Last week, marked the 100-year anniversary of the race riots of 1923 in Rosewood, FL.

After a white woman accused a Black man of assaulting her, a white mob destroyed the town and displaced hundreds of Black middle- and working-class families. This rural town was one of several Black communities in the US that suffered racial violence and destruction, and the violence resulted in the loss of economic opportunity and inequality for generations of people of color. 

The massacre was dramatized in the 1997 film “Rosewood” by director John Singleton. Direct descendants of the families who once lived in Rosewood led the fight for reparations in the 1990s and are continuing to fight to reclaim their families' legacies.

In St. Paul, Minnesota (the same state where George Floyd was killed by police) the fight for reparations to address systemic racism is happening as well. 

The state of Minnesota has the third largest racial wealth gap in the nation, and the state’s income gap is the 5th largest. When it comes to health disparities, Black and Indigenous babies in Minnesota die at a rate twice that of White babies. According to the 2021 State of Black Minnesota Report, Black residents lived Report-2021-Final-rev.03.17.22-1.pdf">7 years less than white residents.

In response, the city of St. Paul moved forward with its plan to address systemic inequities and racism against Black residents through the formation of a permanent 11-member reparations commission. The group will work to advise the city council on measures to address systemic racism faced by Black residents in the city.

Trahern Crews, a social justice advocate who was a Co-Convenor of the St. Paul Recovery Act Legislative Advisory Committee, and Councilmember Jane Prince, St. Paul City Council member for Ward 7, join us to discuss this new commission and why reparations are still necessary today.