Day 28: Reparations
With millions knocked off the power grid during a deadly winter storm, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) spoke today as lead sponsor during a subcommittee hearing about a bill for reparations, H.R 40.
“We can’t wait,” she said to ABC News on Tuesday. “I also join with the Biden administration that says we can do many things at once.”
The distribution of the pandemic relief stimulus checks could be a model for delivering reparations, University of Connecticut professor Thomas Craemer noted.
The bill, named for the 40 acres and a mule that Union leaders promised but failed to deliver to emancipated families after the Civil War, is meant to establish a commission to study what is owed, consider the ongoing systemic abuses African American descendants of slaves suffer, and make recommendations on “appropriate remedies.”
It’s been introduced in every Congress since 1989 and this year has 173 cosponsors. Some states and institutions have already begun establishing and distributing funds.
This is an “international legal concept,” Jackson Lee said. “It’s not something we’ve created here. It deals with restorative [justice] and repair, which is needed in this nation.
“I think that in 2021, we want to isolate white supremacy, white racism, domestic terrorism. We want to look at each other as our fellow brothers and sisters, and as have been said to the ages, our fellow Americans. I want H.R. 40 to be in the minds and hearts about fellow Americans, pass it and quickly get it signed by the President of the United States.”
Biden expressed support for a study, ahead of the hearing, however has yet to share a formed opinion on reparations itself.
Today, he acknowledged Ash Wednesday via statement. “As we enter into the season of Lent, we know this moment of repentance, reflection, and renewal comes in the midst of a painful winter for our nation and the world.
“On this Ash Wednesday and every day, we hold every family with an empty place at their table in our hearts. We pray for all those who have fallen on hard times and are worried about what morning will bring. Let us find strength in each other and faith that provides us purpose. And let us look with hope and anticipation toward Easter and brighter days ahead.”