Ahead of the release of their final report, the Northampton Reparations Study Commission’s latest meeting ended in a heated dispute over the direction of the body’s work and whether it has fulfilled its mandate.
The commission, which is tasked with creating initiatives to “atone for historic wrongs” and to support the city’s Black community, released a 43-page preliminary report in December listing recommendations like the establishment of a City Council Reparations Committee, for example, and provided information on a series of racist covenants and land deeds from Northampton’s history linked to current-day institutions.
But with the culmination of the commission’s work has come conflict between commissioners on the scope of their charge. Several commissioners are now questioning whether the final report will actually offer substantial reparative actions — and funding for those reparations — that will benefit the Black community.
“People are reluctant to talk about money. But money was made,” Commissioner Renika Montgomery-Tamakloe told The Shoestring. “Money was withheld from us. Money was made off of us.”
The disagreements have now pushed back the date the commission expected to bring its recommendations to the City Council.
The agenda for May’s meeting included presentations on commission work interviewing black Northampton residents about their lived experiences in the city, as well as words from guest speaker Amilcar Shabazz — a professor of history and Africana Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has been involved in reparations work in the town of Amherst.
Interviews presented to the commission highlighted racist experiences in Northampton, like being followed around while shopping, or negative experiences with local police. Previously, the commission had members of Northampton Public Schools discuss racism in the school system at a meeting.
“I was confronted by the Police in Pulaski Park where I was drumming an African drum,” said one anonymous interviewee. “The officer was aggressive and scared my daughter, who was about 5 years old at the time.”
Conflict ignited quickly at the May meeting, though, during a one-hour block dedicated to the “Status of the Final Report.” Commissioners were sent a copy of the draft report via email at the start of the block. While some wanted a thorough reading of the final draft, Commissioner Ousman Power-Greene, who facilitated the meeting, replied that that would be a “waste of our time.” He instead placed focus on the final recommendations, which are largely the same from the preliminary report.
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Recommendations from the preliminary report include endorsements of several efforts to honor local Black history, as well as suggesting the City Council support state and national efforts towards reparations, prioritizing “continued police reform,” and “mak[ing] housing opportunities known” and public transportation more accessible.
After reviewing the recommendations, Commissioner Marsha Morris said there was a lack of input from the city’s Black population. Outreach efforts have only resulted in interviews with five Black residents, she said. This grew into a wider conflict among commissioners about whether the final report was in an appropriate state to close out the body’s mandate. Commissioners also questioned whether their work effectively set up a mechanism to ensure the recommendations are implemented.
Frustration was clear among multiple commissioners.
“There’s a talk about getting at Black people in the community, and I’m interested in commissioners’ opinions about how to do it better than we’ve done it.” Power-Greene said. “Because there were commissioners who talked about interviewing 100 people … We got to five.”
Power-Greene said that the commission had over three months to interview more people in Northampton.
“And we haven’t done it, commissioners,” he said.
The tone of the meeting continued to deteriorate as the commissioners ran up against the end of their allotted time. As they discussed their next steps, Power-Greene said he no longer believes “that this commission has the capability to actually achieve some of the ambitions of commissioners.” He said that the commission had spoken to many residents, and he was comfortable with the recommendations they had drafted.
Power-Greene suggested that the commission could file for an extension if any commissioners wanted to add to the final report. But he said he didn’t expect any new material.
“I mean, given the workload people have done so far, I doubt anything is going to be added to this, because people talk a lot but don’t do anything,” he said.
That evolved into a heated exchange between Power-Greene and Morris regarding the low number of interviews.
Morris: It takes a while, in a white community, to identify Black people and we –
Power-Greene: And it takes longer when you do very little work, and just come and talk as commissioners.
Morris: Excuse me –
Power-Greene: Excuse me.
Morris: Excuse me, I’ve been doing a lot of work.
Power-Greene: Oh no, did I say you?
Morris: You’re implying me.
Power-Greene: I’m not implying you.
Power-Greene did not respond to multiple interview requests for this article.
Ultimately, commissioners decided to extend their charge for another month, to meet in June and likely finalize their report then.
Morris and Montgomery-Tamakloe, who spoke to The Shoestring together, said the turbulent nature of this intended-to-be-final meeting highlighted larger issues within the commission.
Morris and Montgomery-Tamakloe said the final report is mostly symbolic, and that it lacks the teeth to materially benefit Black Northampton residents who have been impacted by the city’s racist history.
“Let’s say we put the report out as is. Who does it affect? Where in the report does it say what concrete actions we’re going to take for the people that it affects? We don’t have that,” Montgomery-Tamakloe said. “Those are the key things we’re missing, and they’re missing because I think that there is a fundamental disconnect about money and reparations.”
No publicly released recommendation by the commission advocates for any specific cash assistance or particular funding flow. The preliminary report does call for the creation of a city reserve account for reparations, but notes that details on its size and nature will be fleshed out in the final report.
Morris said that the commission also started at a disadvantage with its original one-year lifespan. Speaking about comments made during the most recent meeting, she said that working with the community can be a lengthy process.
“Every commission like this has taken two years or more. Every commission. It was impossible to do this in less time,” Morris said, referencing similar commissions in California and Missouri. “Why are you rushing?”
Both commissioners told The Shoestring they believe much of the commission is content with the state of the report as it is. During the meeting, when voting to convene in June, Commissioner Felicia Lundquist asked for the commission to explicitly finish their charge.
“I want some closure. So we’re going to come back and do the same thing next month? I want in that, that we’re going to read it and finalize it to push it forward,” she said. “I don’t want this to continue to happen.”
Montgomery-Tamakloe said that city officials may not have understood the scale of the question they were asking the commission to answer in the first place.
“Instead of people recognizing that we need to broaden the scope to really answer the question, they decided to just stick solely with what their interpretation of the charge is,” she said.
Montgomery-Tamakloe and Morris said that they want their work to make meaningful changes in the city, and would regret a final report that doesn’t reflect that.
“It’s already tough enough living here. I want to provide something of value,” Montgomery-Tamakloe said.
“And to make a difference,” Morris continued. “Otherwise, this has all been for naught. And I refuse to be party to that.”
The commission next meets on June 10 at 5 p.m. in Northampton City Hall and over Zoom.