ATLANTA — Atlanta residents gathered at City Hall for a public forum hosted by the city’s Reparations Study Commission, where community members, scholars, and elected officials discussed the legacy of slavery and how reparations could take shape in the city.
Commission Chair Dr. Sheila Flemming called reparations a guiding principle for healing and justice.
“Reparations is our North Star,” Flemming said. “It is the hope and the fight for equity and justice.”
Ideas discussed included financial compensation, community investment, and formal apologies. Some residents urged the commission to ensure any funds help address education inequities.
Reverend Trent Jones pointed to the city’s history, citing the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre, when white mobs killed dozens of Black residents and destroyed property as central to the conversation. W.E.B. Du Bois later memorialized the tragedy in his poem The Litany of Atlanta.
Councilman Michael Julian Bond said the commission will take a careful and deliberate approach before presenting recommendations to the Atlanta City Council.
“Without the slave labor, from the beginning into the 20th century when America began to become a power, it would not have happened,” Flemming added.
Atlanta is among several metro communities, including Fulton County and the City of Decatur, that have launched formal efforts to examine reparations.
WSB’s Graham Carroll contributed to this story