File #: 220966    Version: Name:
Type: Ordinance Status: Passed
File created: 10/27/2022 In control: Council
On agenda: 1/13/2023 Final action: 1/12/2023
Title: Sponsor: Councilmember Melissa Robinson Expressing apologies on behalf of the City of Kansas City and declaring the City's intent to make amends for its participation in the sanctioning of the enslavement of Black people and any historical enforcement of segregation and accompanying discriminatory practices against Black citizens of Kansas City, encouraging others to join the City in this effort, and establishing a commission within ninety days to be known as the Mayor's Commission on Reparations to advise the City regarding reparation issues.
Sponsors: Melissa Robinson, Ryana Parks-Shaw
Attachments: 1. No Fact Sheet, 2. Docket Memo 220966 V. 1, 3. Public Testimony - Gloria Hunt, 4. 220966 COM Version, 5. Authenticated Ordinance 220966 CS
Related files: 150398
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[COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR] ORDINANCE NO. 220966

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Sponsor: Councilmember Melissa Robinson

Expressing apologies on behalf of the City of Kansas City and declaring the City's intent to make amends for its participation in the sanctioning of the enslavement of Black people and any historical enforcement of segregation and accompanying discriminatory practices against Black citizens of Kansas City, encouraging others to join the City in this effort, and establishing a commission within ninety days to be known as the Mayor's Commission on Reparations to advise the City regarding reparation issues.

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WHEREAS, the institution of chattel slavery in the United States, which lasted for over 250 years, enriched American industries, commercial and financial corporations and transformed the newly established United States into an international economic power through the oppressive, dehumanizing and torturous system of enslaved Black labor; and

WHEREAS, the City of Kansas City was founded as the Town of Kansas in 1850; and

WHEREAS, upon the founding of the Town of Kansas, the laws of the State of Missouri, Jackson County, and the City upheld the institution of chattel slavery; and

WHEREAS, the City of Kansas City Code of Ordinances characterized Black persons as property upon its founding and the generation that followed; and

WHEREAS, leading members of Kansas City government and civic life actively encouraged conflict with residents of the Kansas Territory to expand the institution of chattel slavery to the previously free territory; and

WHEREAS, after the emancipation of previously-enslaved Black persons, the organs of local government, including the Office of Mayor, Council, City Departments, and the Kansas City Police Department actively supported and executed laws restricting the humanity, movement, and rights of previously-enslaved Black people and their descendants; and

WHEREAS, the City...

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