FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved $250,000 in funding for the county’s Reparations Task Force, the first of its kind in the county.
This could make reparations for African-American residents in Fulton County a reality.
“We have to address the wrong that existed in this country,” Dr. Karcheik Sims-Alvarado, the chair of the Reparations Task Force Advisory Board, said.
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Dr. Sims-Alvarado told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington the funding will help the task force examine different issues that affected Fulton County’s Black residents.
“Looking at slavery, looking at eminent domain, and also convict labor,” Dr. Sims-Alvarado explained.
Dr. Sims-Alvarado said the task force will next conduct both an empirical and a feasibility study.
According to Dr. Sims-Alvarado, the empirical study will allow the task force to measure the inequities that exists among the descendants of enslaved people, in the county over time.
“Which can include, voting, healthcare,” added Dr. Sims-Alvarado.
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The feasibility study will include public input and recommendations.
So far, the task force has nearly 5,000 documents on the impacts of slavery and eminent domain; in particular, the case of Fulton County’s Bagley Park.
“An entire community of people was actually uprooted and displaced,” Dr. Sims-Alvarado said.
Thursday, Board of Commissioners Chair, Robb Pitts said he’s interested in the findings of the task force. But he added that he is against reparations.
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“Anything that will go from a personal point of view to deal with a financial contribution, I would have a serious issue with that,” Pitts said.
“It’s difficult to determine what reparations will look like right now and what shape it will come in,” explained Dr. Sims-Alvarado.
The Fulton County Reparations Task Force will present its final report to the Board of Commissioners in October 2024.
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