The Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a stern warning to Buncombe County, North Carolina, over plans to hand out nearly $3 million in reparations exclusively to black residents.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, sent a letter to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, warning that such race-based programs would violate federal civil rights laws, including the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The controversy stems from the Asheville-Buncombe County Community Reparations Commission’s final report, released earlier this week.
The commission, established in 2022 by the City of Asheville and Buncombe County, spent years developing 39 recommendations aimed at addressing alleged “harms” from systemic racism in areas like criminal justice, economic development, education, health and wellness, and housing.
Recommendations include creating a black wealth-building fund, community land trusts for affordable housing prioritized for black residents, expanding culturally responsive healthcare, revising school curricula to emphasize black history, and even establishing a private fund for direct cash payments to individuals claiming harm from racial discrimination.
prosecute them!