In a previous column, we discussed the issue of a Black state governor, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, issuing a recent veto of a reparations bill proposed in his state, although he’s also been described as a reparations supporter. Clearly, with the Trump gang in charge nationally, reparations for Black Americans at any level would be— and will be— spectacularly problematic. Yet, the issue just won’t die.
In the place where any serious reparations remittances should start, if they ever get implemented, Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the infamous 1921 Black massacre and overwhelming destruction of Black property and assets, there is yet a new proposal from the current, and first-ever, Black mayor of Tulsa. In light of the state courts in Oklahoma recently issuing a very negative ruling that reparations will not be paid to Black folk in the state in spite of the legal admission into court of overwhelming evidence of white cupidity and mass violence against Black citizens and their property and the order issued not to bring any more such cases into court, Tulsa’s new mayor just proposed a second option. The mayor ordered that the city set up a $100 million private trust fund as part of a reparations plan to give descendants of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre scholarships and housing to help the city make amends.
The plan that was just put forward by Monroe Nichols, the first Black mayor of Oklahoma’s second-largest city, would not provide direct cash payments to descendants (as many wanted) or to the last two centenarian survivors of the original attack that killed as many as 300 Black people. The mayor, saying his plan was reasonable and fair, made the announcement at the Greenwood Cultural Center, a major community meeting facility located in the once-thriving district of North Tulsa that was destroyed by one of the white mobs during the race riot.
Mayor Nichols said he does not call his suggestion a “reparations plan,” a term he says is too politically charged. Instead, he characterizes his idea as a “road to repair” plan.
In California, for 2025, the Black Legislative Caucus (CLBC) has introduced another packet of reparations-related bills (16 in all) and has not shied away from the reparations name. Also called the CBLC’s “Road to Repair Reparations Policy Package, Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, the current chair of the CLBC, said, “This new bill package is about repairing centuries of economic damage and abuse that was inflicted on Black Californians.”
She explained further that the slew of bills put forth by the CBLC included legislation aimed at establishing a framework for paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved Black people, as well as other proposals that would improve equity and access to jobs, education, health care, and more for Black Californians.
Meanwhile, community activists around the state are being asked to convene a state planning session (a think tank) to work with the legislators in order to avoid the public heat and hostility caused by last year’s disappointing results in the legislative decisions on reparations. It seems that at many levels, though the soil appears spent and even poisoned, fresh plants still break through. Trump and reparations—what a combination!
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.