An Asian American chosen to lead the reparations committee in St. Paul, MN has withdrawn her nomination after protests from the Black community.
The Atlanta Black Star reports that Jennifer Lor withdrew her name after some called for a Black person to chair that committee.
“It’s not about the person. It’s just that we need somebody who has the lived experience, knowledge of reparations, knowledge of the racial wealth gap and how it impacts the descendants of slavery who reside in St. Paul,” said Trahern Crews, one of the leaders of St. Paul’s reparations movement to the Star Tribune.
The President of the African American Leadership Council Tyrone Terrill firmly rejected the nomination of Lor, a legislative aide for Council Member Nelsie Yang.
“We’re not going to stand for it,” he said to Fox News, calling it “total disrespect for the Black community.”
The St. Paul City Council appointed an advisory committee of 11 people on reparations. Lor did not immediately comment.
The city council has already reposted the job which calls for the selected person to spend half their time on reparations and half their time as a district liaison.
“That in and of itself is a problem — the fact that we can’t be allotted a full-time position to work on something that’s so much work, so deeply rooted and so historical,” Chauntyll Allen, leader of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and school board member said. “We’re talking 400 years of oppression that needs to be addressed.”
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