 this. I will check with Dr. Shabazz. Okay, I'm back on, but I still can't get video, but I can hear and see everybody else. Okay, Ms. Bridges, well, we'll, you know, I'm glad you can see and hear us. And I don't know what is wrong with this, but oh, well, it's all right. Yeah. Let me just do a couple check ins here. Okay, so I have checked in with Dr. Shabazz. Again, Yvonne was going to try to make it, but I think we should go ahead and get started so that we can maximize our time together. So, Jennifer, I see you started recording, right? Yes. Okay, so there are four of us. So we can officially start. Let me just go ahead and pull up. I have, okay. All right. So I am calling to order the September 18th meeting of the African Heritage Reparation Assembly at 2.04pm. With the extension of chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via Zoom or by telephone. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. So I'm going to do a quick sound check to make sure everyone can hear and be heard. And then, oh, and here we have Dr. Shabazz. Excellent. Welcome, Dr. Shabazz. Do I see some others with us too? That's excellent. Okay. So I will start with you, Dr. Shabazz. Can you hear us and? Absolutely. We have a good connection. Thank you. Okay, excellent. And Ms. Bridges? Yes, I can hear you and see you. Sorry, you can't see me. All right, no worries. And Dr. Rhodes? I can hear and see everyone. Excellent. Hala? Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes, very well. And Jennifer, when I do the sound check for you, then I'll just, it will be natural for you then to welcome Asa to our meeting and just to introduce them to us. Sure. Have them introduce themselves. Go ahead. So yes, I can hear and see everyone. And now I would like to turn it over to Asa so that they can introduce themselves. Go ahead, Asa. Hi, I'm Asa Stanley Kemler. I'm the AmeriCorps member who's working with both the DEI department and Cress. Happy to be here, even if it's just to observe. Wonderful. We're very happy you're here. And if you have any questions at any point, please do just use the raise hand function or just chime in and will. I'm happy that you're here. Thank you. You on the other hand back there need to quiet down. Sorry, my dog is hearing something outside. OK, so let me just mute for one second to quiet every every all of the dogs down and be right back. Well, Debra, I thought your photo was your you were going to show up because it looks like your video is changing like it says your name and then doesn't say your name. Does anybody else see that? Yeah, yes, I see that too. I thought so, but now I can't see anybody. The line the line is out of the stop video, the red line. And it sounds like but now I can't see anyone before I couldn't get my my video, but I could see everybody else. Now I now it's both gone. Feel free to come in with both and have two boxes if you can see if we can see you on can't see anything. OK, you can still hear us though, right? I can hear you. That's it. I can't just can't see anyone. Oh, goodness. There is a quorum if you want to try to go. Yeah, back out and come back in because there is a quorum. I'll try. Miss Bridges, uh-huh. Before you go, I just I want to start the meeting with an acknowledgement. OK, and so I want to last week we had. A moment of silence in our committee. To send prayers and and wishes to somebody in our community. And today I want to acknowledge the loss of Dr. Shabazz's beloved wife, Dr. Demetria Shabazz. A beautiful and courageous human being and community member and just a great loss and I couldn't possibly pay tribute to all of the ways in which the impacted this community in this time. And I know we will begin the process of paying tribute to Dr. Shabazz as as you know, it's already happening. So I wanted to open up just a little space right now if anybody would like to comment or have anything that they would like to add to that. So Dr. Shabazz, I'm deeply sorry for the passing of Dean. I was shocked. Still I'm shocked and and may her memory be a blessing to us all. Thank you, Dr. Rhodes. Hala. Thank you. I have personally been in communication with Dr. Shabazz, but I would also like to bring something to this group. I would like for us to dedicate this final report to Dr. Shabazz's supreme love and wife, Dr. Demetria Shabazz from the moment D came to Amherst. She was a force and a presence that has been unparalleled. She lived her life dedicated to reducing the harm of anti-black racism to demanding social justice and equity to walking the walk and to being in mentorship in ways that have powerfully impacted so many of us. She worked with others to bring Kwanzaa Juneteenth and other black Liber Liberatory celebrations to our town. She gifted us a legacy of speaking truth to power of lifting up the most marginalized and silenced in this town of being a person who stood in her own power and of helping others of us fight off the imposter syndrome and the internalize inferiority and other byproducts of white supremacy ideology that I personally as a black person in this town continue to fight so that I may mentor and lead our youth prayerfully in a way that D has. Respectfully, I can't think of a better person to dedicate this final report to. Thank you. Dr. Shabazz, would you like Jennifer to first go? So thank you, Heather. That was absolutely beautiful. And thank you, Michelle, for giving us this time to reflect on this and so I just wanted to say that. So clearly Dean, I didn't always see eye to eye, but I have to say that I've always respected and admired her dedication commitment and to equity work and I'm thinking like I don't know what will end up with the space for the Youth Empowerment Center or what the next new road will be, but I think that it would be worth either the preceding group to or successor group, sorry, to think about considering naming one of the streets or buildings after Mrs. Dr. Shabazz and my heart goes out to you and your family and please let us know if you need anything. Thank you all on behalf of the entire family are the children that D&I brought into this world. Now adults are here with me for this meeting as well. We are all very moved by your words, your expressions and and this dedication of our work over these last two years in Dimitria's name. She definitely was an abiding force for me over this period on this committee. I think perhaps others and of course others all throughout the town and the ways that Jennifer Moisten has just eloquently stated. Thank you, Hala. Thank you, Erv and all of you here for this very, very much. I just will mention I'm just confirmed with the folks at the Most Holy Redeemer Church in Hadley Mass that we are looking at a funeral service on Saturday, September 30th and but we are looking at a more public celebration of her life in October. We're thinking around the time of her birthday, which is October 26th. So those are our two dates that we are we're looking at. All right. So again, thank you all so much for this. Thank you, Dr. Shavas. And I see Ms. Bridges is back. Ms. Bridges, did you want to add anything right now? Um, I just wanted to send all my love, Nick and I were with them and they know we love them and if we need, if they need anything at all. Dr. Shavas, you know where we are, right? Hopefully you can see him nodding. I can't. I can't. This doesn't work. Oh, sorry. That's all right, darling. Absolutely. Absolutely. Tried so hard in and out reboot. It just doesn't do it, but you know, prayers to you all. Thank you, Ms. Bridges. Okay. And so we shall dedicate this report in memory of and in honor of Dr. Demetri Shavas and let all of the ways that she has touched and will continue to touch our lives go on. And Dr. Rhodes, I saw your, your, your math was moving, but maybe you were talking to somebody in the room. I think you're, there you go. You good? Yeah, I didn't raise my hand. Okay. All right. Perfect. Okay. So I am going to do two more things before we move into the meat of our meeting. One is to approve minutes and then the other is to call our first period of public comment. So to approve minutes, Jennifer, just checking with you that the minutes that are on the agenda are good. Yes. You should have received a packet of them. Okay. And everything is fine. Everything is no changes. Okay. So I'm just going to make the motion then and, and look for a second. Did you just receive the packet? Am I correct? Okay. I thought sometimes I dream that I do things. So I just wanted to make sure that I actually did do it. You sent a packet. Let me just make sure you did send a packet. I'm not sure. See here. Let's assume that you did because I remember receiving it and then if anything will, you know, we'll clean it up, but I think my memory is that you, you did. All right. So I'm going to make a motion to approve the minutes from July 31st, August 7th, August 14th, August 21st, August 28th, and September 11th, 2023. Is there a second? Second. Okay. That was Dr. Rhodes, I believe. Let's take a roll call vote. I will start with you, Dr. Shavas. Shavas. Yes. Thank you. And Hala. Lord. Yes. Great. Ms. Bridges. Yes. Excellent. And Dr. Rhodes. Rhodes, I. Thank you. And I'm an I. So those pass unanimously. Now I'm going to call a period of public comment. This will be the first of two periods of public comment and I will read the public comment statement now during the public comment period. The chair will recognize members of the public when called on. Please identify yourself by stating your name, pronouns and residential address. Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair based upon the number of people who wish to speak. The HRA will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised, although we will be listening very closely and sometimes we are able to answer questions. So if you'd like to make a public comment, I don't see anyone coming in by phone. So just please use the raise hand function and we will bring you into the room. And again, there will be a second period of comment later in the meeting. Okay. So I'm not seeing any commenters right now. So we will move on. I thought I'll just give an overview of what we have to cover today. So today is the day that we are going to, I hope, approve our final report. Everyone should have seen the latest final report. All of the items that were new have were highlighted in the report to make it easier for you to reference. So today the idea is to talk about the final report to see if there are any questions or comments in additional inclusions or subtractions. And part of that discussion is for us to review a couple of items that have not been approved yet. One being the successor body committee charge. The second being we have to fill in the blanks on the fund recommendation. And then there is one item that I would, well, actually two items that I would like to bring to our attention based on some feedback. One of them being the recommendation that we've made to the school superintendent. And then another is related to the historical black churches in our community. And Hal and I had a discussion about that. So when we get to that, we can, Hal and I will discuss that. So as far as acknowledgements, I did receive recommendations to include in the acknowledgements page of our report. So I have included those. And then I also sent our final draft press release. And so we have an opportunity here to talk about that and to make sure that we're all okay with that. That will also include talking about timing to officially publish the report. So I am going to just pause there and see if there are any just general questions about the process for today's meeting. Okay, great. So I think what I'll do is I'm going to bring up the committee charge and we'll start there. I did my best based on previous conversations to fill in the blanks here using a template. So Jennifer, do I have the ability to share? I think I'm disabled right now from sharing screen. Let's see. You should be okay. I'm good now. Yes. Thank you. All right. So first things first, this, this successor body needs a name. So I right now have just used our name, but the floor is open for names. I'll just quickly go through this first section and then open the floor and then we'll move down into the other sections. So this is a standing committee. The legal references, the Amherst Home Rule Charter section 2.5. The appointing authority is the town manager. The questions we have to answer are whether we would like this to be a seven voting member body and nine voting member body or some other number. Whether we would like to have additional non-voting members, perhaps for example, an advisor or even somebody from one of the local institutions, you know, could be an example. And then whether we would like to have liaisons, I just put in here that perhaps we would have one town council liaison and maybe one liaison from the CSSJC. These are just suggestions. Term of appointment is 2. Again, that's a suggestion and support staff is, I think Jennifer, the appropriate support staff would be the DEI department. Does that sound right? Okay. So the floor is open to comment on any of these highlighted items here. And again, this is something that we do need to finalize today because it is currently included as part of the appendix in our final report. Aisa, do I see a hand? Hi, just because I'm not up to speed on everything the committee has been doing, what will the authority or purpose of this sort of successor committee be? That's an excellent question. So generally speaking, this committee will be charged with carrying forward the work of the AHRA. So ensuring that the recommendations that were made in our final report are implemented being sort of the overseer of the fund. And we're going to actually get to that down here when we get to the purpose and the charge. So you'll get a little bit of a better idea about that. Does that answer the question? Okay. All right, Dr. Shabazz, I see your hand. I'm going to lower the hand now. I think maybe because we're in share mode, I don't know, but can you hear me? Yes. Do you want me to take share mode off? Is that more helpful for you? Let me do that. Go ahead. This thing like my screen was frozen and it still seems like it's okay. Anyway, so as many of you know, a model in my mind for the structure, the ongoing structure of the town's efforts to create repair to justice, which we've discussed before and in my mind is not a time stamp. It's an ongoing project. The model has been the Community Preservation Act and the Community Preservation Act Committee, which is a standing committee here in the town. Modifying the overview of that committee, we could very well track our own mission statement of this of this successor body. That is to say studies the needs, possibilities and resources of the town regarding African American reparations makes recommendation to the town council annually for the acquisition, creation and funding of initiatives supported by the African American community and that can be further wordsmith, but that pretty much comes right out of the charge right out of the overview of the Community Preservation Act Committee. Relative to the name then it could be Repair of Justice Committee. It could be you could put African American in there as well. So African Americans reparations Act Committee, but I don't have a final language on that. But the other thing then is that in the case of CPA, it is a nine member body and it is has people from other related commissions, namely the Conservation Commission and the Historical Commission, Planning Board, LSSE commission and a member of the Housing Authority and four citizens at large. I would not recommend duplicating that same framework, but along the lines of what you Michelle suggested perhaps connecting with the Human Rights Commission and connecting with the Community Safety and Social Justice Commission might be appropriate related commissions to connect with. I think that the there is a valid question of CPA itself since some of the funding measures we would invariably this body would invariably take up would concern areas covered by the CPA that is namely matters of historical preservation, open space, recreation and the community housing. So it might even be useful to perhaps consider a CPA member being a part of the the of all the ongoing reparations committee. I don't necessarily see Planning Board. I don't necessarily see Finance Committee. These are all groups of course that the work would interact with, but I don't necessarily see them as having a role to play in giving and giving guidance to how the initiatives are selected and how the initiatives are packaged and brought together to then be presented to the Council for vote. But anyway, those are some of the some of my thoughts relative to fleshing out the reparations committee. Excellent. Thank you very much, Dr. Shabazz. That was really, really helpful. Yes, Miss Bridges. I didn't do that. It's doing it on its own. Okay. No clue. I took it to IT. They said it was fixed, but it's not. All right. No worries. Okay. Okay. So I guess I would, I'll add and I'm just going to go ahead and share screen again here. What I'll add to what Dr. Shabazz was suggesting is in addition to the ways in which the CPA, I loved all of that language and Jennifer, just a note here. We are not able today to do an audio transcription. So in order to get the transcription for the report, I will need to get the zoom link from you as soon as possible after our meeting today. So I just wanted to make sure I know that. So additionally, I included some language here about working with other committees. So working with other town committees and departments to pursue reparative projects and initiatives and also working with the CSSJC and the HRC to advance shared goals. I also had here similar to Dr. Shabazz basically covered the acceptance of proposals from the community, the consultation with the black community, which is one of our recommendations. And so that just sort of reflects the recommendation. And then overseeing the dedicated reparations fund and also identifying additional sources of funding for reparative justice work. So I think that if we take what Dr. Shabazz just suggested and sort of tighten that language up and couple it with some of my language here, we'll have a pretty solid charge. In terms of the purpose, I've simply just said that the mission is to carry forward the work of the AHRA in accordance with the recommendations in their final report. And I think I do want to ensure before we finalize this the composition. So I've heard nine members and I haven't heard anybody say differently if there is an argument to be made that it should be seven. Let's let's have that. Let's have that discussion nine the sort of