NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul signed racial justice legislation Tuesday morning to create a commission to consider reparations for slavery.
For so many Black New Yorkers this is a historic step to help right the wrongs of the past.
It’s also controversial. Hochul said she knows many state residents do not support it, but added it had to be signed.
Six months ago, state lawmakers passed a bill that creates a state commission to examine slavery and discrimination against African-Americans. It passed 41-21 in the Senate and 106-41 in the Assembly.
The legislation will recommend reparations to repair the ongoing impacts and lingering effects of segregation.
Advocates say prior to the Revolutionary War there were more enslaved Africans in New York City than in other city, except for Charleston, South Carolina. The population of enslaved Africans accounted for 20% of New York’s population.
“Let’s be clear about what reparations means. It doesn’t mean fixing the past, undoing what happened. We can’t do that. No one can. But it does mean more than giving people a simple apology 150 years later. This bill makes it possible to have a conversation, a reasoned debate about what we want the future to look like. And I can think of nothing more democratic than that,” Hochul said.
The commission, which will operate for one year, will be made up of nine members who are experts in African or American studies, civil rights, human rights, and criminal justice.
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