Reparations is about money. And power.

Good morning!

Welcome to the state of reparations, where most residents want to talk about money. But let’s be sure to talk about power, too.

Have you heard what happened in Charlotte, N.C.? Police officers allegedly exchanged racist messages, including a reported competition over who could pull over the most Black drivers. As of Tuesday, five officers had resigned amid the investigation. A sixth implicated officer had already resigned during a separate probe.

Of course, repair reaches beyond what officers say privately about Black people, especially when people who hold those views have the authority to stop you, search you or take away your freedom?

Or take your life?

Police misconduct belongs in the reparations conversation. Repair can include compensation for people harmed. Repair can also mean enforceable changes to the institutions responsible for harm. You know, rules with consequences that survive the next police chief.

Or the next Republican administration.

In this week’s Ledger, we go to Lexington, Mississippi, where federal investigators found police used arrests and fines to raise money. A new settlement requires reforms. It creates no compensation fund.

Plus, in Missouri, seven current and former Lincoln University students are asking a court to address decades of alleged discriminatory underfunding. Federal officials estimated a $361.6 million shortfall at Lincoln between 1987 and 2020. You shouldn’t be surprised by the total in underfunding identified across Black land-grant universities in 16 states.

Cops and colleges. Different institutions. Different harms. The same need for repair.

Season One presenting sponsor

Liberation Ventures, which funds and strengthens the movement for Black reparations, is the presenting sponsor of our debut season. Click the logo above to tap into more information.

Buying a home is supposed to help a family build wealth. But what happens when the loan costs more and the house gains less value because of who owns it?

In a new Roosevelt Institute brief, researcher Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana argues that expanding Black homeownership alone cannot close the racial wealth gap. The housing market itself needs repair. An Aspen Institute analysis examines the other side of that problem: how Black families lose wealth they already have.

The national research describes systems that make wealth harder to build and keep. In San Francisco, there’s a more immediate question. Will the city put up any money?

In Episode Two, we examined the city’s unfunded reparations fund. Episode Three follows that unfinished work into the election. With Supervisor Shamann Walton leaving office, Meaghan M. Mitchell asked candidates Theo Ellington and DJ Brookter what they would do to move repair forward. 

See how close to home that hits for Meaghan’s family this season.

Read her story.

Here’s the weekly roundup of developments in reparations and repair. (Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe.)

Lincoln University students sue Missouri over decades of unequal funding. Seven current and former Lincoln University of Missouri students sued Missouri Oct. 7, alleging decades of discriminatory underfunding of the historically Black university compared with the University of Missouri. Federal officials put Lincoln’s funding shortfall at $361.6 million between 1987 and 2020, part of $12.6 billion in underfunding identified across Black land-grant universities in 16 states. The lawsuit seeks a $549 million remedial fund. Missouri began providing the full required match in 2022, according to reporting. No court has established liability or awarded the requested money. Why it matters: Black Union soldiers helped establish Lincoln in 1866. The lawsuit asks what Missouri owes the institution they built. Equal funding today does not settle the bill for unequal funding yesterday.

Federal government joins the fight against Evanston’s reparations program. A federal judge has allowed the Justice Department to join the lawsuit challenging Evanston’s reparations program. Judicial Watch brought the case in 2024 on behalf of people excluded by its race-based eligibility rules. The department also alleges violations of the Fair Housing Act. The ruling lets the federal government join the challenge. Why it matters: Passing a reparations program is one fight. Defending it is another. Evanston’s beneficiaries now have the federal government arguing against the program intended to address their community’s losses.

Mississippi police used arrests to raise money. Now come the reforms. The Justice Department reached a settlement with Lexington, Mississippi, after investigators found that police disproportionately targeted Black residents, made arrests to generate revenue and jailed people who could not pay fines. The city’s court had issued warrants for more than 650 people over unpaid fines, roughly half the town’s population. The agreement requires changes to arrests, searches, force and detention. The city and police must also ask a court to dismiss unlawful fine-related warrants and expunge convictions covered by the settlement. Federal oversight is scheduled for three years, with provisions for earlier termination or extension. Why it matters: The government documented a system that extracted money and freedom from a predominantly Black community. The settlement requires reform. It does not create a compensation fund.

The Army plans to return a Confederate monument to Arlington. The Army has submitted final plans to return the Confederate Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery in 2027 after conservation work. Removed in 2023 under a congressional mandate, the monument was commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and unveiled in 1914. Why it matters: The administration is preparing to restore an honor to the Confederacy while attacking efforts to repair slavery’s legacy. As if we didn’t already know which version of history it wants the government to support.

