The New York State As­sem­bly has passed leg­is­la­tion to cre­ate the New York State Com­mu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion on Repa­ra­tions Reme­dies to ex­am­ine the im­pact of slav­ery and sub­se­quent dis­crim­i­na­tion and sys­temic racism against Africans Amer­i­cans, and to pro­pose ap­pro­pri­ate reme­dies and repa­ra­tions in ad­di­tion to ex­plor­ing pol­i­cy and leg­isla­tive so­lu­tions.

“The in­sti­tu­tion of slav­ery in our state and na­tion laid the ground­work for the racial, eco­nom­ic and in­sti­tu­tion­al in­jus­tices that have plagued com­mu­ni­ties for decades,” said New York As­sem­bly Speak­er Carl Heast­ie, whose grand­fa­ther hailed from the Ba­hamas.

“This is a his­toric piece of leg­is­la­tion that will con­front the in­sid­i­ous his­to­ry of slav­ery and the way its lega­cy con­tin­ues to af­fect Black New York­ers to­day,” he added.

“Repa­ra­tions is about more than mon­e­tary com­pen­sa­tion—it’s about aton­ing and a guar­an­tee of non-rep­e­ti­tion,” said Hait­ian-Amer­i­can As­sem­bly­mem­ber Michaelle C. So­lages, chair of the Black, Puer­to Ri­can, His­pan­ic & Asian Leg­isla­tive Cau­cus.

“We need to change our po­lit­i­cal struc­tures and laws to en­sure Black New York­ers are em­pow­ered,” added So­lages, rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the 22nd As­sem­bly Dis­trict in Long Is­land, New York, who al­so serves as Deputy Ma­jor­i­ty Leader in New York State As­sem­bly. “This is an im­por­tant step in chang­ing a long his­to­ry of sys­temic racism and dis­crim­i­na­tion.”

Heast­ie said the leg­is­la­tion would es­tab­lish the New York State Com­mu­ni­ty Com­mis­sion on Repa­ra­tions Reme­dies “to ex­am­ine the in­sti­tu­tion of slav­ery, de ju­re and de fac­to racial and eco­nom­ic dis­crim­i­na­tion against peo­ple of African de­scent, and the im­pact of these forces on liv­ing African Amer­i­cans.”

He al­so said the com­mis­sion would be tasked with mak­ing de­ter­mi­na­tions re­gard­ing ap­pro­pri­ate reme­dies and repa­ra­tion, as well as ex­am­in­ing po­ten­tial pol­i­cy and leg­isla­tive so­lu­tions for dam­ages done to peo­ple and com­mu­ni­ties.

Pri­or to the Amer­i­can Rev­o­lu­tion, Heast­ie not­ed that there were more en­slaved Africans in New York City than any city, ex­cept Charleston, South Car­oli­na.

Dur­ing this pe­ri­od, he said, en­slaved Africans ac­count­ed for 20 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion.

Heast­ie said New York grad­u­al­ly im­ple­ment­ed laws giv­ing free­dom to en­slaved Africans, but still al­lowed non-res­i­dents to bring their en­slaved Africans in­to the state un­til 1841.

“The abo­li­tion of slav­ery did not end dis­crim­i­na­to­ry, racist prac­tices,” he said. “Black Amer­i­cans in New York have faced vot­er sup­pres­sion, redlin­ing and hous­ing dis­crim­i­na­tion, bi­ased polic­ing, food apartheid and dis­pro­por­tion­ate rates of in­car­cer­a­tion.” —NEW YORK, (CMC)