I want to thank Sarah Lynn Patterson and Sara Weinberger of the Northampton Reparations Committee for their op ed, “A Case for Reparations in Northampton,” (Nov. 21.) They each recount how they or their families received reparations. Weinberger’s aunt was among the thousands who received payments for suffering during the Holocaust and Patterson had a merit scholarship funded by a suit brought against the state of Tennessee for the harms to Black students as a result of racism. They tell us how these awards made significant differences in their lives, and their stories demonstrate that reparations can be simply applied and effective in their intent to repair.
The bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that aims to create a commission to study reparations, HR 40, was first introduced by John Conyers in 1989 and has been introduced and voted down every year since then until 2021 when it was introduced by Rep. Shirley Jackson Lee and passed with more than 200 sponsors. While HR 40s passage is by no means guaranteed, particularly since the Democrats lost the House, reparations is no longer on the margins. But whether there is a federal reparations program or not, municipalities can establish reparations programs on their own. As readers of the Gazette know, Amherst has embarked on a reparations program following in the footsteps of Evanston, Illinois, the first U.S. city to do so. Northampton will hopefully follow suit. I would urge Northampton residents who support reparations in our city to sign the petition to establish a commission “to investigate the historical and current effects of enslavement and racism against Black people in Northampton and to make recommendations for reparative actions in Northampton as a response to issues apparent in housing, employment, policing, schools, healthcare, and transportation.” Please consider signing the petition at: https://chng.it/29wNcTBQHh.
Arlene Avakian
Northampton