A Time for Reparations

DC is a "Tale of Two Cities," and the data doesn't lie.

If you live in Ward 3, your life expectancy is 89 years. But just a few miles away in Ward 8, that number drops to 72. That is a 17-year "death gap" determined by your zip code. This isn’t a coincidence—it’s the result of a century of intentional exclusion.

For decades, while some neighborhoods flourished, Black households were stripped of their potential. It is estimated that $50 trillion in wealth generation has been lost to the Black community due to the compounding weight of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, and systemic redlining.

In 1862, the federal government used taxpayer money to pay slave owners for their ‘loss of property,’ while the families who built this city received nothing but a century of segregation. As Mayor, I will turn the $1.5 million Reparations Task Force into a Reparations Action Fund.

The Khan Plan for a Unified DC:

• Institutional Accountability: We will not just ask for an apology. My administration will sue the major financial institutions, law firms, and corporations that built their empires on the profits of slavery and segregation. It’s time for those who profited from our pain to pay for our progress.

• A Living Wage for Essential Work: For too long, the "essential" jobs held overwhelmingly by our Black and Brown neighbors have paid poverty wages. I am fighting for a $50/hour minimum wage for these roles. We don't just want our workers to survive; we want them to thrive.

• Real Reparations: We are ending the era of "studies" and moving toward direct material redress. From housing grants to healthcare infrastructure in Wards 7 and 8, we will bridge the 81-to-1 wealth gap that history carved into our city. Our city has one of the highest racial wealth disparities in the country. I will champion direct restitution based on the $193,000 national benchmark needed to bridge the gap between White and Black households in D.C.

• Invest in Ancestry: We will fully fund the Slavery-Era Database to ensure that the descendants of those enslaved in the District are the first to receive housing grants and small business capital.

• From Study to Solvency: I will move beyond the Task Force’s initial findings to implement a permanent Restitution Tax Credit for long-term Black residents who survived the era of urban renewal and redlining.

The 17-year gap in our lives and the $50 trillion gap in our pockets are not just statistics—they are a call to action.

On November 3, 2026 vote for a Mayor who isn't afraid to demand what is owed. Vote for Khan. #KHAN4DC