concern with nine is the process in terms of filling those positions every couple of years and scheduling can also be more challenging when you're talking nine people. However, I would say that not everybody needs to come to every meeting either. So, you know, it might not be a bad thing to have nine and even if there are vacancies from time to time. Yes, Dr. Shbas. I was going to I was going to say that I could see the lower number provided that if we weren't doing any of those related bodies, you know, particularly Human Rights Commission and Community Safety and Social Justice Committee and perhaps CPA. If we're not dedicating that, you know, that we would request that those bodies would name delegate a member to the to the reparations committee that I could definitely see going to the smaller number as you you've raised here. Okay, excellent. Thank you, Dr. Shbas. Dr. Rhodes. Yeah, the smaller the number, the better because it's really difficult getting people to set on committees. And and this having a smaller number such as five or seven would be ideal and because otherwise you have people out there beating the bushes of trying to fill these slots. And I don't think we should put the future this future group in that position. So I would argue for a smaller number such as five. Hey, thank you, Dr. Rhodes. Hala. Um, this is partially relevant, maybe partially not. I hear the points about the smaller number and I also would love for us as a town, I'm going to take responsibility for this. There's a lot of people I didn't know about serving on committees or that there was even a possibility. So I don't know, I would love for our town to like get out there to, you know, apartments where I live and just let, Hey, there's different ways we can be engaged. And so I'm going to take on some of that work because there's so many people I think would be willing to serve. We just have no idea there's that opportunity. So it's sort of relevant sort of not, but I get I hear the thing around seven or smaller. So just my two cents. Absolutely. Okay. So it sounds like some compromise between nine and five would be seven. I think seven is a good number to put in there. And then of course, it may not always be at seven, but we can have the goal of having seven. And if we have some liaisons like from the CSSJC or and or the HRC, I don't know sort of what the future of town council liaisons is going to look like. I know there's been discussions happening around that. So that might need to play itself out. But I would like us to look here at some of the composition notes that I've put in here so far. This first one comes straight from the CSSJC charge and says that no fewer than five of the seven voting members shall represent black, indigenous people of color or other historically marginalized communities. In terms of this particular African American reparations committee, do we want it to be five of seven represent black period? Do we want some other number? So I see Dr. Rhodes has his hand raised. You know, the thing is, you can say five to seven, you know, a minimum of five and maximum of seven members. We don't have to say, well, five or seven. It'd be five to seven members up here. You mean, right? Dr. Rhodes, like, okay, we'll talk about the number. It could be five to seven. Why why say five or seven? When I say five to seven and that gives the future people in the future some flexibility. I support that. Yeah, I'm good with that. That's great. Do you have any thoughts Dr. Rhodes on this composition piece? So I also included one youth representative. I've seen committees doing that more recently, including the CSSJC and the HRC. I think that's an excellent, an excellent inclusion. So I'd love to know what folks think about that. So Dr. Rhodes, I see your hand and then Dr. It's, you know, if you, if you, if we start saying where these members are going to come from, if we're only talking five to seven, we, you only have so many that you can say, hey, it has to come from group A, B or C and D before you're up to your five and that isn't good. But anyway, I would think that the representation that we really should say, hey, there has to be X number who are BIPOC and then the rest can be filled out. But we should make that particular kind of statement. And I think if we want to do the five to seven, so there's flexibility, then we'll want to include this as a percentage as opposed to a number. So, you know, is there some percentage? So I'm going to go to Jennifer. I'm going to, unless you have a minute's question, I'm going to go to Dr. Shabazz and then I'm going to come to you. Dr. Shabazz. Okay. So, so first of all, I guess I'm hearing folks are leaning more toward the not designating within the composition any seats from other related committees, but rather that we would seek to have as non-voting liaisons, the CSSJC, the Human Rights Commission, perhaps even CPA if I'm and really even thinking about at least encouraging liaison work. It might also be important to have to encourage liaison with public health, the public health area as well. But in short, I'm hearing more so than those being a category we're representing that one out of the seven be someone from CSSJC or someone and knowing that that also means that you're putting additional work on that representative that's a part of that committee. What I'm hearing is is more leave it more flexible as a liaison, which means people may come when we when that committee would really push for someone to come. But generally, they probably won't come. You know, we started out with a couple of town council liaisons, but as our weekly almost weekly meetings have progressed, we we know that that has fallen off. So that is just the nature of when it's a liaison kind of relationship versus they are a structured voting member of of the committee. So I'm I'm getting my head around that first of all, and then secondly, I would say similar to the way we said five to seven black, I would like to say one one or more or one to three youth and when I think of youth and how I one we've identified that that is one of the priority areas we're recommending is the situation of African-American young people in our town, particularly in the 16 to 25 age range, particularly our high schoolers and our college students in the audience is a current facilitator of the Black Assembly of Amherst, Massachusetts Milan Clark and Milan has written a very, very powerful piece that I hope could even be a part of the records of some of the things that we are looked have been informed by but in it he particularly notes how in many ways while we are a college town students, particularly black students are in many ways a very exploited marginalized part of this college town and that you know the it's important that repair to just take in mind these these students who come here looking to further their education, but again come to a place that still has a lot of barriers and has a lot of problems along with a lot of good things, but a lot of problems as well. And so if we're about trying to alleviate and lessen those problem areas then I would think that trying to really offer a seat at the table to a student from Hampshire College, Amherst College, UMass as well as from just the general community or high school community would really be a strong signal and again as you say in future this could even change down the line, but but it could be a real strong signal of how this or how we see repair to justice needing a strong focus on the on our young people are young African Americans. Thank you Dr. Shabazz and we can actually put a note in the composition that this is a guide for the town manager so not to sort of hold up the committee if we're unable to identify these folks but to give the town manager a guide to what what our vision would be based on what you just described. Okay, so Jennifer and then Dr. Rhodes. So a couple of things. One is that you know the Human Rights Commission have members who attend different meetings purposefully just to be able to come back to report to the group as opposed to having us like a actual committee member that sits on both. So for instance, we have someone from the HRC that goes to or listens to recording of the Amherst Affordable Housing Trust. So that way we get that information. So that's one way to look at it and the other one is I'm going to have to hop off because I have three clock interviews so I just going to double check Michelle to make sure you're the host and then I hope that you guys enjoy the rest of your meeting and I and I do have a question about when we dismantle sounds so scary to say. So what I mean does that just happen automatically after you report to the council or or what like because I don't know if you guys want to follow up meeting or not. Yeah, I'm going to get clarification from Lynn and or the clerk on that. I I know that we'll want to meet one more time to before we present but you're raising a really good question about does our charge sort of end after I would like for us to get together in some sort of social capacity after we present which doesn't have to be a public meeting necessarily because if we're no longer a public body then we are not in violation of open meeting law to meet and socialize so I'll get some clarification on that and I'll I'll let you know. Perfect. Thank you and then I'll get the meeting sent over to you as soon