bob and Jamal for your presentation, we can go ahead and get started with our business now that we have some fire and some motivation and some inspiration for this conversation, we've been joined by a couple of more members of this body. So let me go back to our agenda and go into line item number two, approval of the agenda. If there are no objections to the agenda, we will go ahead and approve that, going one,
going twice,
all right. Thank you all so much. Line item number three, approval of the minutes. If there are no amendments to the minutes, we will go ahead and approve those as well, going once, going twice. Alright. Line item number four, any unfinished business? I don't see anything listed here on the agenda. Is there anything from the body, going once, going twice. All right, wonderful. So now I know a lot of us is really excited, and we've been working really, really hard behind the scenes. We are going to give you an update of the progress of this task force. We do have our incredible project manager whose task is to keep us on track, and he's been doing a great job of that. To give our presentation, if you want to go ahead and share your screen, Evan, and we will reserve some time after this presentation for about five questions pertaining to this particular presentation. We are still going to have public comment closer to the end of our agenda, but we did want to give time specifically for questions regarding this presentation. So if you can go ahead and just write those down while he's presenting, we will take five immediately after the presentation. Thank you, Evan. Thank
you through the Chair, if I may be heard. So yes, we have been working on this presentation. Want to thank everybody for coming out. Spite of this Michigan weather, it's great to see all you all zoom. My name is Evan Daugherty. I'm the project manager for the Detroit Reparations task force, so I'll be assisting with the presentation, as the co chair Calloway indicated. Purpose of the presentation is just to provide some essential updates, recap of the past year or so, and also a look at what's to come. So starting out, this task force was originally formed, oh, let me go back from a ballot initiative led by a lot of grassroots organizations, as you all know, in 2021 it was placed on the ballot. A quick fact, we actually attended the National Symposium for state and local Reparations last year, and there were about 50 or 60 different Reparations organizations across the country and evolve when we were the only one that actually had a mandate from the public from a ballot initiative that our city actually voted on to pass that. So that was something that they were very impressed with and something I believe we should be proud of as Detroiters. Here in February 2023 the task force was seated. Um, there were some personnel obstacles. Unfortunately, we lost Queen Mother Joanne Watson and other members that may not have had the time and capacity to serve on the task force. As of 2024 last year, the task force has been fully staffed with 13 members. We brought on the project manager, community liaison, and moved into our office space, which talk a little bit more about also, if any of task force members online want to jump in anytime, feel free so the initial infrastructure our office and meeting space right now we're located at 4605, cast Avenue. That's right by Wayne State campus, on a cast and Canfield, I believe. So we do have office hours available Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to five. We have weekly meetings there for two hours every week, as well as our Saturday work sessions where we've been working on the report and the framework. So some of you all been there, we've conducted interviews there and engaged with you all. We appreciate you all weekly in person meetings and the project manager so that the task force can focus solely on doing the work of repeating, of uh, completing a report, and the administrative tasks have been shifted over, which we believe is uh, increased our productivity and efficiency further now in April, if any of you all were here at the Northwest Activity Center and the public session that we had uh, black bottom archives and the oral histories presented from Black Bottom archives, and collaboration with Ally media and our historian Marcia black, we actually researched those oral histories from the black bottom archives and began conducting our own interviews with many of you to capture some of the important narratives that are going to be used in our report to contextualize the City Council Report, the black bottom neighborhood is a testament to what we can accomplish in the city, but also some of the horrific racist policies that displaced many black residents that our historian jam Jordan just alluded to, some of our university research partnerships, Columbia University. They came. They saw historical locations, actually with Jamal Jordan again, and the tour met with a lot of local leaders. Met with Us Weekly, and that report was presented and distributed at our public session. The University of Michigan, Wayne, State University, on Howard, with some of our other research partners, we collaborated with the University of Michigan harms report focusing on the issues of housing, policing, quality of life, education and economic development are very essential to making the case for the debt owed to black Detroiters in our report, some of the subject matter experts that we've been collaborating with include, I don't know If you can see it on here and move this, um, the black bottom archives, I said, the reparation education project with Nikiti. If you all came to our last public session in November, we played the video from the reparation education project, the Evanston Reparations Task Force. You all follow Evanston. They've been one of the pioneers of the Reparations movement. They've actually implemented a plan, and they've been able to get some direct relief to citizens of Evanston already. So definitely provided us a lot of good information. Nicholas Cummings and a host of attorneys also that are based here in Detroit, ranging from issues from Community Land Trust to the bankruptcy and other organizations like Detroit sector justice as well, which talk a little bit more about. Oh in June and July of 2024 we moved our efforts to community engagement and gathering voices, if any are attended our public sessions then focused on three main areas that we took notes on, that was the harms that occurred in Detroit, solutions for repairs and things that we love about Detroit. So this information, along with our interviews that we conducted and the research we use to compile our Reparations community survey, and we advertise that on multiple platforms, including local four news channel, and we're proud to say we have over 700 responses so far that we've gotten. We've included the QR code there, so if anybody still has yet to take it, or you want to share that with other members in the community, please do. We obviously want as many people to take that as possible, including those summer months. We also attended the African World Festival, Juneteenth events at Charles Wright Museum and other some of the culturally relevant events that were occurring during that time. Get as much feedback as possible, weigh in for our report. Oh, okay, and August and September 2024 this is when we began the initial process of hiring our report writer so dedicated Report Writer position was created to ensure comprehensive and compelling documentation of the findings. We advertised this position on our own website, as well as outlets like Detroit Free Press and bridge Detroit, we met with city officials. Well members of the task force met with city officials just to facilitate the hiring process. We received over a dozen applicants that were interested in the position. We conducted interviews, and we're happy to announce now we have selected a report writer, and they're currently in the process of onboarding, so we brought them on the team, rigorous hiring process, and we've identified a qualified, experienced writer, and again, they're going to work with the task force to finalize this Reparations report. In October and November of 2024 brought in a host of subject matter experts, many of you all may remember, ajua Ayatollah, who's an attorney, Lisa holder, who's a federal Reparations advocate based in California, Nicholas Cummings, who's one of the policy analysts for the Evanston Reparations Task Force. We also worked with many organizations that I see online, like Detroit grassroots coalition, the People's platform, and then up here, our own city of Detroit legislative policy division actually provided us with some reports slavery era records and some of the discriminatory discriminatory practices of businesses that occurred in that time as well, to give us more historical context for our report. And we're continuing to actively work with these prominent researchers and hopefully bring them out, as we did in this meeting, as we did at our last public session, and the one in October as well. And this is also where we hosted the round table discussions based on that information, where residents of the public can sit directly with task force members and engage in a back and forth dialog.
