Depending on your politics and sense of American history, Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza may have taken either the proverbial first step in the journey of a thousand miles or shown the excesses of executive orders in his commitment of the city to a racial reparations program for Black and Indigenous residents.
His July 15 decision, however, probably falls somewhere in the middle and represents as much of a political risk as it does opportunity for the term-limited mayor.
By announcing a broad plan for a three-part program on education, reconciliation and reparations, Elorza deserves credit for starting a communitywide conversation on long-contentious civil rights issues that have again boiled over across the nation.
But the lack of details in the plan shows his awareness of the limits of unilateral decision-making in government, and the need for consensus on such a politically and culturally polarizing issue.
Whatever steps the financially strapped city takes next on reparations should be taken as a community, with the mayor and City Council leading and listening along the way.