At its August 9 regular meeting, the Greenbelt City Council agreed to place a referendum on the November 2 ballot. The referendum question will read as follows:
Do you vote yes or no to the following Referendum question:
The City Council of Greenbelt should establish a twenty-one (21) member Commission to review, discuss, and make recommendations related to local reparations for African American and Native American residents of Greenbelt.
The vote was 5 to 1 with Councilmember Silke Pope opposed and Councilmember Edward Putens absent. The referendum was proposed by Mayor Colin Byrd who in April sought to establish this committee through a council resolution. That resolution was discussed in some detail at the April 26 council meeting but failed when three councilmembers abstained from voting. This prevented the motion from receiving affirmative votes from a majority of the elected councilmembers, the charter requirement for approval of ordinances and resolutions (City of Greenbelt Charter, Section 8).
There was very little discussion of the referendum resolution at the August 9 meeting, just three councilmembers explaining their votes. Councilmember Emmett Jordan supported the resolution but wished it had been framed more broadly such as an equality, inclusiveness and diversity task force with reparations within its scope. He felt such a framing would be more likely to win approval.
Councilmember Silke Pope said she could not support the resolution. While she did not like the wording and felt it should be broader, her main concern was that reparations should be a federal issue. It is too much for a city to take on. She argued that there is a lot of research that needs to be done. She also wondered how the process would be managed and called for a plan of how this could be done.
Councilmember Rodney Roberts supported the resolution and pointed out that the resolution does not say whether or not the city should issue reparations. It only authorizes a committee to look at the issue, he noted.
Councilmember Judith Davis supported the resolution since it lets residents weigh in rather than council making the decision.