And December and January worked on finalizing the framework of the report so the detail outlined for the Reparations report is drafted outline the key topics and subjects for consideration. Just to give an idea, some of those topics of the framework include acknowledgements. Obviously, you want to contextualize the history, as our historian Jamal Jordan indicated, and give credit to people like Joanne Watson, Ray Jenkins, Congressman John Congress, who was instrumental in, um, advocating for HR 40. And some of those framework additional framework pieces include the social history, uh, eligibility based on the categories of harms and recommendations, uh, the policy solutions, sources of revenue and a plan for implementation and sustainability going forward. So now that we've identified this framework, this is going to be essential to give it to our report writer to finalize the report, which is the phase we're moving into now. And the outline included a preliminary framework for Reparations or pertinent issues for redress, and some information sources. These are some of the books and other sources that the task force has been looking over to finalize the report the black Reparations project, Dawn of Detroit, the white bonus, and other articles and publications that we've been studying, as well as our grassroots research and the first repair National Symposium for state and local Reparations, which I talked about a little earlier. It's the largest coalition of state and local Reparations organizations in the country. So both of our co chairs, Sydney Callaway and Keith Williams, attended, as well as other Reparations task force members. We spoke with elected officials, lawyers, organizers, ranging everywhere from California to DC, Virginia and Evanston. So we definitely believe we gained a lot of valuable information from other task forces like Evanston that are implementing Reparations plans right now, and also learned a lot about some struggles and pitfalls that they may be facing that we believe will help make ours more efficient, and we could circumvent some of those other obstacles that Reparations programs across the country have been dealing with, as you know, at the federal level. That brings us to now the timeline and extending our reach. Because we propose this research, we're finalizing our framework, and we just hired a report writer, we will be requesting a only three month extension to June so that we can take the time to thoroughly and accurately report that reflects the community input. And this extension will allow for the continued community engagement and data analysis, and it will strengthen the reports validity and impact. But the next steps are report completion, or actively working with the report writer to finalize the report and again, incorporating the community input and expert analysis and the public release, so Upon completion, it will be released share. We're more than likely going to have another public session where it'll be distributed to everyone. It'll be distributed on all our platforms and our website and our newsletter, and it'll give everybody an opportunity to engage with the report, to ask questions, have a Q and A and we can go through everything together, so that when we present it to city council and we push for the implementation, we do it on the unified front. And that brings us to the last case. We remain committed to developing meaningful Reparations recommendations that address historical injustice and paved the way. Just want to give everybody our contact info again. We're located at 4605, cast Avenue, and you can email us at Reparations at Detroit mi gov. I know many of you all are on our email list already, and you can reach us anytime at 313-439-5645, so, 313-439-5645, and please reach out to us. Many of you are part of prominent organizations in the city, so invite us out. We love to be there. We love you to come by and do give an oral history to us, and take our community survey and find multiple ways. There are multiple ways to engage with the task force and continue to build on this work. So I believe that concludes it and thank want to thank everybody for their time.
You so much, Evan, well done. Really appreciate. Member, Hazel, I see your hand.
Thank you and good afternoon everyone. Thank you for attending. I just want to make a correction in the report, you stated that attorney Nicholas Cummings was a policy analyst for the Evanston Illinois Reparations project. Just want to correct that so people know that we Detroit Reparations task force had a presentation from attorney Nicholas Cummings, who was the Corporation Counsel for the city of Evanston, Illinois, during the time in which they wrote their legislation, which is currently active, and distributing $25,000 to those residents that applied and were eligible. So I just wanted to clarify that he was not a policy analyst. He is actually the Corporation Counsel who wrote the legislation. Thank you
so much, members.
Were there any questions pertaining to this particular presentation?
Madam, Madam Chair, no, no, no, no particular question. I do want to compliment Evan on the presentation well, one in terms of pulling it together, and also his present, his actual presentation, Evan, you continue to represent as well and do great work for us, and we appreciate it as a body.
Yes, thank you. Member Hicks, thank you. Thank you. All right, and to the audience, I'll take first five questions. So Leticia Edwards,
you can go ahead with your question.
My name is Leticia Edwards. I'm a community activist for district seven in Detroit. This is 2025 so a lot of stuff that these those speakers that got up and said, Thank you so much for bringing us up to date on our history. But moving forward, how are we going to prepare to grab hold of this epidemic of the women and children that's coming up missing in the city of Detroit recently? Thank
you so much. Miss Edwards. So right now we're taking questions about the presentation that our project manager just gave, so if you would just lower your hand and we can come back to you for public comment. Is that all right? Yes. Thank you so much. Miss Anita Bell,
good afternoon. Can you hear me, yes. How are you?
I'm great. Thank you so much. This is a question for Evan on your presentation. I didn't get the name of the person that was hired, any name or introduction or or is that going to be announced at a later time? Yes. So
that's going to come at a later time, after we finalize all of their contract details. Okay, okay, thank you. Great question.
William,
yes. Good afternoon. I noticed that this presentation had been recorded, and I'm just trying to find out, are we able to get an email or anything of this presentation?
Yes. So most of our presentations will be posted to our website. So if you go to, I believe city of Detroit, what is that? Detroit mi.gov, and then backslash Reparations, I think that's what it is. Evan
through the chair. This one has not been posted to the city of Detroit website. We can post it so if the task force one student, we can definitely post that on the city of Detroit website for everyone to see. Thank
you, Evan, and thank you for your question. Ms Williams, we'll try to get to you. Alright, one more question we got. Rafa Ann, am I pronouncing that right?
Hello, yes. I'm a resident of North and I just have a clarifying question. I think it's just because I was zoning in and out a little bit for us to continue providing community inputs for the report. Do we have to wait for the report to come out in June, or do we just keep on providing community inputs now and then that will be all incorporated by June for the report?
Absolutely. So we do have a a community survey that is available for any input as of right now. I believe there is a section on there for any additional comments. If there is not, we have an email just to make sure that we're getting accurate questions or making sure we're talking to everybody. That's Reparations at Detroit mi.gov and that's available for you to submit feedback whenever.
Okay, thank you absolutely. And our last
one is going to be Ernest Russell,
good afternoon. Can you hear no, yes, yes, yes.