as I have it. Okay, thanks so much. Thank you. They and hey Jennifer, thank you for everything everything that you do every day in this committee and in every other committee that you are part of and in just every way. So I just I want we'll have I hope a chance to acknowledge each other better at another time but I just want you to hear that. Thank you. It's been a pleasure going down this journey with you guys. This is like very important stuff. Thank you and have a good rest of your meeting and for some reason if everybody gets kicked off just hop back in. Okay, thank you. All right, Dr. Rhodes. So in terms of the composition with the successor group. I want us to keep in mind that it's going to success successor group is going to be operating in the same kind of environment. They were operating in in terms of a political social social political environment and therefore the some of the people on that committee must have some kind of social or political standing within this community. Ella was I don't want it to just to be a group that really would be almost a strong win. And it has to have some substance if it's going to carry on the work of this of this committee. So you might recall Dr. Rhodes that in the HRA's composition we included that I think it was two people would have had experience serving either in an appointed or elected capacity. Is that what I'm hearing you say? Yes, in other words, if this successor group has to have some substance it has to have some substance that is recognizable by the community and by the community. I mean, the political community Council and others. If we just put on people without substance then we're did and I understand how the group our mission can go on. Okay. Well, I think you know just my gut reactions that is that I believe that any community member that would go through the process of applying and sort of going through the interview with you know the group that the town manager has providing those interviews I think would add substance to the composition. However, I do understand that it is also important in terms of the political landscape, particularly if we want to ensure that these recommendations are being implemented by the Council with approval of the Council. I also understand your point. So I think it's more related to you know I guess I believe there should be a student on there or some youth but I would not certainly want the majority of them or even semi majority of them of the members being students. It just wouldn't just wouldn't work. So maybe we want to cut this back to one youth representative and one student from a higher ed institution. These are again just guidelines for the town manager and ASA I see your hand is raised. I would just wanted to point out that there are a lot of black and BIPOC communities on campuses that do have students who have pretty significant social capital in terms of like the communities on campus. So wouldn't necessarily take away from their sort of community substance to say a leader of a leader of a group on campus to be part of the committee. So having them perhaps also be in a liaison role rather than as a full member might also be appropriate. Excellent that is yeah that's very very important and I think it's it's important to remember that you know so thank you for bringing that forward and so I think some there it sounds to me like between liaisons and voting members we're only going to have one youth only going to have one student from higher ed instead of saying one or more and then I really like ASA's thought process around I potentially identifying or that perhaps those folks that are already in leadership positions and that already have that substantive experience would come forward and just tying in what hollow was talking about earlier. I think there are efforts and there need to be more efforts to reach more people in the community and that's one of those that's one of those places. The one outstanding item here then is the number I have up here the number of non voting members. So this is different than a liaison or obviously a voting member. This might be so last week I shared with you that I had received some input around having somebody on the committee or advising the committee that has nonprofit and or fund management experience and we had a little bit of a discussion about that so somebody that has experience implementing programs has experience allocating funds from the kind of fund that we have here. Is that something that with thought after last week's meeting folks have any opinion on. Okay, not too much more than than before that you know I think some of the expertise relative to the municipal fund process we would always I think the this this group would always be able to access through the through you know through the town's finance director but that's about where I sit with it. Okay. All right, well let's leave it at that and I'm going to stop the share. So what I'll do is we'll get this cleaned up and I'll make sure everybody has a chance to review it just to you know again, please do not respond all and please only respond to me, Jennifer and Pamela or only to me. Are there any other questions or comments on the charge before we move on? I still don't have a name so I am concerned about that. Dr. Shabazz you said I wrote down a couple of possibilities African American Reparations Act committee. I'm not sure if we can refer to it as an act committee because the act in the CPA refers to a state law or a state you know the act the CPA act. Maybe one day we'll be able to refer to it as that. I agree. But it could simply be the African American Reparations Committee. It could sticking with African heritage. I don't know if we've if we've changed that since we got started. It could also be you know this is a big question to ask at the stage but if this body feels like there is an expansions in the community where reparations are concerned you know is it better to keep the title more broad to be able to have some of those discussions or could those discussions still be had in the context of keeping it African American. So if anyone has thoughts on that please do share them only with me please and if this doesn't get you know finalized now that's that's okay. So I'm going to stop the share and I am going to just give me a moment to pull up. The report just did everybody have a chance while I'm doing this to review the final draft press release. It was sent to your email and if if anyone would like to discuss that press release please let me know otherwise I'm not going to take time here to to discuss it. So let's see here. All right get in there. Okay. So this is our recommendation on operationalizing the two million dollar reparations endowment fund. You will recall that we had meetings with the town manager with the council president and with the chair of the finance committee as well as with Sean who was our former finance director and there are three options that we've included here all to be presented with the idea that the council will refer this to the finance committee for discussion and for decision-making. But we have some pieces that we need to fill in here. So most importantly we need to let's just review quickly so option one the town fully funds the reparation stabilization fund at two million immediately this is by borrowing through reserves and then paying itself back. The next is the two million commitment has reached over four years so that number can be changed in option two if we four was the number we chose based on sort of the conversations we had and what the reasonableness it felt to be reasonable if we chose this option. And then three which was the option that the town manager asked us to consider including which is that the town devotes a certain amount annually from the cannabis tax revenue to fund initiatives immediately and then whatever would be remaining from that would go into the fund so it would build much more slowly but it would give us immediate access to some number to begin pursuing initiatives. So these are the three options that would be studied by the finance committee and what we have to determine is here in option three what would be that number what is the number that we feel would allow us on an annual basis to make meaningful initiatives or to bring forward meaningful initiatives, imperative initiatives and so the floor is open for that. Dr. I see you're unmuted but I don't hear you. Okay. Perhaps Dr. Rhodes stepped away Dr. Shabazz where you would. So I just was trying to situate the highlight remarks versus some of the questions the questions you're really you're really posing to us here. So is it to try to is it addressing the highlights or is it addressing more whether we're we're wanting to keep all three options in or or go in a different direction? Could you just sort of? Sure. Yeah. I was assuming that we were all in agreement about including the three options and having those referred to the finance committee it seemed in our meetings that that would be the preferred option for the folks that we met with that there would be as opposed to just having one option that we're asking for to give these three I think fairly create very creative actually possibilities. So if there's a discussion about whether to include the three options we need to have that because I was assuming that we were including those three options and if not then