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SUBSTITUTE BILL NO. 26-18
<br /> RESOLUTION NO. 5175-26
<br /> A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND,
<br /> INDIANA, FORMALLY ACCEPTING THE HISTORICAL SECTION OF THE FINAL
<br /> REPORT OF THE REPARATORY JUSTICE COMMISSION AND THE HISTORY OF
<br /> RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST BLACK RESIDENTS DOCUMENTED
<br /> THEREIN, ACKNOWLEDGING THE ANALYSES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
<br /> SECTIONS OF THE REPORT FOR PURPOSES OF POLICY DISCUSSIONS, AND
<br /> ISSUING A FORMAL APOLOGY FROM THE COMMON COUNCIL AND ON
<br /> BEHALF OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND
<br /> WHEREAS, on September 25, 2023, the Common Council of the City of South Bend
<br /> established the Reparatory Justice Commission to examine the history of racial discrimination
<br /> against Black residents of South Bend and to recommend measures by which the City might
<br /> repair the documented harms of that history; and
<br /> WHEREAS, the Commission, composed of community members with expertise across
<br /> housing, employment, education, health, civil rights, and public service conducted eighteen
<br /> months of research, public testimony, archival inquiry, and community engagement; and
<br /> WHEREAS, the Commission produced a final report of 138 pages documenting an
<br /> extensive history of racial discrimination in economic opportunity & employment, housing,
<br /> education, health & mental health, policing & criminal justice system, sustained over more than
<br /> a century, and identified sixty-two specific recommendations for the City, the Common Council,
<br /> allied institutions, and community partners; and
<br /> WHEREAS, the historical record the Commission has compiled draws on official
<br /> municipal records, federal and state archives, scholarly research, and the lived testimony of
<br /> South Bend residents whose families experienced the harms documented therein; and
<br /> WHEREAS,this Council recognizes that an accurate account of the City's history is the
<br /> foundation on which any honest reparative efforts must build from; and
<br /> WHEREAS,the Commission's recommendations represent a substantive framework for
<br /> further discussions from which the work of repair, and the Common Council and the
<br /> administration of the City of South Bend, along the South Bend Community School Corporation,
<br /> the Housing Authority of South Bend,the St. Joseph County Health Department, area hospitals
<br /> and universities, faith communities, philanthropic institutions, and the broader business
<br /> community bear collective and shared responsibility for the implementation of policies and
<br /> legislation within the bounds of the Constitution and applicable law to benefit all residents.
<br /> NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED by the Common Council of the City of South
<br /> Bend, Indiana:
<br /> SECTION I. The Common Council formally accepts the historical sections of the final report of
<br /> the Reparatory Justice Commission and enters them as a substantive framework into the
<br /> permanent public record of the City of South Bend.
<br /> SECTION II. The Common Council acknowledges, on behalf of the City of South Bend, the
<br /> history of racial discrimination documented in the report—in economic opportunity &
<br /> employment, housing, education, health& mental health,policing & criminal justice system—
<br /> sustained over more than a century.
<br /> SECTION III. On behalf of the City of South Bend, the Common Council apologizes to the
<br /> Black residents of the City of South Bend, past and present, for that history and for the harms it
<br /> has caused.
<br /> SECTION IV.The Common Council expresses its gratitude to the members of the Reparatory
<br /> Justice Commission for their work, to the community members whose testimony made that work
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