All right, I just wanted to ask, is it possible for you guys to provide like preliminary recommendations thus far, or is that something that will be discussed in later meetings? Yeah.
So as of right now, nothing is finalized, but that community survey does have some of the things that we're stewing over. If you haven't taken that survey yet, to prioritize some of our kind of ideas for Reparations recommendations, please do that. But those that list, I believe, or that survey does have a couple of things that we've been talking about in depth. So make sure to take that survey so we can kind of prioritize those recommendations. And then as we start to compile those recommendations, we'll start releasing some things, just so you can gaze over things. Thank you, Mr. Rud and with that being said, I it for our DRF presentation. We are going to move down to line item number seven, which is our call to action. So the presentation provided by our project manager Evan just now, is going to be presented to city council on I believe that's February 25 in their 10 a in public session, a couple of our task force members will present that presentation. We want to give it to y'all first, just to garner your support. So our call to action for each and every one of you is to make sure that you are letting your city council person know that you are here to support these efforts, that you're going to support this report as it comes out, that you have input and that you are really trying to boost our efforts. So if you can make sure to give your public comment to let them know how things are going, how you feel about it, as a stakeholder, as a voter, I believe that's our main call to action as of right now, to really garner support for the recommendation and for the report that's being compiled. I also want to take some time to invite one council with the disaster recovery group to give some words about the family who was impacted by unstable housing over this last week. It's a really heartbreaking tale, but we did want to take a moment of silence for that family, and to really recognize why this work is so important and why Reparations has to come now, because homelessness is something that we can't tolerate as a community. We can't leave our family, our neighbors, our friends out in this weather. It's Michigan, it's Detroit, y'all, it's cold, so this is why we have to make sure that our our housing program recommendations are adequate. We need all the input that we can get to make sure that we are providing what we need as a society, as a city right now. So if lawn law Council can be promoted to panel, have about minutes to give some words, because we definitely want to recognize this family, and we want to just give them a little respect.
There's member Ford. Member Ford
through the chair, we're promoting this council to panelists now. I
Hi? Can
everybody hear?
We can hear you that other speaker, okay, okay.
Is that bad?
Hello, hello. The speaker needs to be muted, not the microphone. The speaker
which one to do is that? Chair, this
is member Hicks.
Just a quick suggestion. The I think you got the person and Miss Florida and the boat in the same location. I think one of them turns off their machine. It eliminates the feedback. Since they're both in the same location, we can, we can hear both of them. I
think they resolved it. No,
everybody who's talking, who's not talking, have to go on mute.
That's better.
Yeah, I think we have the aisle, the computer, the speaker. We just want to be here. Hello everybody. Happy Saturday, Happy Black History Month. What we're going to do right now is take some time to a say a prayer for this family. We're going to call their names. Tatiana Williams is their mother. Darnell and Amelia curry lost their life this week,
freezing to death,
taking refuge in a minivan
in the safest place this young mother could find to seek refuge in a well lit parking lot
with high traffic,
she ran out of gas.
What we want to do right now
is take this opportunity as a call to action, to step up for several platforms, but first and foremost, for the housing crisis
that we all are faced with in Detroit,
for the lack of services,
for the lack of response, for the lack of Respect and understanding for what homelessness looks like in Detroit. Every vision you see on this zone is what homelessness and facing homelessness looks like from the $600 million in over assessed homes that were stolen
from the
Renaissance that was so called, created for our comeback city for the last 10 years, for this to be the reality in this climate crisis that this young woman lost her children as she was trying desperately to feed them, to close them, she made it very clear that what she could provide for them was everything except for a house. People have asked all week, does she have a job? She was not jobless. She was homeless.
Homeless nest
is the result of her trying to wake up her children for school, to be a responsible mother, to get them to a place of education on time, to do all the right things in this tax season and the baby mama rich season, she was one day away from financial freedom. But the access to housing is none. Money was not going to make housing accessible. The issue we have in Detroit is there is no accessible housing, and to try to find emergency housing living in a hotel. My kids and I lived in that same hotel at Greentown casino in 2014 we stayed there for 31 days. It cost me $4,200 every day I swipe my card. I was one day away when I lifted myself about that situation. I become a housing advocate. I have a grassroots organization. We own several property we partner with all of the community organizations that supportive housing. There is not enough support for us to help her. Everyone that contacted me said one thing, if she called me, I wouldn't have had no help for because we are struggling as organizations trying to get sustainable housing for ourselves, for our community, I represent the 10s of 1000s of Detroiters that have suffered sewer backup, have toxic mold, have constant basement flooding. If she could have placed refuge in somebody's basement. It could have caused them asthma attacks, but she would have much rather had to not be able to wake up her children for school. So what I am asking is that there be a thorough investigation into this cam system, which is the intake system for homeless folk, for a thorough investigation to the housing violation department that houses all of the housing programs that support our residents that we can never figure out, from one application to the next, where we stand on the application list, every single person that has called for help has gotten The same thing. Miss Williams has gotten nothing, no response, no call backs, nothing. This is a wake up call. These deaths are on all of our hands. This is serious, and I am standing up today as a young black mother myself as a metro Detroit. I was born and raised on Mac and Phillip from 1975 until now, and we came from a community that helped one another. I hosted a phone call yesterday where we had elected officials, many community, grassroots people just like me and everybody had a story opening their side door for a young family, because that's all we can do. Every single one of us had a story about how we called cam during 2020 I worked at peace Lutheran Church in Morningside in Detroit, and the droves of residents that needed help. The last time I was this fired up, one of our residents froze to death in a vacant house during COVID Because her family wouldn't let her come take refuge because of the pandemic. And I have not been that upset from that day until this day. But as we address climate disasters, this is a climate disaster, and the climate in Detroit is not just the weather. It is a climate of corruption. It is becoming unbearable. So as we go through this week and we stand up on February 19, February 20, which are the days for the viewing for these young children and the funeral for this family, we will not forget the trauma that they're going to be facing for the for their lifetime, there were three generations living in the van, a mother, her mother and also her children, three generations of a family living in the van in Detroit. I'm going to end this with knowing for this Reparations Task Force what we are going to do. This is a Detroit harm. This is on the top of the list of harms to our residents, and we will stand up while she gets some rest, while she can't shake this feeling. Why? Doesn't matter what she does when this zoom call ends, this is her reality, and we're going to stand in the gap for her. Thank you for this time.
Thank you so much for sharing.
