By: Sarah Johnson
Throughout the year we have noticed US HR40 has consistently been a popular bill; it was our most searched term last month. The Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act of 2019 was proposed on January 3rd and immediately referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties – where it currently sits. The House held a hearing (the first in over a decade to discuss reparations) for the bill on June 19, also known as “Juneteenth”. Juneteenth is named for the day in 1865 when former enslaved people in Texas first learned they had been emancipated two years earlier. This year also marks the 400th anniversary of the first documented arrival of Africans to the port of Jamestown in the colony of Virginia.
What are Reparations?
Reparation is defined as “the act of making amends, offering expiation or giving satisfaction for a wrong or injury, something done or given as amends or satisfaction or the payment of damages.” Reparation in the context of slavery is the idea that some form of compensation needs to be given to the descendants of Africans trafficked and enslaved in the Americas. Although this is not a new idea (by any stretch of the imagination), a 2014 article by journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates titled “The Case for Reparations” thrust the conversation back into the public space. Throughout the article, Coates makes the case that the idea of reparations is what’s important; pointing to the plundering of black labor and wealth by whites for centuries and the continued role white supremacy plays in their lives today. He asserts that we, as a nation, need to seriously consider what we may owe some of our people.
What is the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African-Americans Act?
This is not new legislation, in fact, for two decades (from 1989 to 2017), Representative John Conyers would introduce the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, have it be referred to committee, not addressed and wait propose it again the next year. The legislation is always designated as HR 40, to reference the first (unfulfilled) proposal for reparations to African-Americans by the United States government; a promise of “40 acres and a mule” to freed slaves after the Civil War. Representative Conyers left Congress in 2017 and this year Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (a Democrat from Texas) took up the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act mission.
US HR40 calls for a commission to “study and develop reparation proposals for African-Americans,” including a formal apology by the U.S. government “for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants.” The bill would authorize $12 million for a 13-member commission — three members appointed by the president, three by the House, one by the Senate and six from organizations that have championed racial justice. The panel would study the effects of slavery and racial discrimination, hold hearings across the country and recommend “appropriate remedies” to Congress.
What Reparations is this Bill Proposing?
Many of us think reparations are money, a cash payment to people who have been wronged in an attempt to make things a little more right. This legislation is not proposing any specific action for the government to issue reparations. At its core, the only focus of HR 40 is on knowledge and data collection. Proponents of the bill have made sure to emphasize this bill is to study what reparations could look like, not issue any. Most recognize a simple monetary payment is probably not the appropriate action for our country to adequately address our history and its continued impact in black people’s lives.
Creating a commission would allow for the exploration of potential reparations that address current policies and issues pertaining to social and economic impact. There are a few different ways this could manifest. First, this could look like the government providing some sort of assistance like: zero-interest loans for black prospective homeowners, free college tuition or community development plans to spur the growth of black-owned businesses in black neighborhoods. It could also look like amending federal policies to address the huge wealth gap between whites and blacks in the US due to the social and economic fallout that can be traced to slavery and racially discriminatory policies. There is really no way to know currently what it could look like when the issues that could be addressed range from criminal-justice reform to school choice to an end to racially motivated zoning.
What are Politicians Saying about this Bill and Reparations?
Representative Jackson Lee stated “This is not symbolic. It’s not a symbolic hearing; it’s not symbolic because of the day; it’s not symbolic because of the commission. It’s legislation that we think has finally reached its moment.”
When asked about this Act, and other similar, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Hill,
“I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none us currently living are responsible is a good idea. We’ve tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We elected an African American president.”
Several Democratic presidential candidates have communicated interest in reparations. Senator Cory Booker introduced the Senate companion bill to HR40, S1083. Beto O’Rourke, Senator Kamala Harri, Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs Julián Castro have all expressed some form of support for reparations. Warren has extended her call for reparations to include Native Americans and members of the LGBTQ community.
My Thoughts
This is such a fascinating bill to me, for many reasons. First, a man spent 20 years of his life committed to proposing this legislation and the ideals it stands for, only to have it ignored. I find this both admirable and tragic. Second, I am very intrigued as to what the commission would find. Whenever I have heard about reparations in the past, I too thought of it as some monetary amount given to people as weak tea: “sorry this happened to you, take this and it will be a little better?” The idea that reparations could take on many different faces is a completely new idea to me.
I, personally, think reparations in the form of investing in black communities and in black people’s lives is the best way to proceed if we as a nation moved forward with reparations. I feel only awarding reparations to people who can prove their lineage to slaves would create pointless challenges and use up valuable resources; hence a community and investment centered approach makes the most sense to me.
I am aware I am saying this without any data to back up my opinion, which is why a study like the one proposed in HR 40 would be so instrumental in helping us all figure out what we think would be just. More information, as well as a variety of ideas and suggestions, would be instrumental in deciding how to proceed in a way that would be not just symbolic but also impactful, so we can figure out a way forward that a majority of Americans will support.
Slavery and the way we handled emancipation (like the failed 40 acres and a mule promise or Jim Crow laws) is what has lead to the enormous and ongoing wealth and opportunity gap for people of color. As Coates put it in his piece, “Plunder in the past made plunder in the present efficient.” Although seemingly insurmountable, we should still strive to end racial injustice, and, again quoting Coats
“More important than any single check cut to any African American, the payment of reparations would represent America’s maturation out of the childhood myth of its innocence into a wisdom worthy of its founders.”
HR 40 can be a small, but pivotal, stop on the journey towards an America with more justice for all.
Image by Dennis Larsen from Pixabay
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