The legislature of the state of New York, in the northeast of the United States, approved the creation of a commission to evaluate the possibility of paying compensation to the descendants of slaves.
The bill passed both houses of the Democratic-dominated New York legislature on Thursday and is now in the hands of Gov. Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat.
“We want to make sure that we are looking at slavery and its legacy,” said Michaelle Solages MP before the House debate, which lasted about three hours.
“It is about starting the healing process of our communities. There is still a generational trauma that people are dealing with. This is just a step forward,” added the Democrat.
“I am concerned that we are opening a door that has been closed in the state of New York for nearly 200 years,” Republican Rep. Andy Gooddell said during the debate.
Gooddell, who voted against the bill, said she supports existing efforts to create equal opportunities for all and would like to “continue down that path rather than focus on trade-offs.”
California was the first US state to create, in 2020, a task force on possible reparations for slavery.
The group recommended that the state formally apologize for its legacy of racist and discriminatory policies and create an agency to provide a wide range of services to black residents, but did not recommend paying compensation.
The report estimated that California is responsible for compensation worth more than $500 billion (€464 million) due to decades of excessive policing, mass incarceration, and discrimination against Black families.
Other US states that have discussed paying slavery compensation include New Jersey and Vermont (both in the Northeast), but neither have yet passed legislation on the matter.
Evanston, a suburb of the city of Chicago, in the state of Illinois (center), became in 2021 the first North American city to make compensation available to black residents, through a housing project valued at 10 million dollars (9.3 million euros). .
At the federal level, a proposal to create a commission to study possible compensation has been stalled in the US Parliament for decades.
On April 25, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, defended that Portugal owes an apology, but above all it must assume full responsibility for exploitation and slavery in the colonial period.
In May, world history professor Manuel Barcia, who specializes in slavery in the Atlantic, told Lusa that fear of paying possible compensation has prevented Portugal and other states from apologizing for slavery.
Source: TSF
