Ann Arbor to pay D.C. firm up to $200K to study reparations

The city of Ann Arbor will pay between $95,000 and $200,000 to a consultant based in Washington D.C. for a study of a potential racial reparations program.

Ann Arbor’s City Council voted unanimously June 15 to enter into a contract with Obsidian Research Insights LLC, a consulting agency that was co-founded by Rashawn Ray, a sociology professor from the University of Maryland.

The agency will review city, county, and state-level policies from 1800 to 2020, analyze historical records to identify restrictions on housing and policing, and evaluate impacts on racial harms, according to the 15-page contract that Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request.

Reparations movements have traditionally aimed to provide public compensation to American descendants of slavery. Michigan was never a slave state, and an Ann Arbor council member told MLive in June that the study will focus on Tree Town’s alleged history of allowing restrictive housing covenants and focusing on African-American suspects in law enforcement.

Obsidian Research Insights - Professional Services Agreement Low Risk (PSA) by mcclallen

Project Phase / Component Lead Staff Budget Allocation

• Component 1: Legal Review Dr. Shankman $4,000.00
• Component 2: Landscape Analysis Dr. [Rashawn] Ray & Dr. Shankman $4,000.00
• Component 3: Resident Impact Perspective Dr. Shankman $8,000.00
• Component 4: Historical Economic & Judicial Impact Cedric & Maurice $8,000.00
• Component 5: What If? Forecasting Cedric & Maurice $6,000.00
• Deliverable 1: Context Report Dr. Shankman $8,000.00
• Deliverable 2: Community Impact Report Full Team $12,000.00
• Deliverable 3: Interactive Impact Dashboard Cedric & Maurice $15,000.00
• Administrative Overhead Combined Team $30,000.00
• TOTAL $95,000.00

Four agency team members will charge different hourly rates to complete the project.

• Dr. Rashawn Ray: $75/hr
• Dr. Rebecca Shankman: $50/hr
• Cedric Fillmore: $40/hr
• Maurice Simpson: $35/hr

Shankman and Ray hold Ph.D.s.

The Ann Arbor study comes as the federal government has signaled that at least one reparations program in Illinois is likely unconstitutional.

The Department of Justice moved to intervene June 16 in a lawsuit that challenges a reparations program by the City of Evanston, IL, about 260 miles away from Ann Arbor.

The Evanston program, which redistributes revenue solely to black people, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act, according to the Justice Department’s complaint.

“Under the pretext of paying reparations for events more than 100 years ago, the City of Evanston has chosen to distribute millions of dollars in cash and housing benefits to people because of the color of their skin or the color of the skin of their parents, grandparents, or great grandparents,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “There are sound ways for a city to remedy past discrimination or direct resources to its most vulnerable citizens and neighborhoods. Simply handing out money based on race, however, is not the answer. It is race discrimination, pure and simple. And it is illegal.”

The city of Ann Arbor did not respond to multiple requests for comment.