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<br /> RES-2020-073
<br /> ORANGE OCOUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
<br /> RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF REPARATIONS FOR BLACK/AFRICAN
<br /> AMERICANS
<br /> WHEREAS, on December 6, 1865, the United States Congress ratified the 13th Amendment to the
<br /> Constitution thus abolishing slavery in the United States, stating: "Neither slavery nor involuntary
<br /> servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
<br /> within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction"; and
<br /> WHEREAS, the 13`h Amendment, along with subsequent Constitutional Amendments, civil rights
<br /> legislation and voting rights acts have sought to recognize and establish equality for people of the Black
<br /> African diaspora who had been unjustly enslaved and oppressed prior to and since the founding of the
<br /> United States of America; and
<br /> WHEREAS,Black/African Americans nevertheless have been segregated,marginalized, disenfranchised,
<br /> wrongfully incarcerated and lynched through intentional policies and practices including Jim Crow laws,
<br /> racial terror and the exception clause in the 131h Amendment; and
<br /> WHEREAS, Black/African Americans have been denied equal access to education and skills
<br /> development, healthcare, housing, mortgages, neighborhoods, job opportunities and advancement,
<br /> government grant and loan programs for farms and businesses, and equal rights and equal protections
<br /> under the law; and
<br /> WHEREAS, since the desegregation of schools, Black/African American students still are denied access
<br /> to quality learning, are directed away from advanced courses, and face disciplinary actions at a
<br /> disproportionate rate from white counterparts; and
<br /> WHEREAS, as evidenced in morbidity/mortality rates, Black/African Americans received and still
<br /> receive inadequate and sometimes detrimental healthcare and biased treatment by medical professionals;
<br /> and
<br /> WHEREAS, Black/African Americans have been and continue to be unjustly targeted, mistreated and
<br /> abused by law enforcement and the criminal justice system; and
<br /> WHEREAS, systemic racism in America, which originated over 400 years ago and has evolved and
<br /> persists to the present day, has manifested itself as a specific trauma within Black/African Americans and
<br /> the Black experience, and has affected American society as a whole;
<br /> NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, on
<br /> behalf of the people of Orange County, affirms the dignity and humanity of all people, regardless of race,
<br /> ethnicity,national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity,religion or creed; and
<br /> BE IT RESOLVED, that Orange County apologizes for its role in the enslavement of Black/African
<br /> American people, its enforcement of segregation, its promotion of prejudicial policies, and its
<br /> implementation of discriminatory and detrimental practices and procedures; and
<br /> BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of County Commissioners hereby is
<br /> committed to working toward the elimination of racial bias and individual racism, the dismantling of
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