(CBS DETROIT) – February is Black History Month and part of conversations about Black History have included discussions around reparations.
The City of Detroit Reparations Task Force is tasked to develop recommendations for housing and economic development programs that address historical discrimination against the Black community in Detroit.
“Anything that the city had its hand in, that that caused destruction and was detrimental to our communities, that’s what we’re going after,” said Cidney Calloway, Co-chair for the Reparations Task Force.
Calloway said there is a long history of racial issues that lead to poverty for Detroiters which is why she and others believe there is a deeply rooted basis for reparations.
“It goes all the way through the Jim Crow era, that goes through our great migration era because that’s when 375 came in and that’s when, you know, Jeffries freeway came in,” said Calloway. “So everything that demolished our neighborhoods, everything that caused that wealth gap to expand and deepen, that’s what we’re working on.”