NYC Reparations Efforts Move Forward As California Stalls

Source: Michael M. Santiago / Getty

Lawmakers in New York City are following in the footsteps of American cities, considering reparations to descendants of enslaved people,

On Thursday, City Council members approved legislation to study the city’s significant role in slavery and examine whether descendants of enslaved people should receive reparations, according to AP.

The bills, which still need to be signed by Mayor Eric Adams, would follow the lead of other American cities tackling reparations by instructing the Commission on Racial Equity to come up with solutions to remedy the legacy of slavery, which would include reparations. The legislation would also create a truth and reconciliation process to establish historical facts about slavery in New York.

According to AP, one of the proposals would require the city to install a sign on Wall Street in Manhattan that acknowledges New York’s first slave market, which operated between 1711 and 1762.

“The reparations movement is often misunderstood as merely a call for compensation,” Council Member Farah Louis, told City Council. City Hall also showed support for the new legislation calling it, “another crucial step towards addressing systemic inequities, fostering reconciliation, and creating a more just and equitable future for all New Yorkers.”

In 2023, New York created a commission tasked with considering reparations and the harmful effects of slavery in the state. If the new bills are passed, the city commission will work with the existing state commission to find solutions. A report from the state commission is expected in early 2025, but the city won’t need to report its recommendations until 2027. The studies are expected to the city around 2.5 million.

Source: Michael M. Santiago / Getty

New York City isn’t the only city studying reparations and looking to remedy the stain of slavery in America.

Just last month, the city of Tulsa created a reparations commission that will seek how to repair harm to residents living in the city’s thriving Black district, Greenwood, during the 1921 massacre. As previously reported by NewsOne, the panel, which has been named the Beyond Apology Commission, coined by Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, will review the Beyond Apology city report published in 2023 and a 2001 state commission report created by state Rep. Don Ross and the late Senator Maxine Horner. Both reports called for financial compensation for the victims of the attack. However, the 2023 report went further, advocating for not just financial restitution but also community and economic development, including housing, land grants, and healthcare programs for those affected by the tragedy.

In February, San Francisco approved reparations, but the mayor later cut funds, claiming reparations should only be carried out by the federal government. The state’s Legislature also voted against $12 million for a reparations program.

In 2021, Evanston, Illinois, officials announced the city’s reparations plan, which came after a city council resolution establishing a reparations fund and a reparations subcommittee was approved in 2019. Since then, the city has paid out nearly $5 million to 193 of the town’s Black residents over the past two years.