Members of Philadelphia’s new slavery reparations commission spoke of their mission at a launch this week and vowed to “get to work” to improve schools and housing for black residents.
But a DailyMail.com investigation has exposed major flaws in the new nine-member panel.
The group’s co-president, Rashaun Williams, is already using his new role to promote his Afro-House club nights, where he performs as DJ Reezey.
And the panel’s legal chief, Jackie Newsome, has strong anti-white feelings, her tweets suggest.
She criticizes their “white fragility” and compares them to ‘secondary students’. In other posts, he controversially calls to “defund the police.”
Philadelphia’s reparations panel got off to a rocky start at City Hall this week, when controversial social media posts from its new members were discovered.
Panel co-chair Rashaun Williams has used his new role to promote his Afro-House club nights, when he performs as DJ Reezey.
In a video post, Williams talks about the task force and urges his followers to come “celebrate” at his club night.
The participation of Williams and Newsome casts doubt on the panel’s credibility and raises questions about whether it can help the city’s 1.6 million residents navigate its complicated history.
The task force and city council have not commented on the posts.
The revelations are just the latest example of problems in implementing reparations plans, which gained momentum after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 but are now failing.
Activists say it’s time to repair the harm done to black people by slavery and Jim Crow laws, but critics say the planned payments are unfair and would only worsen race relations.
The Philadelphia Reparations Task Force was formally launched at City Hall on Tuesday.
It is tasked with reporting on “how reparations can atone for the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and institutional racism,” according to a statement from the city.
New York, San Francisco and other American cities have already launched similar plans.
But Philadelphia’s is considered particularly important, as four in ten residents are black, slightly outnumbering whites.
African Americans are struggling in the City of Brotherly Love, official figures show.
They are much more likely than others to live in poverty and own only 6 percent of businesses.
Reparations cover everything from erecting statues to business loans, but discussions often center on whether taxpayers should compensate blacks with eye-watering cash payments.
The panel can only make recommendations. Any financial payments would have to be approved by council members and the mayor through a budget process.
Williams was instrumental in creating the task force and was named co-chair last year.
Rashaun Williams, seen here wearing a hoodie decorated with images of Malcolm X and other racial justice advocates.
Williams has controversially used the committee to promote his Afro-House club nights, called ‘Movement and Melanin’.
DailyMail.com can reveal that within weeks he was using the office to promote his dance parties.
One of his social media posts features the logos of the task force, the Philadelphia City Council and Councilman Jamie Gauthier, a prominent local politician who backed the reparations project.
The post includes a video of Williams speaking to the task force, before starting one of her dance parties, a December 2 event called ‘Movement and Melanin.’
“I have events,” Williams says.
‘We have to celebrate blackness. We have to celebrate ourselves in this world.’
He urges viewers to join his email list to “be on the lookout” for his upcoming $15 late night parties.
At first glance, this violates philadelphia manual of ethics for boards and commissions, which establishes rules for conflicts of interest.
Members “may not take any official action that could affect their personal financial interests,” the document says.
Newsome, who will coordinate the reparations task force’s legal policy, is even more controversial.
In social media posts, he speaks disparagingly of white Americans.
“Seeing white people on social media makes me feel like the mother of a high school student,” she wrote in one such post.
They should “leave the Internet and stay out of black affairs,” he added.
In another, he refers to “white fragility,” a term used to describe white people who react defensively when their biases are challenged.
It is the title of a 2018 book by Robin DiAngelo, a key text in the academic approach known as Critical Race Theory.
In a post shortly after the police killing of Floyd, a handcuffed Black man, in May 2020, Newsome joined the chorus of calls to “defund the police.”
The publication was directed at Gauthier and other city politicians. He urged them to defund the Philadelphia Police Department.
The panel’s legal head, Jackie Newsome, has spoken disparagingly of whites, comparing them to “high school students.”
To some, Newsome’s posts about whites as “high schools” should prevent her from holding public office.
Reparations Task Force co-chairs Breanna Moore (R) and Rashaun Williams launch the initiative at Philadelphia City Hall.
Philadelphia Councilman Jamie Gauthier was a driving force behind the reparations project.
It was a popular slogan during Black Lives Matter protests after Floyd’s death, but the policy fell out of favor as police morale fell and crime rates rose.
The city’s code of conduct discourages commission members from making political posts on social media.
Newsome’s controversial posts were made before she joined the body.
Still, her reference to white people as “high school students” casts doubt on whether she is a good choice for public office.
Williams, the city council, the task force and the mayor’s office did not respond to our requests for comment.
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported by European ships and traders, and sold into slavery.
Those who survived the brutal journey ended up working hard on plantations in the Americas, including Brazil, the Caribbean and the United States, while others benefited from their work.
Activists say it is time for the United States to pay its black residents for the injustices of the historic transatlantic slave trade, Jim Crow segregation and inequalities that persist to this day.
The sums are staggering: Black lawmakers in Washington are seeking at least $14 trillion for a federal plan aimed at “eliminating the racial wealth gap” between black and white Americans.
Critics say payments to select black people will inevitably stoke divisions between winners and losers, and raise questions about why American Indians and others don’t get their own handouts.
Reparations are popular among blacks who will benefit from them, but unpopular among whites, Asians and others who would foot the tax bill without benefiting themselves.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll last year, 74 percent of blacks support the U.S. government’s reparations for slavery and its legacy, compared to just 26 percent of whites.
Reparations are much more popular among Democratic voters than Republicans.