The New York State Legislature is preparing to pass legislation that would create a commission tasked with recommending potential reparations, Politico reported Tuesday.
The commission will be tasked with studying the history of slavery and racial discrimination in New York and examining "the lingering negative effects of the institution" and present discrimination against Black Americans.
Democrat state Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages of Nassau County and Sen. James Sanders of Queens told the outlet that a "two-way agreement" was underway to establish the commission.
"New York has an accounting it must do," Sanders said. "If we are ever to be the America for everybody, then we have to come to grips with America's original sin, slavery."
"There's a real question of whether slavery would have been economically feasible without New York," he continued. "New York provided the insurance for the slave industry; New York paid for many of the votes; New York bought much of the cotton."
If approved, New York will become the second state to study the possibility of reparations, joining California, which created a task force in 2020.
California is now considering whether to follow through on the panel's recommendation to dish out up to $1.2 million in slavery reparations via direct payments to the descendants of enslaved people.
New York's commission would include three members appointed by the two Democratic leaders of the Legislature and one by Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul. Like California, its suggestions would not be binding.
Topics like mass incarceration and housing discrimination would also be examined, Solages informed Politico.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.