ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – The city of Roanoke is working to right the wrongs of its past.

The Equity Empowerment Advisory Board is developing a plan that would help bring reparations to the victims and descendants of policies that destroyed the majority Black communities of Northeast, Gainsboro and Henry Street.

Wednesday, we explained that in 1955, Roanoke City Council declared the Northeast neighborhood a “slum and blighted area” and kicked off an urban renewal development process.

As a result, 1,600 homes, 200 businesses, and two dozen churches were destroyed, along with nearly 1,000 graves uprooted, to make room for the construction of Interstate 581, the civic center and post office.

Now, the EEAB is developing an Urban Renewal Apology plan, also known as a statement of harm, that will not only recognize the wrongdoings of the past but bring about change.

They’re hoping this plan will provide a sense of healing to those impacted and rebuild trust that was lost due to previous false promises.

Thousands of Black families were forced out of their homes, businesses and places of worship because of past development projects.

But it’s not just property that was demolished; we’re told the biggest loss was the connection to community and the opportunity to create generational wealth for their families.

“Between the houses that were taken away, the graves that were dug up, the businesses that were lost, it has definitely left a lasting impact amongst the community,” said Roanoke native Bryan Starkey.

Starkey said his grandfather was impacted by urban renewal.

The city is working on an apology plan that will address some of the damage that was done to Black communities living in Roanoke’s Northeast during the urban renewal of the 1950s.

“It’s just not a talked-about thing, mostly because not many older people that had experience there really want to talk about their history being wiped away,” said Starkey.

Roanoke City’s Equity Empowerment Advisory Board is leading this plan.

Chair Angela Penn said she’s heard from many who were impacted by Urban Renewal who say talking about it brings back traumatic memories.

“All of those feelings of seeing bulldozers, seeing homes razed. It invokes that emotion,” Penn said. “What we heard was ‘we’ve been telling our story, but we haven’t seen the action, and so we don’t want to keep telling our story if there’s not going to be any action.’”

But it’s about more than emotions, Urban Renewal left a financial impact on Black communities.

“Many of those individuals who owned their homes, they were not able, because of what they received for them, they were not able to go somewhere else and purchase a home, and so they lost that equity. They weren’t able to pass that down to their children and their families. So, we saw a lot of families ended up in public housing, and they were not able to recover from that,” she added.

Penn said the committee’s goal is to create markers, memorials and restorative funding.

The board also hopes to focus on education, so this history is not lost.

“This is a pivotal moment for Roanoke to build that trust with those in the African American community and those that were impacted by urban renewal,” closed Penn.

As a reminder, reparations are typically a payment, however, Penn said because of Virginia’s Dillon Rule, the money cannot directly go to one individual.

Their goal is to use restorative funds, wanting to create a tax on Berglund Center ticket sales, and use the money for projects that would benefit the impacted community as a whole, like making upgrades to Washington and McCadden Park.

Penn said the next step will be sitting down with council in a work session in order to comb through the plan and have them make any recommendations or revisions before it’s finalized and ready for a vote.

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