the idea is to understand particularly in option three what that number would look like for us to have meaningful to move forward with meaningful initiatives immediately. So is that like if we're thinking about cannabis tax revenue we were in the $200,000 range and now maybe we're seeing in the $150,000 range that could go up or down but if we say out of that that we would like immediately to have 70,000 of that be used on an annual basis. I just came up with that number toward initiatives then the balance of whatever whatever that number is whatever the balances would go in to the fund to be build up the endowment. So I just need to know from this group what that number should be here and I think this. Yeah, it's it's the same number both of those. For me if if we were creating a precedent for what we hope will be the ongoing level of the fund. I would say a hundred thousand annually is sort of our what we ought to aspire as kind of a baseline for this that's as far as I'll say. Okay. Thank you. Dr. Shabazz. Dr. Rhodes. What are your thoughts on that? Well, when I look at this or if we have a certain amount of money coming from a particular certain source like the cannabis fund. For example, and we just say for example, it's going to be a hundred fifty thousand dollars a year coming from that and we would and and and now that hundred fifty thousand dollars would be coming to our to our fund, which then builds up over time. If we are saying set aside the whole compounding effect in terms of building up the fund to the 10 million as soon as possible or two million as soon as possible, then I would say, hey, if the example is a hundred fifty thousand dollars and kind of this fund coming towards the committee, then I would say make a percentage of that. Fifty percent of that would go immediately for programs for that current fiscal year and the other fifty percent goes into the build up of the fund. That's my take on it. Okay. So if we're using one fifty as an example, then we have a slightly different number between Dr. Shabazz and Dr. Rhodes right now. So seventy five thousand versus a hundred thousand. So this might be if the idea here would be for us to have consensus on this, however, we could also we haven't voted on anything. By the way, by the way, you know, Dr. Shabazz is suggesting that if it's a hundred fifty take a hundred thousand and for immediate uses for fiscal for that particular fiscal year and the remainder then go to building up of the fund. Well, I mean, we're only talking about money here. So hundred thousand dollars versus, you know, seventy five thousand dollars is not something to to take a lot of our time in terms of discussion. So I would defer for the hundred thousand. The hundred thousand in taking the remainder and putting into the fund. The other thing we might want to consider is instead of saying a hard number, have a percentage. Yeah, I do like that that idea of having a percentage and maybe it's not, you know, the fifty fifty. However, just thinking of a circumstance. If the cannabis tax revenue or somehow to fall below a number that we felt was meaningful, you know, then what then, you know, so if it's sixty thousand in a year and this is the option that the finance committee has determined is the best way forward. Then, you know, I that puts us at risk there. So I'm not sure if we want to include some language that says if it were to fall below some number that it would need to be reconsidered in the in the context of that. And did anyone have thoughts on that? Say that again. I'm a shell box on. So my concern is and perhaps the finance committee would work this out. But if option three was the preferred option and then the cannabis tax revenue falls below a number that we deem to be, you know, meaningful. So if it comes in at sixty thousand, you know, one year for some reason, does that mean that we get forty thousand less than what we had thought, you know, or does that trigger a new discussion? You know, because these other options. This is what herbs point is. I mean, why have wanted option one to be the preferred option because he doesn't want us to run into that. None of us want to run into that search circumstance. But if we're including it as an option, we have to consider the risk that that could happen. And if it does, I would like to include some language that would sort of protect us in a way as much as we could be protected in that circumstance. I, you know, I guess when I think about it, I'd wrap it. It's we're putting it into into into the hands of others in terms of making this particular decision. And the more options you give the other group, the more likely they're going to go to the least restrict restrictive one. So I personally, you know, I just like option one because it gets certain to immediately. And I understand that, you know, the other the council and the finance committee may have a problem with it. But if I look at it as a negotiation point, I would put out there that that's our preferred option. The preferred option is that. Yeah. And then go from there. Down there. We really strongly prefer this option. And that's the best that we really could do. I think that's excellent. I think we should absolutely make that known. And I think we will when the time comes, I hope show up both in my role as a counselor and in our roles as former HRA members to those meetings where this is being discussed. And it it it's challenging to know that it feels like we're always fighting to get what we need to get, you know, but that's just part of this, you know, the reality here when there's a lot of demand on the budget. And so I think if we make it clear that option one is their preferred option and I I I think for option three, I'm I'm hearing that Dr. Rhodes is on board with a hundred thousand. The only consideration there is if we think 150 is going to be pretty steady for a while or somewhere in that range, you know, then we're looking at 50 annually to build the fund, which you know, but but I think it's more important in some ways to be able to get initiatives going and to ensure that the memory of is not lost, you know, and that the momentum is gained. So is there anyone that has are we good with a hundred and if if not, please please raise your hand. Okay. So the only other question then here is an option to is four years the option. This was Sean's preferred option by the way. He thought accelerating the fund and having it get up to that two million and I think four years was actually his suggestion, which is why I used it in this option. It does that seem reasonable to folks and again, it's not what we want. It's just in terms of this option. Yes. The only thing that's missing there and maybe it's is whether in that option since it involves moving funds from reserves in this gradual in this gradual movement. There's still then cannabis tax revenue that's not being touched. Could that go in the way we've just described in option three? Could that still be? Initiatives could be put in against that up to perhaps a hundred thousand. You're saying some combination of option two and three could be thought of by the finance committee. I guess what I'm saying really is that the beauty of option one, I'll call the Irv Rose option is that it takes place immediately and just as soon as the endowment would start generating funds might take a year to get there, but then we'd have those funds on an ongoing basis. With this one, it's not telling us what we have except for four years down the road. So it's back to really the unfortunate situation we highlighted in the previous paragraph of it's just we're certain in four years or five, again, giving time for the endowment to start generating funds, we're at five rather than right now the conceivable ten years off. So it still means we'd be pretty far off if unless we're adding some language to option two that talks about that, you know, initiatives before the four years is completed could be submitted and to the town with possibly coming from cannabis tax revenue. I'm not sure, but I'm just highlighting the silence in that option to the issue of trying to get started at least within one to two years with funding initiatives. Yeah, and Sean's sort of recommendation to deal with that was to ask for example that the town manager, you know, set aside block grant money or that we work with CPAs sort of sort of have to find other ways to get this amount for the next four years. I that to me pushes this option down into the least, you know, the least supported for me without that additional language. One possibility is that we cut the four years down to two years. So we still have option to but it's now two years to me the likelihood of them approved that being approved or supported is no different than just putting it all now in a sense, you know, so not sure what that gains us. What I'd say Michelle is this it can be left in in the language that it is since it is the language that you know, it is based upon what you and Dr. Rhodes got from from meeting with the with the former finance director. My my point is that the if at some point in presenting or I just think we need to think about what is what are the implications of that because it sounds like it just if that was the one then selected there would be no funds available other than and again it's even to highlight that if it's to say from existing funding such as