The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners is considering a proposal to create a Reparations Research Task Force to document historical racial harms and recommend ways to address injustices against Black and Indigenous residents. The commissioners have approved advancing the proposal to a full vote on Dec. 11.
Stemming from recommendations by the county’s Race Equity Advisory Council (REAC), the proposal is part of broader efforts to confront structural inequities in the region.
“Reparations isn’t a word that should be scary,” said Hennepin County District 4 Commissioner Angela Conley during the Dec. 2 board meeting. “Reparations is something that municipalities and jurisdictions across the country are starting to name explicitly and do the work that it takes to repair harm in our communities.”
Under REAC’s recommendations, the committee would gather data to study the county’s role in criminal justice disparities, education inequity, transportation policies that displaced Black and Indigenous residents, and labor discrimination.
“The conversation about reparations and reparative justice began for me when recreational cannabis was legalized at the state legislature,” said District 3 Commissioner Marion Greene.
REAC’s annual report, released last month, calls for partnerships with academic institutions and historians to detail policies that have perpetuated racial inequality in the county.
“For many, many years, people who look like me, regardless of socioeconomic status or zip code, have not had the same access that others do,” Conley said.
Minnesota began automatically expunging 57,000 marijuana-related cases after the state legalized cannabis under the Adult Use Cannabis Act in 2023. Greene said decriminalizing marijuana is part of repaying Black Minnesotans who were disproportionately affected by the criminal legal system.
“There are examples of jurisdictions around the country using cannabis revenue to support community programming, racial justice efforts, and reparations,” Greene said.
REAC also recommended that the county develop and publish a County Action Report, providing a framework with timelines and measurable goals for strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities.
“You can’t really have a conversation about reparative justice without including our Indigenous relatives,” Conley said. “This is Dakota land that we are on.”
District 7 Commissioner Kevin Anderson warned that federal shifts under the Trump administration, which redirected enforcement and oversight roles of agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, could threaten local reparations work.
“Individually, we live in a current political environment where this type of work is often targeted by the federal government,” Anderson said.
About one in seven people in Hennepin County is Black. Historical practices such as restrictive covenants limited Black homeownership. By the 1960s, one-third of the county’s Black residents were concentrated in Minneapolis’ North Side.
“What existed in Hennepin County that was disastrous and deserves a reparative framework?” Conley asked. “I’m really excited for the future of what is to come, but the scope and research are important.”
Other cities and states provide examples of reparations efforts. In 2021, Evanston, Illinois, launched the Restorative Housing Program to compensate Black residents and their descendants harmed by discriminatory housing, zoning and lending practices. The program has faced legal challenges, including a 2024 lawsuit claiming race-based eligibility violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
California’s Reparations Task Force produced a report outlining ways to address injustices against Black Californians, including expanding access to education and career training, investing in communities, and addressing past property seizures. In 2025, lawmakers introduced bills based on the task force’s recommendations, though widespread direct cash payments were not included.
Locally, St. Paul’s Recovery Act and Community Reparations Commission, formed in January 2023, has not yet resulted in direct payments to Black residents. Advocates note that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision striking down race-conscious admissions programs has created a legal climate that complicates the implementation of reparations.
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