Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity facts for kids

Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity (MORE) is a group of mayors in the United States. They are working to provide reparations to Black people in their cities. Reparations are ways to make up for past wrongs, like slavery and unfair treatment that followed.

This group was announced on June 18, 2021, which was around the time of the first federally recognized Juneteenth holiday. Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. Mayors from big cities like Los Angeles, Denver, Sacramento, and Kansas City are part of MORE. Even the mayor of a very small town called Tullahassee, Oklahoma (with only 83 people) joined.

What is MORE's Goal?

MORE wants to help African Americans who are descendants of enslaved people. Their main goal is to start small reparations programs in different cities. These city programs could then become examples for a bigger program across the whole country. The idea is to help close the racial wealth gap, which means the big difference in wealth between white and Black families.

The mayors in MORE promised to create local groups of Black leaders. These groups would help guide their work. They also agreed to support a national law called the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act (also known as H. R. 40). This law aims to study and suggest ways to provide reparations at a national level.

Most MORE members believe that reparations should not just be direct money payments to individuals. Instead, they think it's better to invest in communities, special programs, and non-profit groups. The money for these city-led programs would come from different sources. Organizers of MORE believe a true national reparations program could cost a very large amount of money.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas explained MORE's goal this way:

"When you look at how Black communities in America have not received enough investment over time, and the challenges we put on many of our brothers and sisters because of slavery, segregation, and redlining (unfair housing rules) after that, it's really important that we fix these historical wrongs."

He also mentioned that some government programs don't always reach the people who need help the most.

"There's a lot of federal money coming into states and cities right now... We need to make sure that we're helping the communities that need it most."

How MORE Started

The idea for Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity came from the mayor of Los Angeles at the time, Eric Garcetti. It was partly a response to the Black Lives Matter protests that happened in 2020.

MORE was officially announced on June 19, 2021. It started with 11 mayors from different cities across the U.S. These included mayors from Los Angeles, Denver, Providence, Rhode Island, Austin, Texas, Durham, North Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina, Kansas City, Sacramento, California, Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Tullahassee, Oklahoma.

Former Mayors Garcetti and Hancock (from Denver) were the main leaders of MORE. Michael Tubbs, who used to be the mayor of Stockton, California, was also involved as an "Emeritus Member." Before MORE, Mayor Tubbs had led another group called "Mayors for a Guaranteed Income." This group worked to create programs that would give a regular income to people in their cities to fight poverty and racism.

Other cities and states had also started taking steps toward reparations before MORE was formed:

• In September 2020, California created a special group to study reparations. This inspired Mayor Garcetti to think about MORE.
• In July 2020, the city council in Asheville, North Carolina voted to approve reparations. They decided to invest in areas that had been unfair to Black residents.
• In January 2021, Saint Paul, Minnesota, voted to create its own reparations group.
• In March 2021, Evanston, Illinois became the first city in the U.S. to pay reparations to Black residents (or their families) who were affected by unfair housing practices. They approved a $25,000 payment for things like down payments on homes or home repairs.
• In March 2021, San Francisco also voted to create an African American Reparations Advisory Committee.
• In June 2021, the Detroit City Council voted to create a reparations commission.

Mayor Garcetti hoped to greatly increase MORE's membership. However, by the end of 2021, only one more mayor, Damon Seils of Carrboro, North Carolina, had joined.

Recent Actions by Member Cities

In April 2022, Mayor Tishaura Jones of St. Louis, a MORE member, signed a bill. This bill allows people in St. Louis to donate money to a reparations fund when they pay their property tax or water bills.

In August 2022, Mayor Jorge Elorza of Providence, Rhode Island, another MORE member, suggested a $10 million plan for reparations in his city. He planned to use federal money that was given to help with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July 2023, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas created a K.C. Commission on Reparations with 13 members.

As of November 2023, some of the original mayors in the coalition have left their positions. Also, the MORE website is no longer active.

Mayors in the Coalition

Here is a list of mayors who have been part of the MORE group:

See also

• Movement for Black Lives
• National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America