Community Preservation Act or Community Development Block Grant if you if even that's put in at least there's something to say that we're not waiting four to five years that there are other funding streams but that this funding stream would not be activated until until for four to five years down the road. Yeah. Do you think including in this option that we would still so it would be the the fund would be fully realized in reached over the next four years but that for the four years we would like if this option were chosen a guaranteed you know 50,000 or whatever the number is toward initiatives and we don't care where it comes from. We just want some sort of assurance of that and maybe we're getting into the weeds a little bit here and this is the late hour to do that. So yeah, let me does anyone is anyone opposed to this option actually being moved? Do you like the placement of this option or should this option be down as option three to sort of from a visual standpoint make it clear that having money now is our priority. Is that okay? Okay. All right. So let me just come back to the question about the press release in terms of timing. I would like to just remind everybody that our report will be presented along with you know a slide show that I'm working on. So we'll still go ahead and meet next week on the 25th at our normal time. So that we're prepared for our October 2nd meeting. And it's possible you may get an email from me saying the slide show is not ready yet and you know what let's meet actually on the 2nd to approve the slide show or to discuss our presentation but we can deal with that then most importantly I want to get this out into the world. So if we approve this document today then it will be going into its sort of visual process which has already begun we approved the theme last week and and that will continue to take place. And so personally I wouldn't want to publish this any later than a Thursday of a week like I wouldn't want to publish it necessarily on a Friday Saturday or Sunday. We could publish it a week from today which I think I could confidently say all of the items the outstanding items in terms of visualizing it and putting it all together and everything would would be done. What do folks think about that any thoughts on good days of week to publish reports Monday will it get lost in people's Monday mess is it better to do it on Tuesday the 26 which gives people who might want to come to public comment on the 2nd gives council you know just a little less than a week before or should we push and try to get it out on Thursday this Thursday the 21st what are what are thoughts on that. Next Tuesday is fine. Okay. And I think that's good doctor Rhodes because Paul is you know short his communications person and we did do our own press release but there will still need to be some steps that are taken to get it out actually so is everyone good with publishing the report next Tuesday the 26. Okay. One final piece the question of whether an executive summary should appear in our report is something that we have discussed here and there and ultimately Mattia and I sort of thought you know we want people to read the report. We don't want you know a section that will sort of you know prevent people from going into the meat of the report. And we wrote the press release which sort of gives some teasers about what's in the report but doesn't necessarily or at all do justice to what's in the report. So we decided to do a 2 page executive summary to show to the group as a possibility which all it really does is summarize. The recommendations succinctly. If the committee wants to include this we could include it right up front you know after the table of contents we can include it in the back as a part of the appendix so we could say you know we could prompt people to to say if you you know if you're looking for a summary of recommendations and you go right to the appendix that's my preference personally but I'm curious what other or we could not include it at all. So are there any thoughts about that Dr. Rhodes. Yeah I would I would put the summary of recommendations and the appendix. A and B in terms of of an executive summary I wouldn't have an executive summary but I would have some kind of introductory notes or introductory non-inter direct introductory notes but some kind of introductions to the report. Yeah I think an introductory introduction to the report is a lot better than doing an executive summary. Okay. I agree and we have a really strong introduction by the way this will also include the dedication before the introduction it will include the the dedication to Dr. Dimitri Shpas it will include acknowledgements and of course on the first page it will include all of our names as committee members so all of those kinds of things will be upfront and then we can in the introduction somehow reference that if you're looking for a summary of recommendations it's in the appendix. Does anyone does anyone have an issue with that? Yeah I don't think I have issues with is that you don't tell people if you're looking for a summary of recommendations go to the next. That's just that's all part of the table of contents. Good point. If you'd like to stop reading now. Okay. Oh I love you Dr. Rhodes. All right so that works so okay the final question I really have then is do we need a motion to approve this report? Are there is there consensus or and I wanted to does everyone have a little bit more time we're so close here okay. So the two pieces that I told you were still sort of outstanding in my mind were the recommendation to the superintendent. There was so are folks familiar with John Boniface? I know who I know of him I don't know him. He's a community member he's a lawyer his child is one of the leaders of Sunrise Amherst and just an excellent human being and reviewed our report and his recommendation and the only recommendation was that we extend the superintendent piece to include the middle school and the elementary school so that right now I believe that we only have it listed as a as the high for the high school our folks how to do folks have any strong reactions to that? Wait what are you referring to I'm not sure. Let me yeah let me just pull it up here to make it and if you have the if you have it in front of you too. I think I have it in front of me. Okay no worries so we're looking at the share my screen here again okay so it's the superintendent of Amherst Pellum Regional Public School. We recommend that the Amherst Pellum Regional High School reexamine and update its history curriculum with the goal of engaging in deeper truth telling and what John was suggesting that we simply expand that to include the middle school and elementary schools and so before we would include that in this recommendation I wanted to see what what the committee thought. Well and when I look at that I say yeah yeah well what is appropriate for the elementary school and what is appropriate for the high school middle school may be not be appropriate for the elementary school so unless we have some specificity here I don't I can't see expanding it to that unless it's going to be some generalized global kind of philosophical stance that we want to get across. Right Dr. Rhodes and that's that's why I wanted to bring it to the committee I mean we could simply say as appropriate or developmentally appropriate or something that would make it clear that we're you know that what we might teach in the high school or how we teach it may be different. Any other thoughts on that I mean I'm if if we want to keep this as is that's fine too I just I wanted to bring that feedback. I think it's just it's a recommendation and so obviously it would be taken up and tweaked by the leadership of the of the school district both the superintendent as well as curriculum people as well as the actual leader in each building. So I think it can be generalized beyond the high school and just you know trusting that it filters down from the superintendent to the building leadership to the leadership in each building and the specific departments even in in those in those different buildings regardless of their categorization secondary or or elementary. I just would say one other thing in the line we recommend the high school draw on the considerable resources. I'd like to put in a plug for the considerable resources of the black studies departments and and related departments of our area colleges and university are our entire five college but if we're wanting to strictly limit to town of Amherst then Amherst College Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst we have from our libraries to our black studies departments to other expertise and other departments we have considerable resources that can help the all all down the line for to to really look at how to revamp I could even name our center for for race and equity that is in our College of Education with Keisha Green and Jamila Liaskat. There's just tremendous resources here above and beyond you know the the online and the book of the 1619 project. Dr. Shabazz that is really really excellent feedback and we will make sure unless there's any opposition to that we will absolutely make sure to include that those those organizations and other resources. So I see Hala and then it will be Hala and then Dr. Rhodes yep. I'm in bed in at hmm I advocate to add middle school and