Detroit’s Reparations Task Force is asking the Detroit City Council for another extension to complete a report with its recommendations to address historic discrimination against the city’s Black community.
The task force, a 13-member body, was supposed to deliver its recommendations for housing and economic development programs last October, but the deadline was extended until March. On Tuesday, the task force asked for another extension, this time until June, to give the body time to finish writing its report, which will discuss harms inflicted on the Black community and ways to rectify those harms.
“We just thought, because this is going to end up looking something like a dissertation, we want to give them ample time to write a comprehensive report of recommendations,” said Cidney Calloway, the task force’s co-chair.
The City Council on Tuesday referred a letter from the task force seeking the extension to the council’s internal operations committee. Calloway said she believes the committee will discuss the extension at its meeting Wednesday, and then the matter will be brought back to the City Council next Tuesday for a vote.
The task force was created after Detroit voters overwhelmingly approved in 2021 creating a reparations effort focused on housing and economic initiatives. The body held its first meeting in the spring of 2023.
Calloway said the group recently hired attorney Desiree Ferguson to be the principal writer of its report, and she is still being onboarded. The task force has been working on an outline since around last June, and Ferguson will “put the meat on the bones” for the report, Calloway said. The task force is also in contact with consultants who can help Ferguson with research or data collection.
Two members of the task force presented a summary of their work to the City Council on Tuesday. Yolanda Jack, an at-large member, said the body has weekly meetings on Tuesdays to work on the report and frequently hosts guests who have relevant expertise. She said the task force has partnered with researchers at the University of Michigan, Columbia University and Howard University.
Jeffery Robinson, a member representing District 2, said “the general consensus” is that voters wanted to see something “in the not too distant future.” But he said legislative work is being done to “prevent future reparations.”
“We’re still working with the University of Michigan, in particular, to try and identify some initiatives that can be put within the purview of Detroit City Council and not necessarily rely on, I guess, approval or consensus from outside bodies,” Robinson said.
The task force’s work comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has been pushing back against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Trump issued an executive order last month ending DEI programs in the federal workforce and in federal contracting and spending. A federal judge last week granted a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from terminating or changing federal contracts they consider equity-related.
Calloway said she thinks individual citizens will file a lawsuit against Detroit’s reparations plan, and the task force is preparing for legal challenges.
The Associated Press contributed.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.