about
the Project
The King County Reparations Project is documenting stories centered around Black/African American people who were displaced from their homes, businesses and communities in King County. The goal is to tell their stories, document the pain and harm endured and ultimately to establish a case for reparations.
The project will focus on five main categories resulting in removal during an approximate timeline starting in the 1960’s until present day.
-
Redlining, bank redlining 1930s - 1960s
-
Subprime Lending late 1990’s - 2000’s - role that banks played in gentrification
-
Imminent Domain “Urban Renewal”- role it played in removal 1960’s - current
-
Weed & Seed - Abatement Laws - Teen Dance Ordinance 1980s-early 2000s
-
Regressive Tax Policy in State of WA - Results in an unfair burden on the poor & people of moderate income who can’t keep their property due to rising property taxes
Important notes
-
This project is dealing with only a segment of the legacy & struggle of various movements and claims to reparations; this one centers on housing inequality in King County from around the 1950s to present day.
-
We recognize the need for local and national dialogue and intend that this project will serve larger plans of action to cover what’s owed in totality of the effects of slavery, black codes, jim crow, mass incarceration.
