The East Side Freedom Library and the St. Paul Recovery Act Reading Group invite you to join our monthly reading & conversation.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021, 6:30-8PM

Register here to join this event on Zoom.

Earlier this year, the City Council unanimously passed a resolution committing to racial healing through the exploration of reparations for American descendants of Chattel Slavery living in Saint Paul. In May, the City Council announced the formation of a Reparations Legislative Advisory Committee, which has begun meeting. St. Paul is the largest city in the U.S. to undertake a process of defining, funding, and implementing a reparations program. For nearly two years, ESFL and the St. Paul Recovery Act Reading Group have been convening monthly conversations which have mostly focused on the history of African Americans, through the slave trade, the system of slave labor, reconstruction, share-cropping, convict labor, northward and westward migration, ghettoization, access to voting and the suppression of voting, the civil rights movement, and more.

This month, we will turn our focus to the projects being developed in two cities, Evanston, Illinois, and Asheville, North Carolina, whose local governments have adopted reparations programs. We want to see what we can learn from their experiences. Here are links to articles which recount and analyze these projects:

Evanston, Illinois

• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-15/what-reparations-look-like-in-evanston-and-asheville
• https://www.npr.org/2021/03/23/980277688/in-likely-first-chicago-suburb-of-evanston-approves-reparations-for-black-reside
• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/evanston-s-reparations-plan-noble-start-complicated-process-experts-say-n1262096
• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-28/reparations-for-black-residents-in-chicago-evanston-illinois-s-hard-reality
• https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/opinion/2021/04/15/why-evanston-reparations-arent-reparations-column/7147585002/
• https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-residents-reject-reparations-program-in-evanston-il/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/reparations-bill-gains-momentum-as-an-interfaith-cause/2021/07/23/06cb5dc2-ebf8-11eb-a2ba-3be31d349258_story.html

Asheville, NC

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/us/reparations-asheville-nc.html
• https://mountainx.com/news/from-asheville-watchdog-reparations-six-months-later-so-far-empty-promises/
• https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2021/06/09/asheville-recognizes-juneteenth-commits-2-1-m-reparations/7606295002/

We encourage you to read these articles and join us for a Zoom conversation. Let’s learn together!

RSVP and invite your friends on Facebook!