{"id":143596,"date":"2026-02-24T08:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T08:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143596\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T08:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T08:26:08","slug":"how-ithaca-is-leading-new-york-states-multifaceted-reparation-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143596\/","title":{"rendered":"How Ithaca is Leading New York State\u2019s \u2018Multifaceted\u2019 Reparation Efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2024, former Ward 1 Alderpersons Phoebe Brown and Kayla Matos (D-1st Ward) co-sponsored and passed a proposal allocating<\/a> $50,000 of Ithaca\u2019s 2025 budget to funding a study on reparations for Black residents. The proposal was a part of ongoing reparations efforts in New York state, which groups across the state continue to advocate for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Brown, the reparations movement addresses \u201cthe damage[s] done to Black people \u2026 throughout history,\u201d through<\/a> monetary, systemic and structural amends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I envision is [money] being placed in institutions that are Black-led [and] helping educational systems,\u201d Brown said in an interview with The Sun. \u201cTo this day, we’re still being traumatized. The damage is still hurting us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the amendment, the City of Ithaca will appoint<\/a> a research committee, hire a consultant or research firm and then define the study\u2019s objectives. The working group \u2014 formed<\/a> in November \u2014\u00a0will propose recommendations to the city council. The members will then review<\/a> the recommendations and make adjustments. The city will then issue a Request for Proposals<\/a>, which entails Ithaca soliciting bids from companies or organizations to cover the study\u2019s costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although she said she wishes the process could be quicker, Brown hopes the study clarifies how reparations can be best enacted in Ithaca. The budget amendment followed the establishment of the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies<\/a> in 2023 by Senate Bill S1163A<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Signed<\/a> into law by Governor Kathy Hochul, the reparation commission\u2019s goal is to make<\/a> \u201crecommendations for reparations after examining the legacy of slavery and subsequent racial and economic discrimination against Black Americans.\u201d Through public hearings, research and consultations with experts in relevant fields, NYSCCR will culminate<\/a> in January 2027 with a final report detailing potential policy for state-level legislative actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brown and Matos\u2019 proposal similarly established a framework for appointing such a committee locally, emphasizing<\/a> the importance of research in understanding injustice and making effective policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In September, The Sun previously reported<\/a> that Brown disagreed with the research efforts surrounding the reparations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we researching what we know Black people deserve? They worked for free,\u201d Brown previously stated<\/a> at the\u00a0New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies<\/a> public hearing in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such reparations efforts, however, are not unique to New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evanston, Illinois, passed<\/a> Resolution 58-R-19 in 2019, which elicited the city\u2019s Equity and Empowerment Commission<\/a> to seek effective reparations policies. Currently, Evanston has dedicated<\/a> $10 million to housing and economic development programs for Black residents. This coming summer, Evanston\u2019s Reparations Committee will issue<\/a> payments of $25,000 to 44 descendants of Black residents who experienced housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969 in the city. Reparations, however, are not limited to direct monetary payments. Evanston\u2019s Restorative Housing Program<\/a>, for example, seeks to reform past discriminatory housing practices by helping out with housing costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nkechi Taifa, author and founding member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America<\/a>, said in an interview with The Sun that Evanston\u2019s program is a result of decades of pressure activists have put on legislators to pass resolutions in support of H.R.40<\/a>, which would establish<\/a> a commission comparable to NYSCCR on the federal level. The legislation was originally introduced in 1989 but reintroduced in every Congress since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Brown, Taifa expressed excitement about reparations being talked about \u201cseriously.\u201d Taifa said people used to consider reparations \u201ca joke,\u201d but that she always felt strongly about the importance of the issue. She said if it were not for \u201cthe legacies of the enslavement era,\u201d her life trajectory would have been different.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother received a tuition scholarship to Cornell University,\u201d Taifa said. \u201cThis was in the early \u201840s. She was informed that she would be unable to find work in Ithaca, specifically because of her race. Unemployment in upstate New York would make it impossible for her to afford room and board. So as a result, she was not able to accept that scholarship to Cornell.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If it weren\u2019t for the racial discrimination Taifa\u2019s mother faced in New York, Taifa said she would have grown up in New York instead of Washington, D.C. Influenced strongly by this situation, Taifa has spent the last 50 years as a vocal activist for reparations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She and Brown both said that people often consider reparations for Black Americans a foreign concept, although other groups in the U.S. have received them. For example, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988<\/a> gave<\/a> surviving Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II reparations and a formal apology by President Ronald Reagan, the only federal reparations proposal to ever pass.<\/p>\n

New York-based groups such as New Yorkers for Reparations<\/a>, a grassroots organization focused on ensuring recommendations from the NYSCCR turn into policy, and Get Free<\/a>, a youth-led movement with the goal to make<\/a> reparations \u201ca public and political priority,\u201d organize to further the state reparations movement. According to its interest form<\/a>, Get Free has active chapters in Philadelphia, Baltimore, the Bay Area and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Anthony Torres, communications director for Get Free<\/a>, said to The Sun that the group helped push for the formation of the NYSCCR through protests and social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Get Free\u2019s New York campaign description, which focuses on ensuring NYSCCR\u2019s recommendations are enacted as legislation, the group believes<\/a> that the Trump administration, \u201crelies on dehumanizing Black people so they can rule over anyone who doesn\u2019t look, live or love like the wealthy, white few.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enacting reparations would combat this notion, according to the organization, and Torres said that reparations for Black Americans would result in greater equality across racial groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been true throughout our history that when Black people get free, we all get free,\u201d Torres said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Torres, NYSCCR \u201chas the expertise\u201d to evaluate historic and ongoing harms, along with barriers, to equality in New York. He said Get Free continues to mobilize young people in the state to help pressure elected officials, campus leaders and corporations to support reparations efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to have to ensure that the legislature and the governor follow through on those recommendations,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

This past fall, Torres said Get Free focused primarily on New York City\u2019s mayoral race<\/a>. According to him, the group got mayor Zohran Mamdani to pledge<\/a> to follow through and support the reparations efforts of the NYC Commission on Racial Equity<\/a>, which is leading a reparations study similar to Ithaca\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taifa said even though the current national political climate may appear precarious, the group has \u201cnever had ideal conditions\u201d for the reparations movement. She said it is important to continue to \u201cagitate, educate and organize\u201d for reparations, as work done today will affect future generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although she said reparations can never completely account for historical injustices perpetrated against Black Americans, Taifa said they can be comprehensive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy old mantra has always been that the harms from the enslavement era and beyond were multifaceted, [so] the remedies must be multifaceted as well,\u201d Taifa said. \u201cA reparation settlement can come in as many forms as necessary to address the immeasurable injuries that we have been inflicted \u2014 so it’s more than a check.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Shubha Gautam<\/p>\n

Shubha Gautam is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at sgautam@cornellsun.com.<\/p>\n

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