New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) signed a bill establishing a task force for race-based reparations.
“Today, we are continuing our efforts to right the wrongs of the past by acknowledging the painful legacy of slavery in New York,” Hochul said in a press release. “We have a moral obligation to reckon with all parts of our shared history as New Yorkers, and this commission marks a critical step forward in these efforts.”
“Here in New York, there was a slave market where people bought and sold other human beings with callous disregard,” Hochul said, according to Fox News. “It happened right on Wall Street for more than a century. And even though it officially closed when slavery was abolished in New York in 1827, our state still remained a dominant player in the illegal slave trade. The practice continued, and our financial and business institutions prospered.”
Detriot, Michigan’s reparations task force lost two members after experiencing a “lack of progress.”
“I think, collectively, that group of people has different ideas about what reparations is fundamentally and we didn’t get to a place where we had a broad strategic vision,” said task force co-chair, Lauren Hood.
California’s task force for reparations released a draft proposal for payments, where lifelong black California residents aged 71 and older may be eligible for reparations of up to $1.2 million.
For health-related harms, eligible individuals would receive $13,619 per year of residency in the state, with descendants also qualifying for the payments.
Victims of alleged over-policing between 1971 and 2020 would be entitled to $2,352 per year of residency during that period, with a maximum amount of $115,260.
In July, residents in Evanston, Illinois, were the first in the United States to receive reparations payments.
The payments for alleged discrimination and limited access to housing are being issued from a $10 million reparations package and will be distributed over the course of 10 years.