Black family wealth fell. Median net worth for Black non-Hispanic families fell 25% between 2022 and 2025, from $49,100 to $36,800, according to newly released Federal Reserve data. White non-Hispanic median family wealth rose 6%, to $332,100. That’s an almost $300,000 gap between the two medians. In a separate analysis, Kindred Futures researcher Alex Camardelle-Floyd argues that federal decisions on assistance, housing, health care and consumer protection threaten Black families’ financial security. Why it matters: Building wealth is one challenge. Keeping it is another. A reparations payment cannot do all the work if other policies leave Black families more exposed to financial losses.

German lawmakers consider direct reparations for genocide descendants. Germany’s parliament debated two proposals addressing the German Empire’s 1904-1908 genocide against the Ovaherero and Nama peoples in present-day Namibia. The Left Party seeks acknowledgment of legal responsibility, direct reparations to descendants and mechanisms to return land, cultural property and human remains. The Greens seek formal recognition, an apology and restitution of cultural property and human remains. Their proposal also names Damara and San communities. Both proposals went to the Foreign Affairs Committee for further consideration. Why it matters: Who gets to negotiate repair? Representatives of affected communities have challenged their exclusion from Germany and Namibia’s government-to-government negotiations. The proposals bring their demands into parliament. Now what?

A £100 million slavery-repair fund is still waiting to launch. The Church Commissioners committed £100 million (roughly $133 million) to establish a fund supporting communities affected by slavery through investments and grants. It is not a program of compensation payments to individual descendants. The fund remains in development. A threatened judicial review has delayed plans to establish the fund. Why it matters: There is a commitment here. There is also a fight over whether the money can move. An institution accepting responsibility is the beginning. Delivering repair is the test.

A memorial to Caribbean prisoners disappears days after its unveiling. A plaque honoring more than 2,000 African-Caribbean prisoners held at Portchester Castle was stolen days after its Oct. 9 unveiling. The prisoners were transported to Britain in 1796. They included formerly enslaved Africans and Indigenous Caribbean people who resisted British colonial conquest. Descendants traveled from Belize, the United States and elsewhere for the ceremony. A nearby bench was also defaced with hateful graffiti. The incident was reported to police. Why it matters: The plaque was symbolic. So was its theft. Restoring people to public memory takes more than installing a marker. It takes a commitment to protect their place there.

Guyana’s president demands formal British apology and reparatory justice before royal visit. King Charles begins his Caribbean tour next week, with Guyana as his second stop. ITV News reports that the king’s advisers say he will acknowledge historic wrongs but will not formally apologize. Guyana President Irfaan Ali told ITV that expressions of regret are not enough. He wants an apology followed by reparatory justice. Why it matters: Jamaica has asked the king to refer legal questions about Britain’s responsibility for slavery to the Privy Council. Now Guyana’s president is pressing for an apology and repair ahead of a royal visit. Britain wants to acknowledge the past. Caribbean leaders want to discuss what Britain owes.

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When Gabriel Carver’s high school football teammates wanted to take a knee during the national anthem, he joined them. His interest in justice eventually helped lead him to journalism and to photographing Declaration’s first two stories. The Sacramento-raised photographer and rugby player who wants to ask harder questions and help build a newsroom. Who we work with shapes what we become. Gabriel’s ambition is part of why I believe we can deliver journalism with a pulse.

Read my column.

Beyond money, what would reparations need to change for you to consider the harm repaired?

Share your answer

… and touch somebody’s hand. Make this world a better place, if you can.

I’ve been thinking about Diana Ross’ 1970 hit, “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand),” written by the rock-solid Ashford & Simpson. Maybe it’s the midterms and the profiteering off torture and torment around the world. Maybe it’s that Ross’ first solo single after leaving the Supremes was an appeal for kindness. For me, the song is a reminder to look beyond ourselves and help someone who needs it.

We’re always looking for feedback. We want to talk to people. We want to hear from you. Send us feedback.

And if you’re a student journalist or an early- to mid-career journalist, we’re down to collaborate. We’re accepting pitches for Season Two, and we’ve assembled a wonderful group of Season One collaborators.

And if you’d like to leave a voicemail, by all means, give us a call at 704-504-9427. 

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How this newsletter is made: Humans write, edit and make every editorial decision in The Repair. We use large language models, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, as research tools. Using our methodology for tracking reparations and repair, these tools help us find, organize and synthesize source material. Every source is verified, and every link, fact and word undergoes two rounds of human editing before publication. Read our AI policy.