The Democratic governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, signed a bill on Tuesday to establish a commission to study the impact of slavery and centuries of racism in the state and propose reparations, making it the second state to take action on this issue, which has faced significant criticism from the right.
Key Facts
Hochul signed the bill on Tuesday morning, more than six months after both chambers of the New York legislature approved it, and three years after California Governor Gavin Newsom (Democrat) signed a similar law to create a commission to study reparations.
The law gives the commission one year to submit a report of findings and recommendations to the state regarding “appropriate measures” and the impact of the institution of slavery and “actual and legal racial and economic discrimination” on Black people in New York.
This proposal will be presented to the state legislature and Hochul, who will decide whether to draft a bill based on the commission’s recommendations (Hochul’s term ends in January 2027).
Critical Comment
Democratic Senator James Sanders, who sponsored the bill and chairs the selected committee on minority- and women-owned business affairs in the state, stated: “This is a day that will be recorded in the history of our state. Today, we plant the seed of hope, not just for New York City and New York State, but for the entire nation.”
Main Background
Calls for reparations have increased amid the “Black Lives Matter” movement, although proposals date back decades. The first federal legislation to create a commission to study the implementation of reparations was introduced in 1989 and was reintroduced later in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2023 (these bills died in committees or were referred to the relevant congressional committees). Several cities have also launched reparations programs, including the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, which created a unique program in 2019 to use marijuana sales tax to fund reparations. Cities such as Boston and St. Louis, along with Providence, Rhode Island, St. Paul, Minnesota, Berkeley, California, and Asheville, North Carolina, have introduced reparations projects, including a commission in Boston and a reparations committee in St. Louis. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, survivors of the 1921 Tulsa massacre and their families may also receive reparations, after the Supreme Court agreed in August to review appeals from multiple survivors seeking cash payments, which had been previously denied. The “Slavery Legacy Fund” was established at Harvard University last year, providing funding for students studying the school’s relationship with slavery.
Key Critics
Despite the rise of reparations initiatives, about two-thirds of American adults oppose cash payments to descendants of slaves, according to a 2021 survey by WCVB and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. About 80% of white Americans in a 2022 Pew Research Center survey said they oppose reparations, compared to 17% of Black Americans. White and Black participants in the Pew survey had completely different views on whether the history of slavery affects the position of Black Americans in society today, with 85% of Black participants saying it does, while half of white Americans said it does not. Hardline right-wing politicians have led the criticism against reparations, arguing that America has already paid the price for racial injustice through civil rights laws and social welfare programs, and Senator Tim Scott (Republican from South Carolina), who is also Black, described himself as a “living testament that America is the land of opportunity, not oppression.” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican from Kentucky) also objected to the idea of paying reparations, asserting in 2019 that “none of us alive today are responsible” for slavery.
Fact
Amazing
Many prominent residents of New York in the colonial era had slaves at some point in their lives, according to state records. These people who owned slaves included Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury in history, and John Jay, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers.
More Reading
Survivors of the Tulsa massacre of 1921 and their families may receive reparations following a judge’s decision in the aftermath of the ruling (Forbes)
California’s council passes the reparations bill (Forbes)
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