I'm at a loss for words. There's there's nothing that can be said. We just want this feeling to inspire us all to action, to motivate us to make some changes, to advocate for changes, to advocate for one another. Because we all, we got y'all. This is literally indicative of how much we have to have each other's backs. Thank you so much. Juan. Are there any comments from the body before we move into public comment? Please take your time, because this is a lot for us. This is a lot for everybody. So I couldn't even imagine what, what the mother is going through, anything from the body. Before we move into public
comment, all
right, so we will go ahead and start with public comment. Um, each person will be given about a minute 30 seconds. Evan, do you have a timer that you can display
through the chair? I do have a timer that could be heard. I'm not sure if I can display it. Um, and how much time do you want to give to each other public commentary?
Uh, one minute and 30 seconds. And if you just go to Google and pull up a timer, you can just display that graphic. I'm sorry, sorry. So far, okay, through the chair, switching to
getting feedback. Member, Lars, oh,
okay, that was for Evan. Never mind. Never mind.
So as soon as that timer comes up, we can get started with public comment. Thank you all so much for your patience and all so much for your support. I really appreciate y'all finding a way to get on zoom with us today, just to make sure that y'all are staying engaged. We appreciate your engagement. We appreciate your support. We appreciate y'all being a part of this process and taking this journey with us. Like I said, this is not the beginning of anything. This is a long, long, long time coming. You.
Okay,
I just set up that primer so we can go ahead and begin with public comment. The first public comment strategy is Penny.
All right, Penny.
I'm sorry, I was trying to get the QR code again. I wanted to take a picture so I can pass it out.
Oh, okay, no problem. Let's see, and if you can work on displaying that as well. Was that your only comment? Miss Denny,
well, I would like to see you guys include some more information and data from the international community that's working on Reparations. Okay,
for sure, and through the Chair, just to clarify, you wanted to see the QR code for the
Yes, I want to take a picture. I want to send it out to some more people. That's for the Community Survey. Okay,
thanks, Evan,
thank you. Thank you, Miss Penny.
Next we have here. Ahmad,
good afternoon. Thank you for the moment of silence. Thank you for allowing me to say something today. I'm with the Coalition for Property Tax Justice. I'm a city council public watcher. I watched the city council, I made public statements, and I advocate, and have been fighting for housing rights for at least 30 years. Right now, I want to say that it's time is out for being all nice and stuff. We need to go down to that city council next meeting and Tuesday and occupy the offices of Mary Sheffield. Just go in there and sit down and don't get get up until our demands are met. We want, number one, we want those land bank houses. And we want that this those houses for everybody, every family that's out here in the streets right now, in this cold are we going to have more and more and more deaths that we going to find out later and find the people on the street that die that we can't they don't have a phone. I told them, You need to put some billboards out there, because people are walking around. They don't have phones. I can't. They can't. Can't call you if you don't have a cell phone. Okay? And and the other thing is, we've got things that can be done by city council right now. We got a foreclosure refund if you were over taxed and your home was taken for over taxes, for taxes, and you your taxes was $2,000 in city and Wayne County sold your house for $40,000 you get $38,000 back. It was a Michigan Supreme Court ruling. The city council is not putting that information out. We gotta get that out, because the deadline is March 31 by any means necessary get this. This is Reparations for homeowners who were foreclosed. And the other thing is, I think that the $600 million was taken from us to a billion dollars, and this, we're still being illegally overtaxed. 100,000 homes were illegally foreclosed. This is why we have a housing crisis. The city has done this, and Mister Duggan and city council persons on city council has been preventing what we passed, that was the property tax reform ordinance, because the week the illegally, the illegal over taxation starts at the assessor's office. So we implemented that reform. I'm going to give this number for people who want to get their property tax assessments done free. We did free tax assessments, and we've saved 13,000 homes Miss
Amasa Your time is up, but if you could email us that number and that information so we can use our GOV Delivery to make sure it gets to everybody, regardless if they want it or not. Okay, okay. Can
you have, can you have Miss ama repeat what she said about the 38,000 was that a lawsuit? Sentiment, or what was it? Yes,
the Wayne County Treasurer on all of the counties in Michigan, there's a lawsuit that the Supreme Court just decided. They decided that the county cannot take people's houses for taxes, sell the house for way more than the taxes, and keep all the money they have got to pay the taxes with that house sale, and all the rest of that money goes to that homeowner and and we got one a deadline. It's March 31 then Wayne County is the only one got the deadline. All the rest of the counties in Michigan don't have a deadline. People have been getting their money. So that means if your house was foreclosed for $2,000 and Wayne County took your house and they sold it for $40,000 you get $38,000 only thing Wayne County can do is take that money and satisfy that tax debt. Everything else belongs to the homeowner. That's why there's a deadline, because this is millions of dollars that Wayne County has got to pay out, and as long as people don't apply, they don't have to pay it out.
Wow. Thank you so much. Miss AMA. Please put all those details in that email to us so we can review it and make sure that we get this important information out to our neighbors. I appreciate that so much. Member, did you have anything else? Yes,
literature. Thank you. Chair Callaway, Evan, could you make sure? Could you help me get connected offline with Miss Amar? I want to make sure that information that she's sharing doesn't get lost. I need to understand how to look it
up through the Chair. Yes.
Thank you both. All right, next we have William M Davis,
good afternoon. Can I be heard? Yes. Okay, I like to start off by saying that I normally speak about the need for people to remember the fact that the Detroit bankruptcy adversely affected the city of Detroit retirees, but also that was just another grand scheme for white people to come in and take our art, Bella Detroit water and sewage, because your water rates about to go up again. But the rest of my time, I like to say this as it relates to tragic incident downtown, to young lady, you know, losing two of her kids. Things have gotten worse for black people in this city in the last 11 years. You know, we used to be a major homeowner city. That's not anymore. We used to be the largest majority black city in the country. Not anymore. We have we've lost a lot. I think it makes a difference who's in charge of your city. I think it makes a difference who you vote for. We need to know who we voting for and why are we voting for. You know, a lot of money. It was redirected. It was supposed to have been used to help people stay in their homes. This is all, in my opinion, a plot to move us, a negro removal plan. So we need to stand up, be strong and challenge what's going on in this city. Not just look at city council, look at who's above City Council. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.
