Why I Cannot Believe in the Prospect of Reparations Until I See Actual Legislation Passed.

This morning I saw an email from the ACLU about H.R. 40 "gaining momentum" in the House Judiciary and cannot help but think about how long promises of a reparations discussion have persisted.

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas has led the charge in developing a Commission to study Reparations; Image via ACLU.org

An email I received this morning from the ACLU:

Subject: “Reparations could get to the House floor, Donney”
Opening lines of the email:
Police brutality cuts hundreds of Black lives short every year. Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in the mass incarceration system. And Black communities continue to be hit hardest by the impact of the pandemic.

If we are ever to address the racial injustices that continue to prevail in this country, then we must confront chattel slavery and its impact – and make strides toward achieving reparatory justice.

H.R. 40 is the path forward to achieve this. This bill would establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, its legacy, and make recommendations to Congress for reparations.

My reaction:
The Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans was introduced in 1989 by the late U.S. Representative, John Conyers, who spent 50 years in Congress and was the longest-serving Black member of Congress. At the point that Rep. Conyers introduced the commission to Congress in 1989, 370 years had gone by since the first documented Africans were stolen and brought to colonial Virginia for the purpose of building America’s economy by way of chattel slavery. Rep. Conyers introduced the H.R. 40 bill, legislation that established the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans with the purpose of examining slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommending appropriate remedies, every year from 1989 to 2017 when he retired from Congress at 88-years-old. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee picked up the mantle from Rep. Conyers and become the sponsor of the bill.