elementary school in terms of maybe even interrogating what we're already teaching. I was in a third grade class and the woman was teacher was presenting on Rosa Parks and she was an old tired lady and that narrative is actually not true and it feeds into that hero saints and holidays of who's a safe black person. No she was an activist this was an intentional thing a woman in her 40 so like it's not necessarily going to kindergarten and talking about the horrors of slavery and enslavement but it's interrogating what we already are teaching and seeing how white supremacy and safety has like influenced that and starting to just you know really do a deeper truth. Thank you. Absolutely excellent. Okay Dr. Rhodes. I guess I look at this and as a school committee member I think. All right I can I can see the superintendent in relationship to revising history curriculum. That's that is something that is there. And impossible and then the whole thing about bringing greater transparency to the hiring process. No and part of this is is is that the superintendent is under the school committee and race relationship to oversight and also under the school committee relationship to policy the school committee. Does this job and relationship to the superintendent which is which it which is it is responsible for hiring and or firing. But in terms of everything else we do what we do via our policy so we had a policy that said that history in the schools shall include these things. All right then that's something that has to be followed. So when I look at this I think all right to the super are we saying to the superintendent of schools regional public schools revise the history curriculum for greater truth telling. Yes that's that's partially true in terms of the superintendent having some control over that. But not totally true. But so I guess the bottom line for me I'm sort of like conflicted by and and I'm more conflicted by by saying bring more transparency to the hiring process that is something that the that is really the guy the bottom line guy to the hiring process is part and parcel of the policy of the school committee even though the superintendent and the principals have control of the hiring process but everything goes back to policy. So and then the final thing is putting those two together seems to be out of place and I see one is being not related to the other. And I would say and then I mean I guess I don't know the context for saying bring trans gritter. When we think about this document this is a document that we're putting together as a report that is not only going to be available for this year but in future years. And so when you say bring greater transparency to the hiring process what exactly do we mean? It says additionally we recommend that the school district school district revise its its hiring process to prioritize transparency, equity and stakeholder input which would which which by implication means that that's not already there and if you look at our hiring process if you look at the policies behind the hiring process especially through the the DEI lens that is there this is superfluous. Okay so I hear all of that and I think the reason this recommendation was included is because there has been sort of a voice particularly more recently coming forward voices coming forward that there may be some internal hiring practices there have been folks talking about nepotism and you know other such related concerns. So in the context let me make sure I understand what you're saying Dr. Rhodes are you saying that the hiring process that the superintendent uses is guided by a policy that the school committee creates? Yeah partially so and also if you're saying this if you if you're saying additionally we recommend school district you know revised hiring process it says that you know what the hiring process is and I'm sitting here saying wait a minute our hiring process in the schools as of now and has been for the last five years is a process that always was done through the lens of DEI. Okay okay so would it be more accurate to ask that the school district review its hiring process or recommit or I don't know I mean we're working on a reparations report here. Exactly you've got three former school committee members here in the room one is currently on the school committee so we're yeah we could go in the weeds of this for a while I could recommend I recommend just deleting I or you know be because there it does assume a lot of and I recommend that because I don't see where it's specific to our work if it was specifically relative to the question of racial imbalance and how do we get more black people hired in the in the school and in certain areas particularly in the academic areas then that that is a legitimate that that's a legitimate thing related to reparative justice in my view but that's not what's what's written here and it still would entail us to to kind of go into this a little more than what I think we have time for in terms of as Dr. Rosa say and be conscious of what what is the current policies what has been the efforts toward toward trying to to address these policies and I think that would just take us a little a little too far field there I get the sentiment of it but but I think that that that's an area that the future group can certainly revisit in terms of reparative justice initiatives around the problem of racial imbalance as as as the language goes in our in our school district. I think getting rid of that particular party is a really good idea. All right. It's gone as long as Hala and Ms. Bridges are in an agreement with that. I just yes Ms. Bridges. Yeah. Okay. All right. So I do just want to say that this piece and I'm okay we're going to remove it so we don't forget. I had a very lengthy conversation just about a week and a half ago with a black staff at the schools staff member of the schools who said that they I don't want to be identifying but that they had been in the school district for a long time working in the school district for a long time and that they had seen over the years black staff and teachers overlooked for positions overlooked for advancement opportunities and from that person's point of view they were overlooked because there were other sort of internal favoritism almost as a word maybe that I'll use that was happening so where this person described black staff person who had all of the credentials had was more than qualified for the position you know the promotion would not get the promotion in favor of somebody who was less qualified but who had a better connection with some of the powers that be in the district so I just I just felt like I need to say that and if we don't want to include anything in the report even just to say that we think the successor body should take this under consideration with the in partnership with the school board and others but if we want to go silent on it we can do that too I just I I sort of feeling strongly that at least that this person took an hour of their time to talk to me about this and I could feel that it was it was it was it was it was harmful to this person and their experience living in this community and working at the schools. Dr. Rhodes so was she specifically specifically talking about this in terms of race that the person was looked over overlooked because of race. They said that where there was a black person who was qualified or more than qualified that person would be overlooked for somebody else that was not you know that it wasn't it wasn't clear whether the other person could have been black also it was clear that in the cases they were describing the person was not but I don't want to get too personal. You know the person overlooked was overlooked for someone who was white rather than black is that what you're saying white or another person of color not right I mean unless it's really specific specifically saying I was this person who was black who was really really well qualified was overlooked for a person who who was white who was not as qualified that's specific. However if it's not specific. As to race. Then you're talking about 99% of every workplace in this country. I think that for me Michelle it's not to go silent on the the matter of the the reality of continued racial discrimination in hiring whether due to implicit bias or whether due to explicit bias there is ample. This is an ongoing concern I can speak at it to it from the institution that I'm a part of University of Massachusetts we are still you know we still recognize and every search committee every time we create a search committee. We are engaged in trying to to engage in best practices of how to get that department to to have a robust search one that really encourages people from underrepresented groups to apply and that when those applications come in from members of underrepresented groups that they are handled appropriately and that they are not subject to questions and interactions in the hiring process in the search process that that reflect bias implicit or explicit this is an ongoing reality in employment matters writ large in our community and in the country however I don't think the way the language was expressed for that line that transparency is what solves that it's not a problem of transparency it's a problem of implementing all of the necessary best practices of how to eliminate bias and implicit or explicit from