Lawmakers in New York City on Thursday approved legislation to study the city’s significant role in slavery and consider reparations for descendants of enslaved people.
If the package of bills passed by the City Council is signed into law, it would follow in the footsteps of several other municipalities across the U.S. that have sought ways to address the country’s dark history. a separate New York state commission that started working this year.
New York completely abolished slavery in 1827. But companies, including the predecessors of some modern banks, continued to do so provide financial benefit of the slave trade – likely until 1866. The lawmakers behind the proposals noted that the harm caused by the institution is still felt by black Americans today.
“The reparations movement is often misunderstood as just a call for compensation,” Councilmember Farah Louis, a Democrat who sponsored one of the bills, told the City Council on Thursday. She explained that systemic forms of oppression continue to impact people through redlining, environmental racism, and underfunded services in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
The bills still need to be signed by Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. City Hall expressed its support in a statement, calling the legislation “another critical step toward addressing systemic inequality, advancing reconciliation, and creating a more just and equitable future for all New Yorkers.”
The bills would direct the city’s Commission on Racial Equality to propose solutions to the legacy of slavery, including reparations. It would also create a truth and reconciliation process to establish historical facts about slavery in the state.
One of the proposals would also require the city to place an information sign on Wall Street in Manhattan to mark the location New York’s first slave marketwhich operated between 1711 and 1762. A sign was placed nearby in 2015, but attorney Jumaane D. Williams, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said its location is inaccurate.
The committee would cooperate the existing state commissionwho is also considering the possibility of reparations. A report from the state panel, which held its first public meeting in late July, is expected in early 2025. The city’s efforts wouldn’t have to come up with recommendations until 2027.
This is how the city committee was created a 2021 Racial Justice Initiative during the administration of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, who also recommended the city keep cost-of-living data and add a commitment to repair “past and ongoing harm” to the preamble of the city charter.
“Your call and your ancestors’ calls for reparations have not gone unheard,” Linda Tigani, executive director of the Racial Equality Commission, said at a news conference ahead of the council’s vote.
An analysis of the financial impact of the bills estimated the investigations would cost $2.5 million.
New York is the latest city to study reparations. Tulsa, Oklahoma, site of an infamous massacre of black residents in 1921, announced a similar committee last month.
Evanston, Illinois, became the first city to offer reparations Black residents and their descendants in 2021including distributing some $25,000 payments in 2023, according to PBS. Eligibility was based on harm suffered as a result of the city’s discriminatory housing policies or practices.
San Francisco approved reparations in February, but the mayor later cut the funds that reparations should instead be implemented by the federal government. California has budgeted $12 million for one recovery program that included helping black residents research their ancestry, but it was defeated in the state legislature this month.
