Massachusetts town creates fund to pay reparations to black residents

A liberal Massachusetts town has created a fund that will be used to pay reparations to eligible black residents to “repair past harms” it committed against them or their ancestors.

The Amherst Town Council voted 12-1 earlier this week in favor of establishing the fund, council clerk Athena O’Keeffe confirmed.

No money is in the fund yet, but town finance officials have proposed a plan to put $210,000 in the account later this year, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported.

Amherst, a town of more than 39,000 with a black population of just over 2,100, according to the Census Bureau, is home to the University of Massachusetts’ flagship campus and Amherst College, a liberal arts university.