Dismantling White Supremacy
UUCPA’s Dismantling White Supremacy group meets on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. On April 9, 2024, we continue to help move forward the recommendations of the California Reparations Report, specifically regarding housing. Years of discrimination in favor of white homeowners, renters, and residents have left a legacy of inequality that only new policies can reverse, and we decided as a group that given UUCPA’s longstanding commitment to housing justice, we would focus on this aspect of reparations.
State review of cities’ and counties’ housing elements is one of the most important tools to bring about housing justice. The City of Palo Alto has just published the new draft of its housing element, and public comment is open through April 15, so we’re going to assess the draft in light of the essential question: how effectively does it remediate the damage done by discrimination against African-Americans and others?
Understanding a housing element takes experience, and luckily, we have an expert guide: UUCPA member (and frequent attendee of Dismantling White Supremacy) Kevin Ma, who is deeply engaged in city housing policy. He’ll walk us through so we can understand the key items and be informed commenters on this important document.
If you would like to attend this session and are not subscribed to the Dismantling White Supremacy email list, please email dismantlingwhitesupremac
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For completely optional, but compelling, background, you may want to read:
- The Reparations Task Force’s summary of the discriminatory practices that got us here: Chapter 5, Housing Segregation, and/or
- Their recommendations for reparation vis-a-vis housing: Chapter 22, Policies Addressing Housing Segregation & Unjust Property Takings. See in particular “Require State Review and Approval of All Residential Land Use Ordinances Enacted by Historically and Currently Segregated Cities and Counties,” pp. 684-5)