Mary Thompson is a follower of the US Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation movement. She serves in a leadership role on the Raleigh Human Relations Commission, The Reparative Justice Working Group, and Raleigh Organizing Against Racism (ROAR). Mary serves as an advocate/ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Association. She is a member and volunteers with other local
Mary delivered the following comments to the City Council on September 12, 2023:
Good Evening, Mayor and City Council Members
My name is Mary Thompson; I live in Raleigh and would like to speak about the Resolution on Reparative Justice for African Americans in Raleigh. Byron Laws, Raleigh Human Relations Commission (HRC) presented the Resolution to the City Council in April 2023.
The Raleigh City Attorney created and presented a version that removed some Resolutions sections and then approved by the City Council in July 2023.
Today, I want to give the history of the Resolution. In 2021, the Raleigh Friends Meeting (a Quaker organization in Raleigh) came to the Human Relations Commission after a meeting with a City Council member. The HRC created an ad hoc committee to review. The committee included the three attorneys and a few other members). We met with the Durham Mayor, who was in office when Durham was working through their creation of a Racial Equity Task Force. We looked at Asheville and some other cities. The committee changed the Resolution, which the Raleigh Friends Meeting approved, and the HRC approved it in February 2022 and then sent it to City staff with a request to present it to the City Council.
The Council voted their agreement to the Resolution’s first page, which lists the past and present harm inflicted on the African-American community. Then the City apologized, which we all agree is hollow without action.
The Raleigh Reparative Justice Working Group has taken the lead to keep the request for the City to establish a Reparative Justice Commission, Taskforce, etc., that includes residents of Raleigh to give attention to this matter.
We have letters and emails from 25 Raleigh organizations that support the establishment of a commission. There are over 500+ residents that have signed a petition. We know the budget conversations will start or have already started this fall. We want this request for staff funding to support this initiative included in the FY25 budget discussions.
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