Next we have Netta Mayberry,
hello. I'm a calling because of our race is being erased from our birth certificates in the state of Michigan. At this particular time, I went to get a copy of my birth certificate, my race was no longer on there, and it stated, I have no race at all. So if the Constitution of the United States say that we only three fifths of a person, if I cannot be any race, like a Caucasian or what have you, then what am I? So it's time for us to stand up and be what we are, copper colored people, Negro, because African American ei must have taken that title. So we must stand up for our own selves, not keep waiting on the government to tell us who we are, we must know my birth certificate, my original birth birth certificate said that I am a negro, and I always stood up as a Negro in United States. And if we continue to call ourselves the N word, that's what they would call us eventually, because that's what you answer to and I thank you for your time. I think we need to wake up. This is more than just a wake up call, and the city of Detroit has a lot of houses in the city of Detroit that we built in 1993 9495 that are in they cannot tear them down.
Thank you so much.
That's your time. Thank you so much. Miss Barry. Thank you for sharing that information, Paris. I see your hand.
Thank you member Callaway. My name is Paris, bless men, and I work for council president Sheffield. I just wanted to provide a little clarity about one of the comments that was made related to homes and money and being able to get funds. So if your property was foreclosed and sold in an auction between 2015 through 2020 you may be eligible to be to claim remaining proceeds from the sale, and that's from a Michigan Supreme Court decision that was made, and you can go to the Wayne County Treasurer website to fill out that application. Just wanted to provide some clarity on that comment that was made. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Miss Lesnar.
Next, we have Doctor Nicole Anderson,
Hello, Good afternoon guys. Can you guys hear me? Pretty fair?
Yes, thank you. Amen.
Good afternoon. Yes. My question concern, first and foremost. Great job on presentation to all the hosts, thank you for your patience with all the residents. In addition to that, my primary concern is that I know everything will come to fruition at some point as we continue to work diligently towards the matter at hand. It's just a matter of time at this point, and hopefully it'll be due justice, and we all get what we so firmly deserve. However, my other concern is, does anyone have any information or contact information where we can help the young lady who had unfortunately lost their children? How can we help her? How can I hope.
Thank you so much. Miss Anderson, Paris,
I do know that the family has a Go Fund Me account. People have called the city of Detroit to ask how they could lend support, and the city is trying to the mayor's office is involved with providing administrative support, but there's a Go Fund Me, and I would suggest that you Google that and donate to the family directly that way.
Where are the services being held at? I think someone mentioned the 19th to the 18th, but the speaker, the guest speaker,
yes. The speaker probably has more information on on that, yup, I see member Ford.
Yes, we have some information, because we're going to try to go to some of the memorials on February the 19th. Is the is the viewing. It's from 11am to 7pm at McFall brothers Funeral Home, 9419, Dexter Avenue. And then on February the 20th, at 10am is at Triumph church that's on the Boulevard, right on the Boulevard by I 75 and we need to be there. We need to show up and be there and be a witness for that mom. And that's just the first action, because, like, Miss council said we're going to do something about this, because this is why we have a Reparations Task Force, because our children and our black women in our community are being harmed.
Yes, well, I really appreciate that you guys and I, I concur with everything that you're stating this for, and hence why I'm seeking to be of service. That's our responsibility. Regardless of your belief system, I'm a firm believer in our responsibility is to be of service. So thank you guys for sharing that information with me, and I'll do my due diligence to see it through. You all have a blessed weekend and be safe out there and God
bless you all you too. Thank you so much, Dr Anderson for joining us next we have Miss Russell.
Can I be heard? Yes. How are you doing good? I was just going to say that story that was just shared was so painful, but just hearing that, I had to write this up and actually say it. But the story of poverty is no stranger to our people, and that's linked to a specific history that has been suffered by a specific group of people. And it's painful to hear these stories and know that right now, today, we all have family that are in similar positions and only one step away from a reality like that. And so when we talk about Reparations, it is a serious topic, like our people have paid a price, and as a result, something is old for that. And I think you know when you look when you think about three generations of a family living in a van, and people say America first all the time. Are those people really in in mind? And I think we also gotta let it sink in that her family suffered in this country and have poured their blood and tears for the enrichment of this nation and others, and yet she didn't have enough money to protect her children. That's That's crazy. And at the same time, I say she worked the job that wasn't enough in the current programs that exist today weren't enough. I think your recommendations at their core should address the essence of this issue and try to change their reality. So I urge that you take these recommendations serious and propose recommendations that could actually change the lives of the descendants of the formerly enslaved. Can I ask that you be wary of universal minority superficial recommendations, as we can clearly see, they weren't enough. And I end with that.
Thank you so much. Mister Russell, I really appreciate your comments. Um, next we have caller ending in 588978, 889,
seven.
Good afternoon. May I be heard.
Yes, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Wonderful meeting, wonderful presentation by Jamal Jordan, our city historian. This is Detroit city councilwoman Angela Whitfield Callaway, representing District Two, the council person who brought the Oakland County Supreme Court case to the attention of my colleagues back in the springtime. And the name of the case is regarding the foreclosures. Is rough Ali versus Oakland County, and that's R, A, F, A, E, L, I versus Oakland County is a 2020, Michigan Supreme Court case that limited the government's ability to take home equity during tax foreclosures. In other words, the ruling establishes that the government can only keep the amount owed in taxes and fees and must return any remaining equity to the former owner of the property. So again, that's where folly versus Oakland County, and it was a 2020 Michigan Supreme Court case that was just settled in the spring of 2024 Secondly, Eric say, Sabri our Wayne County treasurer will be on a virtual conference call this Monday, February 17, and to get more information about this case and any other wayne county tax matters you're facing or experiencing, you can call my office at 313-224-4535,
that number again is 313-224-4535,
I am hosting Wayne County, Eric Sabri on Monday, February 17, at 5:30pm the number again to call to get the meeting information, and the link is 313-224-4535,
thank you so much.
You. Councilwoman Callaway, thank you so much for joining us today. Next we have Ann Smith, you
Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes. How are you? I'm great. Thank you for always managing this through and keeping it as tight and as efficient as possible. It really was a reflection on our city and our Detroit Reparations Task Force. I'm an independent advocate for Reparations now for the National Reparations movement, and I just wanted to give a very brief breakdown of where you can go to find and see and look at the see the correct Congressional Black Caucus held a news conference on the bill to create Reparations commission, and it was supported and requested by Erica Lee Carter, who is The daughter of the late great Sheila Jackson Lee, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and she passed the baton to her daughter, Erica Lee Carter. And Erica Lee Carter passed it to Ayanna, Congress woman, Ayanna Pressley. And so you can go to, I'm going to give two. Thegrio.com is one where they presented this conference. But I think you can actually Google it on YouTube, and I think it'll pop up for you so it's quite informative, quite clear, quite direct, about Reparations proposals that they're going to try to push through for HR 40s bill and as the advocate for this program, Reparations now.com. I'm sorry. Hashtag Reparations now, exclamation point.
