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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: December 7, 2020 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4-b <br /> SUBJECT: Resolution in Support of Reparations for African American/Blacks <br /> DEPARTMENT: County Commissioners/ <br /> Human Rights and Relations <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Resolution in Support of Reparation for Commissioner Renee Price <br /> African Americans/Blacks (919) 245-2130 <br /> Annette Moore, (919) 245-2317 <br /> PURPOSE: Resolution in Support of Reparation for African American/Blacks on the 155th <br /> Anniversary of the 13th Amendment. <br /> BACKGROUND: The first unfree Africans arrived in the English Colony of Virginia in August <br /> 1619. This period marked the beginning in American history, where people of African descent <br /> were forcibly taken from their homeland, transported to the American colonies, and committed to <br /> lifelong slavery. On December 6, we mark the 155th Anniversary of the ratification of the 13th <br /> Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States. <br /> After ratification in 1865, the immediate impact of the 13th Amendment was to stop chattel <br /> slavery in the southern states and involuntary servitude that had increased after the civil war in <br /> the South and southwestern states. Section 2 of the 13th Amendment further authorized <br /> Congress to "enforce" the ban on slavery and indentured servitude and passing "appropriate <br /> legislation." <br /> Since the passage of the 13th Amendment, Congress has passed direct legislation banning <br /> involuntary servitude. In 1883, the Supreme Court interpreted Section 2 as "empower[ing] <br /> Congress to do more" than pass direct enforcement legislation. The Supreme Court indicated <br /> Congress should " pass all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all badges and incidents of <br /> slavery in the United States." The Civil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3, 20 (1883). Congress has <br /> used the 13th Amendment to enact civil rights laws that target the badges and incidents of <br /> slavery by prohibiting public and private racial discrimination in areas such as contracting, <br /> housing, and hate crimes. <br /> The Supreme Court in The Civil Rights Cases found that the 13th Amendment promised the <br /> freed slaves "universal civil and political freedom." The Supreme Court determined Congress <br /> was to use appropriate legislative concepts to assist freed slaves in fulfilling the promise of <br /> universal civil and political freedom and passing all laws necessary and proper for abolishing all <br />