Philly's reparations panel UNMASKED: Chairman is really a DJ who uses the post to hawk party tickets - and his colleague derides white people as 'middle schoolers'

Members of Philadelphia's new slavery reparations commission talked up their mission at a launch this week, vowing to 'get to work' on improving schools and housing for black residents.

But a DailyMail.com investigation has exposed big flaws in the new, nine-member panel.

The group's co-chair, Rashaun Williams, is already using his new role to promote his Afro-House club nights, where he performs as DJ Reezey.

And the panel's legal chief, Jackie Newsome, has strong feelings against white people, her tweets suggest.

She slams their 'white fragility' and likens them to 'middle schoolers.' In other posts, she controversially calls to 'defund the police.'

Philadelphia's reparations panel got off to a bad start at City Hall this week, as controversial social media posts by its new members were unearthed  

The panel's co-chair, Rashaun Williams, has used his new role to promote his Afro-House club nights, when he performs as DJ Reezey

In a video post, Williams talks up the task force and urges supporters to come 'celebrate' at his club night  

The involvement of Williams and Newsome casts doubt on the panel's credibility, and raises questions about whether it can help the city's 1.6 million people navigate their complicated history.

The task force and the city council have not commented on the posts.

The revelations are just the latest example of problems in implementing reparations schemes, which gained traction after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 but are now floundering.

Campaigners say it's time to repair the harms against black people from slavery and Jim Crow — but critics say the planned payouts are unfair and would only worsen race relations.

The Philadelphia Reparations Task Force was formally launched at City Hall on Tuesday.

It is tasked with reporting on 'how reparations can atone for the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and institutional racism,' according to a statement from the city.

New York, San Francisco, and other US cities have already launched similar schemes.

But Philadelphia's is seen as particularly important, as four-in-ten residents are black — slightly outnumbering whites.

African Americans are struggling in the City of Brotherly Love, official figures show.

They are much more likely to live in poverty than others, and own just 6 percent of businesses.

Reparations cover everything from erecting statues to business loans, but discussions often center on whether taxpayers should compensate blacks with eye-popping cash payouts.

The panel can only make recommendations. Any financial payouts would have to be approved by council members and the mayor through a budget process.

Williams was instrumental in setting up the task force and was named as a co-chair last year.

Rashaun Williams, seen here wearing a hoodie decorated with images of Malcolm X and other racial justice campaigners   

Williams has controversially used the committee to promote his Afro-House club nights, called 'Movement and Melanin'

DailyMail.com can reveal that within weeks, he was using the office to promote his dance parties.

One of his social media posts features the logos of the task force, Philadelphia City Council and Councilmember Jamie Gauthier — a leading local politician who backed the reparations project.

The post includes a video of Williams talking up the task force, before he plugs one of his dance parties, a December 2 event called 'Movement and Melanin.'

'I got events,' Williams says.

'We gotta celebrate blackness. We gotta celebrate ourselves in this world.'

He urges viewers to join his email list to 'stay tuned' for his upcoming $15 late-night parties.

On the face of it, this violates Philadelphia's ethics manual for boards and commissions, which sets rules for conflicts of interest.

Members 'cannot take any official action that would affect your personal financial interest,' the document says.

Newsome, who will coordinate the task force's legal policy for reparations, is more controversial yet.

In social media posts, she speaks disdainfully of white Americans.

'Watching white folks on social media has me feeling like a parent of a middle schooler,' she wrote in one such post.

They should 'get off the internet and stay out of Black folks business,' she added.

In another, she refers to 'white fragility,' a term used to describe whites reacting defensively when their prejudices are called into question.

It's the title of a 2018 book by Robin DiAngelo, a key text in the academic approach known as Critical Race Theory.

In a post shortly after the police killing of Floyd, a handcuffed black man, in May 2020, Newsome joined the chorus of calls to 'defund the police.'

The post was directed to Gauthier and other city politicians. It urged them to pull funding for the Philadelphia Police Department.

The panel's legal chief, Jackie Newsome, has spoken disparagingly about white people, comparing them to 'middle schoolers'

For some, Newsome's posts about white people being 'middle schoolers' should preclude her from public office

Reparations Task Force Co-Chairs Breanna Moore (right), and Rashaun Williams, launch the effort at City Hall in Philadelphia

Philadelphia Councilmember Jamie Gauthier was a driving force behind the reparations project

It was a popular slogan during the Black Lives Matter protests after Floyd's death, but the policy fell out of favor as police morale fell, and crime rates ticked up.

The city's code of conduct advises commission members against making political posts on social media.

Newsome's controversial posts were made before she joined the body.

Still, her reference to white people as 'middle schoolers' casts doubt on whether she's a good fit for public office.

Williams, the city council, the task force and the mayor's office did not answer our requests for comment.

From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported by European ships and merchants and sold into slavery.

Those who survived the brutal voyage ended up toiling on plantations in the Americas, including in Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States, while others profited from their labor.

Campaigners say it's time for America to repay its black residents for the injustices of the historic Transatlantic slave trade, Jim Crow segregation and inequalities that persist to this day.

The sums are eye-watering — black lawmakers in Washington seek at least $14 trillion for a federal scheme to 'eliminate the racial wealth gap' between black and white Americans.

Critics say payouts to selected black people will inevitably stoke divisions between winners and losers, and raise questions about why American Indians and others don't get their own handouts.

Reparations are popular among the black people who stand to benefit from them, but unpopular among the whites, Asians, and others who would foot the tax bill without themselves benefiting.

Fully 74 percent of blacks support the US government reparations for slavery and its legacy, compared with just 26 percent of whites, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey from last year.

Reparations are much more popular among Democrat voters than with Republicans.