All right. Thank you so much. Miss Smith, we really appreciate your comment. Thank you for the information. Next, we have Christopher Carter,
hello, Reparations Task Force, and everyone in Detroit, I just have some recommendations, seven recommendations for the task force to present to the city council. Business institutions created and household and households for households, trust back universal basic income for all Detroit households, businesses, institutions for all residents, citizens, we must be repaired for the injustices of the United States government sanctioned institutions of race, slavery and Jim Crow trust back universal basic income for households, businesses and institutions, is the feeling of Dr King's guaranteed income, as well as Land reconciliation from pollution and safe affordable housing and water. Number two is DNA testing to know what nations Detroit residents ancestrally descend from to determine true ethnicity, instead of identifying as with the Mr. Misnomers of race, not to be a replacement for race, but to honor the one's heritage, history, culture and true ethnicity, as we put down the legal racial definitions of Americanism and embrace the union of being Detroit, Michigan, United States citizens that happen to be North Americans three legal issues. A, the overturning of Dred Scott due to denationalization. B, the removing of the three fifths flaws and constitution C, making Yes, so
your time expired. But if you could put all of that in writing and make sure to shoot it over to us via email so we can review it. We'd really, really appreciate it. It sounds like you had a couple of really solid recommendations, some that we may have considered, but not as in much depth as you. So if you could shoot us an email reparations@i.gov
Yes, I have, I have wonderful, yeah,
absolutely, absolutely. I see member Hazel followed by member Lars Sosa.
Thank you. I just want to thank the resident Ms Smith that just spoke previous to the last caller that brought up the federal Reparations legislation. And we do thank Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts for reintroducing HR 40 during the 100 and 19th congressional session, which is what we're in now. That's 2025 through 2026 and I do hope that the residents of the city of Detroit, whose former congressman, Congressman John Conyers, introduced the first federal Reparations legislation back November 20, 1989 which was actually HR 3745 which became HR 40 in subsequent congressional sessions, that was the 100 and first congressional session. We are now in the 100 and 19th congressional sessions are two years I actually wrote that legislation when I worked for Congressman Conyers in 1989 and what we should be very aware of is the legislation that has been reintroduced now for 36 years consecutively was introduced on january 3 of 2025 typically, that legislation is introduced the first day or the first week of the congressional session with that's why we've been able To keep HR 40 as the number upon his introduction on january 3, there were no co sponsors, none. Not even our two congressional representatives from the 12th and 13th congressional districts that represent the city of Detroit. I'm glad to see that there was a press conference, and I'm glad to see now there are 72 congressional representatives. But remember, the House of Representatives on the federal level is 435
members of Congress. So that means there's 363
have not signed on. That means that there are members of the Congressional Black Caucus that have not signed on, which I believe there's 60 members black members of Congress now. So while our two congressional representatives share than Adar and Congresswoman Rashida Talib have signed on at this point in time, I urge those of you residents who have family members and friends throughout the United States to ask their members of Congress to sign on to this legislation while Congressman Conyers was living over the 30 years that I was involved with his office, we always had 100 or more co sponsors on that bill and that that makes a difference as to trying to bring it to a hearing which we've only had one hearing, which was in 2020 with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. So thank you, resident and Smith, for raising that to our consciousness. We are the local Reparations program for the city of Detroit, but more money is available at the federal level, and that's why we need to continue to support and advocate for HR 40 Reparations for Descendants of chattel slaves. Thank you. Thank
you so much. Member, Hazel, member Lars Sosa, did you have anything that you'd like to add?
Yes, thank you. Member Callaway, I just had follow up for Christopher Carter. I know he's going to send something in writing, but I really want to make sure I understood that first point for trust backed universal income for households and businesses. Is that what he's saying?
So we do have his email address, and I can make sure to get that to you so you can have conversation offline. We want to get the rest of these public comment. I'll make sure to get you his email
next we have Latoya Williams,
good afternoon to the body and to the rest of the residents of Detroit. I just wanted to speak in regards as well to that form from the lawsuit. That form is actually the deadline is March the 31st and so I've been trying to get the information out. I just didn't understand why I couldn't go like on one of our city sites, or something to that extent, so that people would know, but it's on the michigan.gov is form 6156 and it's called the notice of intention to claim interest in foreclosure sale proceeds from states occurring prior to December 22, of 2020 so that form is due on March the 31st as well as I just wanted to speak, because I'm always saying about the harms that have been done to us in the past. Those harms are continuing. And with this new administration in place, I just see more harms occurring. So I just want to make sure that when that recommendation is put in, it is put in for future harms as well. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Miss Williams. Really appreciate you.
Say something real quick that form can be found on the Wayne County Treasurer site, also it needs to be notarized, and I will get a list that we can put on a webs on our Reparations website so organizations that notarize it for free, and you can you have to return it in person or certified mail with a signature receipt. All
right, thank you so much. Member for next we have Detroit
grassroots.
Hello, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, I'm just going to try to cover a little bit here. I want to start with council member Santiago, who thinks that we are immigrants? Well, she's found a way for immigrants who just threw themselves into our country to get what they need. They can get a Detroit ID, and they have access to our resources, resources that are funded by Detroiters. So I just want to lean with that. Also want to say somehow we missed Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl. It was not Pan African, not one bit Sheila Jackson Lee is not a black American, so be cautious of whatever she had going on. Yes, John Conyers put the HR 40 out there, but that was 40. That was almost 40 years ago. Okay, we're playing a different ball game. Also, I think you're being a little bit narrow minded here to the community when we're thinking about things that need to be presented to city council, and not this Reparations Task Force, our harms go back several years and several decades, and this is not for anybody to shoehorn, anybody else to shoehorn their harms into ours. This is lineage based, lineage based legislation that needs to protect the descendants, not anybody else. So I want to make sure that we get the language right. This report cannot be dei it is not minority, it is not people of color, it is not African American. And if you do your research, you'll see that it's a group of people lineage, right, that have been reclassified over and over again. So I don't care what you identify as today? Yes, Miss may Berry, I know they are removing our races, ethnicity identifiers off of our birth certificates. Damn shame on the state of Michigan for that. Moving on. I have not seen the task force spend any money towards marketing. You need to be filling the rooms. I am so disappointed in you for that great presentation to end, thank you so much for that.
