Legislation that would create a federal exploratory commission on reparations for black Americans was passed Wednesday by a House committee for the first time, which set a vote in the full Congress if Democratic leaders decide to bring it to the House.
It was a day of many developments for the long-standing bill known as HR 40, as it had never before received a reduction or a vote from the committee.
Headed by the rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
Sheila Jackson LeeCongressional Black Caucus members post selfie celebrating her first WH visit in four years Black lawmakers push Biden on agenda at White House meeting Georgia’s election law prevents African Americans, Latinx and others from exercising right to vote MORE (D-Texas), which took over the cause of HR 40 after the late Rep. John Conyers
John James Conyers: Chicago Suburb Could Serve as Roadmap for Repairs Obama Says Subcommittee of the House of Repairs “Justifies” Debate Repair Bill for Black Americans MORE (D-Mich.) He retired from Congress in 2017, the bill passed the House Judiciary Committee following the party line.
The committee held a hearing on HR 40 in February, which featured several experts in restorative justice. The idea of repairs, while not new, has gained momentum in recent years, and the legislation currently has 176 co-sponsors in the House, its largest history.
“Today, the U.S. Congress has finally taken the kind of action on reparations advocated by movements, experts, and blacks for decades,” said Dreisen Heath, a human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. the view, in a statement. .
“This milestone takes the nation one step further to take into account the disastrous effects of slavery that have been increasing every day for blacks.”
Repairs remain a politically controversial issue and it is not certain that the measure will reach the House of Representatives, although there will certainly be pressure on Democrats to do so.
Leader of the majority of the House Steny Hoyer
Steny Hamilton HoyerNY Democrats call for SALT cap revoked Democrats face increasingly important obstacles on the agenda This week: Congress returns with a long list of tasks MORE (D-Md.) Wednesday did not pledge to bring the law to the ground, saying he hoped to see what the Judicial Committee would do. In the meantime, he called President Biden
Joe BidenIRS will launch payments for a thousand child tax credits in July to Capitol police, telling him not to use the most aggressive tactics in responding to the riots. According to a report, Biden will accompany the first lady to the appointment for a “common medical procedure” MORE to form its own White House reparations panel, a process that would not force any centrist Democrat to adopt what could prove to be a difficult vote.
Other Democrats, with their eyes set on their districts and the meager Democratic majority in the House, have suggested that the party should stay away from these issues of great interest while concentrating on the economy.
Reparations are talked about as a way to address the disparities facing the country’s blacks because of the enduring legacy of slavery and subsequent racial discrimination.
For example, a group of researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Lancet Commission on Reparations and Redistributive Justice published a study in November that stated that reparations for black Americans would have reduced health disparities in black communities. which in turn would have diminished the effect that COVID-19 has had on them.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blacks in the United States have been nearly three times more likely to be admitted because of COVID-19 and nearly twice as likely to die.
Advocates of the cause also point to the worrying wealth gap between whites and blacks in the country.
In 2019, the average net worth of a black family was $ 24,100, while the average net worth of a white family was nearly eight times that of $ 188,200.
While support for black reparation has grown in recent years, it is not an entirely new concept. Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the federal government distributed direct payments of $ 20,000 to American Americans who were interned by the federal government during World War II.
Some local and state governments have already moved forward to begin the repair process; California state lawmakers last year passed a bill similar to HR 40.
Experts on the subject have stressed that direct payments are far from the only way repairs can take place.
“The remnants of segregated and reduced schools, medical care deliberately below standards, none of these things can be resolved through a check,” the director of the Justice Center and The Hill told The Hill in a previous interview. Equality ACLU Trone, Jeffery Robinson. “These things need to be resolved through institutional changes.”
Up to this point, last month Evanston, Illinois, approved the first country’s first repair program.
Instead of direct payments, the initiative spends $ 400,000 to fund a $ 25,000 housing block. Eligible black residents who are accepted for the initiative will be able to allocate funds to the mortgage, home improvement or initial aid.
Mike Lillis contributed.