our hiring process. One thing needs to be understood within the schools that there have been concerns explicit concerns and charges raised that there was reverse racism going on and that people were being hired just because they were by park over those people who were more qualified who happen just happen to be just be white and that those charges are are part and parcel of what is going on and will continue to go on. Every time you get into a situation at least in my mind when you're subject to the charge of reverse races then you then you're then you're in a situation where well you know you you're you're a racist when you say you're a racist why you're racist because you're you're you're making everything about race and if you're making everything about race then you are saying that the black people are that it's all right to discriminate that you know that it's all right to discriminate that's that's that's a charge that is being made within the confines of of the Amherst school committee school community and and that's an uncomfortable kind of a charge because racism regardless of what it is is racist and the thing is how do you bring about the values that are inherent in diversity equity and inclusion so that you do get a diverse teaching staff and the diverse professional staff as such or how do you do that in such a way where you're not then doing that what you said that you were against yeah and and I think you know I really hear that and I think that this it sounds to me is as a much more complex consideration and matter to be discussed and and I think is beyond at this point in time our ability to do so so I think if we're all in agreement with that we do have to call one last period of public comment there are two attendees and I do see that one's hand is raised so I'm going to bring that person in but before I do I want to again ask if we need a vote to approve the report as you've seen it the find the the final draft report or if you are have anything to share about the report that you other than this piece that we just reviewed that you'd like to have included or removed or if everything looks good to go I'm going to send it into final production phase so why to proceed by general consensus that we have approved our draft but I'm also happy to put it in the form of emotion according to whatever my colleagues are okay well it's it since we're not seeing a call for emotion from any one individual I think we can assume that we are approving it by consensus and we'll move it into the next stage of final final final stages and in the meantime I'm going to let's see bring over Kiara and so this is our second period of public comment and if you'd like to make a public comment please raise your hand and Kiara has done so and is being moved and welcome Kiara. Thank you can you hear me. Yes, great great I just have a quick comment about the discussion around the successor body. So to my understanding the successor body is going to kind of help to direct or oversee how the recommendations get implemented moving forward after this body is dissolved and so my question around the composition is why why would it be by pop people of color marginalized groups if this is a reparations assembly directed toward black reparations because because you know marginalized groups can really mean anyone and there's no guarantee when you say that that anyone on there necessarily would even be black let alone a descendant of US slavery. So I'm just curious about that and also you know because that's going to obviously influence the direction of like the priorities of that of that body and how considerations around disbursement of funds happen. So I think that's important to really look at that and as well I think you should also create some kind of specific recommendation around somebody being a descendant of US slavery on there because if you don't specify that then there's no guarantee that you're going to have that representation you may coincidentally but it's not there's no guarantee that you will. So I recommend that you also whatever the number ends up being that you have that specification as well on there and that's all I had to say. Thank you. Thank you so much Kiara. Thank you for your thoughtful comments. And I normally we wouldn't do this. Hold on one second. I'm just going to move Kiara back to the attendees. So I think Kiara makes a really strong point. I just I want to say that both of her points the first though is it's possible with the composition that we approved that there would be no people that would identify as black. And so I think we might want to where for the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee that would make you know that's fine that they've used that language is where I got that from. But let me just quickly. I know we had landed on just black in the course of the conversation we had landed on black is just what we were going with as opposed to BIPOC but maybe that was just in my ears at any rate but what I would recommend to be more more more clear on it is yes that that no fewer than five of the seven shall represent members of the eligible group that black reparations that reparations are addressed to and what parentheses or whatever I think that means is that goes towards our concentric circles that we would first and foremost prioritize black residents of Amherst who have ancestry going back multiple generations here and that as well as ancestry that that goes back into shadow enslavement in the United States secondarily that it would also look at black residents of Amherst who have ancestry that goes back to slavery who are not necessarily from Amherst or from from Massachusetts but elsewhere in the United States and then ultimately from their persons of African descent who have been been harmed in general by slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. So for me I think it corresponds with our concentric circles model our inclusive model of reparations that we would that the guidance we should give should also be that up to you know at least five of the seven members come from the community as defined by the the eligibility or criteria discussion is established in this report. Perfect. Perfect. Excellent. Is then is everybody agree with that approach? All right. Great. So I just want to make sure that I can that Miss Bridges and Dr. Rhodes both I can hear them both and they can hear me and and and everybody's in agreement there. Yes. Okay. Thank you Miss Bridges. Dr. Rhodes. Yeah, fine with that. Okay. Awesome. And how I saw you shaking your head. So okay. Great. This is one final thing on that Michelle that I just say is and I know you were thinking about those other committees but the legacy of this committee we had more than enough applications come in from from black folks. I know because I know some that that were turned down inclusive of the person we started our meeting out with Dee had applied herself to be on this committee and in the screening process it was decided that two shavazas would be too much. That was wrong. Well, I think she was still here with me through it all anyway. I mean, she was in the background of many a meeting. She was whispering in my ear for many a meeting. So in many ways she was still there but I just say that to say really that I don't think will and in the way are in the work that we've done and we're doing. I think we will get a robust number of applications from people that correspond with our criteria discussion in terms of the community the targeted community for reparations. Perfect. Okay, great. I agree. That's excellent and one final note. I talked with Hala earlier today about the black churches historic black churches here in Amherst and if everybody is okay with this we would like to include in the early part of the report just some mention of their history and perhaps even a photograph just so that they are not left out of our report. We're not making any recommendations that relate to those churches but we want to make sure they are certainly included in the report. Hala did I did I? Okay, great. Is that is everyone okay with that? Great. Yes, yes, I have pretty old pictures of the hope church also in family pictures. So that would be great. If you are able to or willing or would like to contribute those or any one one or more that would be fantastic Miss Bridges and anybody who contributes a photo by the way will credit so that it's clear where the photo whose family it came from. Thank you. All right. Thank you and so this is I think the longest meeting we've had in a long time and East it was really nice to have you here. I hope you enjoyed the meeting. Yes, I found it very interesting. May I please email me a copy of the drafts report? Absolutely. Why don't I email I don't have your email address unless you want to read it over the public meeting. If you don't I could ask Jennifer to send it to you. Yes, it'll work actually actually she can she can forward it to me if that'll be more convenient. That'd be perfect. Okay, I'll send her a note to do that. All right, any other comments or questions we will be again we'll be meeting next week just to make sure we're ready for our our presentation and we will plan to publish the report on Tuesday September 26th. All right, well, thank you everyone. Great meeting and we will yep and we'll see you all soon. Okay, bye bye meeting adjourned at 4 p.m. Bye bye.