So much. Okay, thank you
all right. Next, we have Matt.
Matt, are you still with us?
Hello.
All right. Welcome back to Matt. Next, we'll have Denzel oli
olito chamoing up a Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, nay, aunt, easy. Here's my thing right now. I'm a fundraiser for Alliance, defense, freedom. I'm a licensed nurse in Minnesota for memory care, and I'm here, situated in Detroit. I came back in 2016 here's my concerns with the Detroit City Council, and I'm the Reparations Task Force. Um, in 2018 I was quartered by uh, cops, um, of Hispanic origin. I think they were from, like, South America. Um, I was walking from Henry Ford Museum. Um, I was like a block away from my home. They basically stopped me and frisked me, took my phone, took my wallet. I complained about this to the city council, but nothing was done about it. I'm not sure if they're still on the force or what, but that actually happened. Another thing I want to talk about too is like the gas stations on their study, a continual situation of gas station attendants getting into it with, you know, the customers, the customers getting into it, the gas station attendance that has to be rectified as far as like keeping the community safe. So my thing is public safety offer officer recommendations. Also, I agree with Christopher Carter about the UBI, the universal basic income. I want to see Detroit improve. I want to invest in Detroit. So those are the steps that I'm taking. Thank you all for this time. He mock she.
You so much. Mr. Early, thank you so much for your comments. Member, Russell, I saw your hand. Do you have something really quick? We really quick? We want to finish this 20 minutes.
Just for my notes, I wanted to know if Denzel is a member of an organization.
So can you hear us? Just wanted to know if you were a part of an organization
I work briefly with the National block club University in Chicago and also in Detroit. It's a nationwide organization. Again, I'm a Alliance Defense, freedom. I work with organizations in Africa, West Africa right now, I'm trying to get a plumbing system for kids over there. So I'm finding that as well, trying to do all these things right now, and I will work with anyone who has solutions to our problems here in Detroit, Michigan, Southeast Michigan, Livonia. I will work with anyone. Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much. Mr. Early. Next we have
good afternoon. Afternoon.
Happy Black History Month, good afternoon to the Detroit Reparations task force members,
I would like to first thank
the very first public commenter today, lawan Council, for bringing this major harm to our attention. Yes, we heard it on the news, but we have to bring it to the streets. So I have a request, because I looked at the faces of the members task force members after she spoke, and I took for granted that they were just in awe. But what I would like to request is that we, the grassroot members, have a platform at next month's task force meeting with the presentation of the harms that our city, local city, local government has placed on our citizens here in the city of Detroit. And I would like to request that the presentation is for 15 minutes with a five minute question and answer. Is that possible? Task Force members, thank
you so much. Miss Cutler. And maybe possible, if you could email us your idea for that 15 minute segment, we'd appreciate that Reparations at Detroit mi.gov just so we can iron out some hills to see if we can fit into our agenda for Our next meeting. I really appreciate you next we have
net, are you with us?
Hello. Can I be heard?
Yes, good afternoon.
Thank you. I wanted to say thank you for all the work that you've done, and I appreciate it in your past hearings, you have breakout sessions during the hearings, and there was a lot of feedback that was provided. Have you been able? Did you find value in that free in that feedback during those breakout sessions? Have you incorporated into your report, and are you prepared to move forward on if the unfortunate that you are not provided with the three month extension, as you have requested?
Yes, thank you so much. So yes, we have gone through each and every Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Oh, no, that was it. I'm done.
Okay, no problem. Yes. So we've gone through each and every sticky note that we posted during those breakout sessions, every single piece of feedback that's been provided via email, and in those surveys, we've combed through them, and we continue to come through as new information is gathered to ensure that these recommendations and prioritize recommendations are included in our outline that we are providing to our writer, and of course, as our report is being written, we are reviewing it, just to make sure things are aligning and that we are incorporating everything that you guys are sharing with us so absolutely. Thank you so much. And even without the additional three months, we are working our hardest to make sure that this report gets done in a timely and efficient fashion. Thank you. Next we have from Mel Redden,
hello. Can anybody hear me? Yes, good afternoon. Hi. Yes, I like to thank appreciate the task force here, and anything that could be done for the residents of Detroit would be great, particularly the ones that's been here for decades. I'm not sure if you guys will be able to today, have time to address Keith Williams making a statement on on behalf of the final draft, other recommendations that you know, making so that can be addressed with what's going on with that? Um, several things I want to get to. Also want to thank the Detroit grassroots Coalition for their comments, also the Freeman gender League of Michigan, and also Ernest his comments earlier, pertaining to the addressing the issues that we're having comprehensively with the federal Reparations and the people that unfortunately was in the casino that died, so that was good on him. Um, a few things. You know, with the someone mentioned something about the White House and stuff like that. I've heard people say when the Republicans are in office. The what you say when the Democrats are office, the Negroes are the target, and when the Republicans are in office, everybody but the Caucasians are a target. So it's not just one person, it's not just one party. All the issues that we've been having far as Reparations, it does need to be a linear base, and it's it has to be federal. We want to actually address the root issue that we're having.
Yeah, thank you so much. Mister Redden, I appreciate your comments, and thank you for joining us this afternoon. Next we have Anita Bell. You
thank you so much. Just like Sydney, I cried when I heard that. So Miss Edith Ford, if you don't have my number, you can get it from Damico Williams. Let's talk, because we have to get Tatiana Williams. We have to look at La June. I'm sorry. Lawrence to Reparations Awareness Day on February 25 at the Detroit City Airport. That will be from seven to 9pm I want to invite the task force as well, but especially this young woman who has now become the new Mamie Till because her babies did not die in vain, she is now the face of Reparations in Detroit. Do you hear me? Edith, Yes, amen. Do you hear me? Yes, alright. Alright. You You got your marching orders. And so everybody else Reparations Awareness Day, February 25 7pm Detroit City Airport. Get your tickets at event Noir. Look up Detroit Reparations Awareness Day on event noir, because, you know, I don't have a way to post that. But I also wanted to take this few minutes to thank Councilwoman Calloway and Miss blessed woman for, um, giving the information on how to get that get that tax refund before the March 31 deadline. And I think with that, I'm almost out of time. But thank you all for that information, because that was important.
