New York considers reparations for descendants of enslaved people
New York will embark on an ambitious effort to address the state’s history of slavery and racism, creating the second United States-wide task force to explore whether reparations can be made to confront the legacy of racial injustice to offer.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill Tuesday that gives a commission the authority to study not only the history of slavery, which was outlawed in New York in 1827, but also its subsequent effects on housing discrimination, biased policing, income inequality and mass incarceration of African women. Americans.
New York joins California at the forefront of reparations, a complicated undertaking that will immerse stakeholders in a contentious political and budgetary conversation about the past and the dictates for the future.
It is far too early to say what kind of restitution, cash or otherwise, the New York committee will recommend for descendants of enslaved people, or even make such a recommendation. But in California, a multibillion-dollar price tag already threatens to hamper the reparations project, underscoring the distance between the state’s goals and fiscal reality.
“I know the word ‘reparations’ brings up a lot of conflicting ideas in people’s minds,” Ms Hochul said on Tuesday before signing. the bill. “Many people instinctively dig in when they hear it, without really thinking about what it means or why we need to talk about it.”
“Today I challenge all New Yorkers to be the patriots they are and rebuke — and not excuse — our role in profiting from the institution of slavery,” she said.
A nine-member task force appointed by the governor and state Legislature will produce a report with nonbinding recommendations for ways to correct centuries of discrimination. State lawmakers could then pass legislation to implement any of the recommendations.
The California commission in May approved a report recommending a sweeping statewide reparations program as well as a formal apology to the state’s millions of Black residents. The payments, which could reach more than 1.2 million dollars per personwould cost billions of dollars at a time when the state is facing budget problems, including a $68 billion revenue shortfall.
It is now to state lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom of California to agree on the money to be paid or on any policy changes recommended by the committee. So far, lawmakers have not passed any legislation, although the Legislative Black Caucus has promised to introduce a package of measures for consideration next year.
That commission went beyond slavery and sought to put a price tag on the effects of systemic racism, as it applies to drug arrests, housing discrimination and eminent domain seizures, as well as disparities in life expectancy. California reparations would only apply to residents descended from slaves or from free African Americans who lived in the United States before the 20th century.
In San Francisco, a separate 15-member task force made a set of 111 recommendations and one of the most ambitious, if elusive, restitution proposals: a one-time payment of $5 million to everyone who qualifies.
But the city’s budget constraints and political divisions underscore the political challenge facing recovery projects: The proposed payments could exceed $100 billion, or about seven times San Francisco’s annual budget. The city’s mayor, London Breed, who is black, has promised no monetary reparations and her office has indicated that the federal government is better suited to handle reparations.
New York has similar budget problems. After two years of record-breaking state budgets following an influx of pandemic-era federal aid, state officials in New York are now projecting a $4.3 billion budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year, and even larger deficits in coming years. Cuts could be on the horizon, which would renew left-wing lawmakers’ calls to raise taxes on the wealthy to bridge budget deficits, a move Ms. Hochul opposes.
An unusually open-minded Ms Hochul appeared to acknowledge the difficult negotiations ahead and admitted she had been concerned about the bill from the start.
She further acknowledged the political risks of engaging in a conversation about historical wrongs, though she concluded that actually standing up to racism would mean “more than giving people a simple apology 150 years later.”
Republican Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt said New York had already paid its debt for slavery with the “blood and lives” of Americans during the Civil War.
“A divisive committee to consider reparations is unworkable,” Ortt said in a statement. “As we have seen in California, I am confident that this commission’s recommendations will be unrealistic, will impose astronomical costs on all New Yorkers, and will only further divide our state.”
The bill signing drew an assortment of the state’s many black political leaders, including the bill’s sponsors in the State Senate and Assembly, as well as Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie and Senate Majority Leader , Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
The Rev. Al Sharpton thanked Ms. Hochul for her “boldness and courage” in supporting the bill, calling the signing “the beginning of a process to repair the damage done.”
“You can’t heal unless you treat the wounds,” he said. “And this bill will create a committee to heal the wounds.”
Now that the bill has been signed, Ms. Hochul and the Senate and Assembly leaders will each appoint three members to the task force.
The group has one year from the date of its first meeting to prepare a report of its findings and recommendations to the legislature.
Shawn Hubler contributed reporting from California.