House panel to vote on slavery reparations bill for first time; supporters call it an important milestone

Washington Post -- By Marianna Sotomayor April 13, 2021

The debate over whether to pay reparations to the descendants of enslaved people will take a step forward Wednesday when a House committee votes on legislation to create a commission to study the issue, which has been fiercely debated over the past year on the campaign trail and in several communities across the country.

The bill was first proposed in 1989 by then-Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) but has never received a committee vote as it drew little interest from congressional leaders. But advocates of reparations pushed it to the forefront last year as racial justice protests were held across the country following more police killings of Black Americans, including George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The bill continues to face a steep climb to making it into law or to even receiving a vote from the full House, but supporters of the proposal are cheering on Wednesday’s vote as an important milestone in their push to deal with the human and economic wounds the institution of slavery has left on the country to this day.



The bill would establish a 13-person commission that would study the effects of slavery and racial discrimination in the United States from before the country’s founding to today. The commission would then submit to Congress its findings and “appropriate remedies” on how best to compensate Black Americans.

Who is going to appoint the members of the commission? As we have seen here in San Francisco, whoever appoints the members of the commission controls the outcome of the commission.

Inevitably, we are going to go back to the conflict with truth regarding the “1619 Project” and the Project supporters’ warped view of President Abraham Lincoln’s character and reputation.


Duke University public policy professor William Darity Jr., who has studied reparations for over 30 years, has put the cost of direct payments to all descendants of enslaved people at roughly $10 trillion to $12 trillion.

It is almost impossible to fathom how much the proposed reparations for Native American Indians will be. The citizens of the Southern states kept black slaves alive to do the work as slaves; Native American Indians were killed en masse for their lands.

Quote:Inevitably, we are going to go back to the conflict with truth regarding the “1619 Project” and the Project supporters’ warped view of President Abraham Lincoln’s character and reputation.

Actually, only you are. No one else gives a whit about it.

While I'm not sure where I stand on reparations, I have no problems with having the discussion.

Best
Rob

(04-14-2021 12:09 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  

Quote:Inevitably, we are going to go back to the conflict with truth regarding the “1619 Project” and the Project supporters’ warped view of President Abraham Lincoln’s character and reputation.

Actually, only you are. No one else gives a whit about it.

While I'm not sure where I stand on reparations, I have no problems with having the discussion.

Best
Rob

Thank you for your "whitty" comment.