Thank you so much. Miss Bell, I really appreciate you joining us. Anything else from the report we got about seven minutes y'all like we still have to get to our Treasurer's Report. We don't want to forget that important information. So I see we have about three more commenters, comment. Commenters. Next we have Yasmin Lee,
yes. Mean, are you with us?
Yes, I am. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm calling from California. I represent an organization called East Palo Alto for Reparations, and I have a connection to Detroit. My mother was born in Wayne County. My family, my grandparents, came to California in the early 1960s from Detroit, and we are totally rooting for you all here. We must reiterate that Reparations must be lineage based. We are the descendants of enslaved and emancipated Americans, and we must use the 14th Amendment to secure our Reparations and to align with our government to provide those Reparations. I also want to say that the the what is happening with the Congressional Black Caucus presenting these Reparations bills. It is all a farce, because they could have presented this legislation when Biden was in office and when Harris was in office, and it is totally insincere that they want to bring this legislation up now they are using the wrong language. We will not get anything as blacks or descendants of Africans. We are American freedmen, and that is how we will secure our repair. Thank you. Thank you so
much, and you for joining us all the way from California
out to y'all
next we have
Norell and pill.
Yes, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you so much for hosting this and doing it virtually so that we can have a chance to interact and engage and be mindful of keeping us safe because of the weather, a couple of things
when, a couple of, I guess,
questions and maybe suggestions for when we do go Virtual is, would it be possible for us to have the chat available, so that if there's questions we can ask, or if we want to talk amongst the residents, we can do that as well. And then also for the report, have you considered extending the time that you're asking from three months to maybe six to six months to a year. And I'm saying that because I know that everything just takes a little bit longer than we think it does, and that would maybe give us some more time to to tease this out. It seems like there that there's a lot of work that's been done, and we appreciate that as the residents of Detroit, and I think that I thank you for taking your time with this, and it looks like there's a lot more work that needs to be done. And I do have a question, when the outline and all of those things that Evan would talked about the framework for the report. When that's done, will that be shared and is has a writer already been chosen?
So much. Miss Hemphill, so yes, we have already selected our writer for the report. We are in the process of finalizing their contract with us. In regards to the outline, I'm not sure if it'll be shared with the public. That'll be something I can take back to the body and and we can discuss a bit more. Yes, you so much, and we are going to work on I don't city zoom offers a chat option, but perhaps the webinar, webinar does have a question and answer feature, but I don't think the city zoom will allow a chat option. You so much for joining us, and we really appreciate your comments. Let's try, Matt one more time. Remember Hazel, I see your hand.
Thank you. I'll comment after resident. Matt,
all right. Thank you so much. Matt. Our last public comment,
can you hear me? Yes, beautiful. Well, residents of the city of Detroit, it is definitely a pleasure to be here with each and every one of you. I'd also like to thank the honored guests, the city council members and the Reparations Task Force. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. Your dedication and commitment to addressing historical injustices and paving the way for more equitable future are truly commendable. Before we proceed, I would like to extend our heartfelt condolences for the tragic loss of the two children. This heartbreaking event underscores the urgent need for our collective efforts to ensure that such tragedies never happen again. In light of our ongoing efforts to support black community and address historical inequities, I'm calling for the initiation of a Reparations Week. This week long event should be dedicated to raising awareness, providing resources and fostering community engagement, key components partnership with radio and media. I definitely appreciate the city council woman providing that a upcoming Reparations Day is on the schedule. Let's ensure that the public is aware utilizing the app based technology to improve Detroit, utilizing customer facing city workers to provide that QR code. I want to also make sure that this report encompasses housing, education, nutrition and planning. And finally, I do also ask that you all consider an extension of your three month request deadline. Thank you so very much.
Thank you so much, Matt. So yes, if you haven't had an opportunity, please make sure to go complete our community survey. We do have quite a few recommendations pertaining to everything else that falls under economic development and housing, housing development, those are all things that impact our education system, our quality of life, our health, all of that is covered in our recommendations. So please, if you haven't taken that community survey to ensure that you make your priorities known. I see member Hazel's hand as well as member so. So member Hazel, Hi,
yes, I'll yield my time for the Treasurer's Report. As it is now 3:59pm and we are slated to end at 4pm so there's just obviously not enough time to do it until our next meeting. And then my comment is for all attendees, and in particular Miss Yasmin Oakley that did comment from California on the federal legislation. And I'm always happy to engage with anyone who likes to talk about the federal legislation and the language that is being used. But I want you to note that what you stated was not it was not accurate. The Biden Harris administration did absolutely nothing with regards to Reparations, and that was so disappointing, there was a request for the entire four years of their presidency and vice presidency to establish HR 40 by executive order, you see the current president sending out executive orders every day. That is something that the Biden Harris administration could have done and did not do. And be clear, HR 40 is a Commission request, a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans. Act it is to study how we could do it, not giving money out or programs in the moment. And so I am very, very disappointed that that administration, Biden Harris administration did not create an executive order to establish HR 40 so that it could do its work just like we the Detroit Reparations Task Force is doing its work research and developing proposals that could be then enacted upon. So I just wanted to correct that that Biden Harris administration did nothing and they could have during their four years. Thank you.
Thank you. Member Hazel, so you want to make a motion to postpone your Treasurer's Report until our next public session? Yes,
I can do that. I move that the treasurer's report being tabled until the next public session due to the lack of time on our schedule today.
All right, do I have a second?
I was second, second. All
right, so I have a second from member Parker and Lars Sosa the motion to postpone our treasury report until our next public meeting. Any objections? Member, Chica, I see your
hand. I was raising my hand to support.
Okay, all right. So, Hearing no objections, we will postpone the treasurers report from our February public session, until our next public session. Thank you all so much. Remember Lars Sosa comment
clarity from Matt. He went out when he said calling for a Reparations blank. Maybe somebody else picked it up, but I didn't hear it. Okay,
I am not sure
you said week. Yeah.
All right, if
there is nothing else, the time is now 403.
Madam Chair, move for adjournment. All right, there's a
motion for adjournment. Do I have a second?
Thank you. Any objection?
All right, thank you all so much for joining us this afternoon. Please stay warm, please stay safe and keep Reparations at the front of your mind. Make sure to call your city council person and let them know you're going to support these recommendations, and we will be presenting again on February 25 in front of city council at their 10am public session. Thank you again, and have a great weekend, everyone. Thank you, everybody.
