Tallahassee wins ‘Historic Harms’ amendment on November ballot

Tallahassee, FL – On August 17, the Leon County Commission held a public hearing regarding the proposed Historic Harms amendment to the county charter. From the pressure of about a dozen speakers and the presence of dozens more, the commission voted 5-2 to advance the amendment to the November ballot for all county citizens to vote on. Commissioners Brian Welch and Christian Caban voted against the amendment. 

The Historic Harms amendment, if passed, would require the county to periodically investigate past county policies and determine what kind of harms were caused to certain geographic areas due to those policies.

The state of Florida’s SB 1134, which would end funding opportunities for programs based on diversity, equity, and inclusion or any programs that even seemed that way, was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis this past April. The original language of the Historic Harms amendment drew concerns from the Charter Review Committee and from the county attorney due to potentially coming into conflict with the new law. The amendment was rewritten to fit within these bounds – the new language looks purely at geographic neighborhoods regardless of the demographics of who was affected in those areas. This approach did get at least a tacit approval from the county attorney and did get voted through by the review committee.

Members of the Tallahassee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (TallyAARPR), the Tallahassee Immigrant Rights Alliance (TIRA), Capital Area Justice Ministry, the League of Women Voters, and Tallahassee ALERT, which wrote the amendment, spoke out in favor on Monday.

“I believe there are many communities in Tallahassee that have been left behind, and this amendment is the first step to really looking at the problems with the city and attempting to rectify them,” said Delilah Pierre with the Tallahassee Alliance.

Brandon Beckett with TIRA said, “I think we need to leave it in the people’s hands to address their futures,” adding, “This amendment is addressing community members that have been left behind through the development of Tallahassee.”

Beckett continued, “It’s their community as well. We need to make sure every member of this community feels respected and doesn’t feel as if they’re left behind.”

The amendment will now appear on the ballot in the November elections. State Representative Angie Nixon won an upset victory for the Democratic nomination and will appear on the ballot. As well, there are three Tallahassee city commission seats in the runoff election. The Tallahassee Alliance will spread information about the amendment to educate the public and get people to vote in favor of it.

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