Sacramento leaders pass resolutions on reparations and racial equity. 'Beacon of light'

Mathew Miranda, The Sacramento Bee on Dec 4, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento leaders approved two historic resolutions on Tuesday to continue the city’s efforts toward reparations and racial equity.

The council unanimously passed both items, despite controversy last month that led to a delay in the vote. Councilmember Mai Vang — along with community organizations and residents — had raised concerns of “major changes” by City Manager Howard Chan’s office.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Chan pulled his revised version of the resolution.

“Moving forward, our actions in this resolution have to be different if we want to address inequities and protect Sacramento,” Vang said.

The first passed resolution centered around racial equity and the city’s yearslong efforts to acknowledge its history of systemic racism. Per the resolution, the city would implement several new initiatives, including an annual assessment report of the diversity and equity department and advance the development of a Racial Equity Action Plan by 2026.

These efforts will embed racial equity within the city culture and center community narratives, according to members of the Racial Equity Alliance and Racial Equity Council. These two groups, made up of Sacramento residents, spearheaded the resolution.

“All of our residents, no matter our race or ethnicity, deserve fair chances to live, work and play with dignity and respect, to be protected free from discrimination and hate,” said Kao Ye Thao, a member of the Racial Equity Council.

Ye Thao was among the more than 20 community members who provided public comments in favor of the equity resolution. They spoke of its long overdue passing to dismantle racism and the nationwide importance of such a move.

“I seriously believe that Sacramento can be a beacon of light and hope for the rest of this country,” said DeAngelo Mack, another member of the Racial Equity Alliance.

The second passed resolution was a multi-year effort led by Mayor Darrell Steinberg — whose term ends this month. Under the resolution approved Tuesday, Sacramento will continue its work on reparations by transitioning it from a mayoral initiative to a citywide initiative.

“I want to thank you all today for beginning the process of doing what should have been done in 1865 and certainly should have been done in 1965,” said recent Sacramento mayoral candidate Flojaune Cofer. “We make it more complicated the longer we wait.”

The efforts for such an initiative began in 2021, when Steinberg joined other mayors to create a coalition committed to researching harms inflicted on Black residents. In the years since, Steinberg’s office secured grants for graduate students to identify policies of discrimination in the city’s history and researched reparations programs in other cities across the country.

“I’m so glad this initiative will continue citywide,” Steinberg said. “It’s appropriate.”

Earlier this year, the California Legislative Black Caucus help passed a priority list of reparations bills.

Tuesday’s meeting also marked the last meetings for council members Katie Valenzuela and Shoun Thao. Mayor-elect Kevin McCarty will be sworn in next Tuesday along with two new council members, Roger Dickinson and Phil Pluckebaum.

____