The Fulton County Reparations Task Force held its first public meeting in Atlanta on Thursday night to discuss its work and face questions.
“Reparations means to repair. There’s not one certain avenue of repair if we’re talking about holistically,” Task Force Vice Chair Marcus Coleman said. “All of the atrocities that our ancestors were faced with, as their heirs, it’s our duty to recover every single avenue of repair.”
The panel is investigating Georgia’s most populated county’s ties to slavery, what properties the county may have confiscated illegally from Black owners, and the use of illegal prison labor from the county’s confinement facilities. To piece together the historical record, the task force is relying on documents like land leases, prison records and private citizens coming forward with family documents.
Despite calls for reparations across the country, very few attended the meeting. Coleman said many community members chose not to attend because, for them, reparations feel like “a pipe dream.”
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One man who attended the public comments section of the meeting said he hopes the reparations will go specifically to descendants of U.S. chattel slavery.
Seated inside the Fulton County Government Center, the task force discussed avenues for compensation to the local Black community and the impact it would have on them.
While Coleman admitted such a line item is “controversial,” “eligibility” for reparations is “obviously” on the list as a potential path to funding disbursement.
“You know what’s funny, when it’s time to present any type of recommendation, the seats will be full and the criticism will be high. So, we encourage folks to come out before that date hits,” Coleman told Channel 2 News.
Coleman noted the reparations will function to right historical wrongs that have resulted in inequity, healthcare and education disparities and stolen land, due…
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