Might 14, 2025
Democratic leaders and activists are taking to Washington, D.C., to push for reparations laws.
Dr. Marcus Anthony Hunter, the distinguished Professor of Sociology behind the ebook Radical Reparations: Therapeutic the Soul of a Nation, is in Washington, D.C., to advance his ongoing push for reparations.
Hunter will probably be joined by Sen. Cory Booker and different legislators in an advocacy name for reparations and a reintroduction of the Reparations Now decision. The week-long push for reparations features a congressional briefing on advancing reparative justice on Might 13 and a Might 15 press convention with Rep. Summer season Lee on the Home Triangle to reintroduce the Reparations Now decision, and the Nationwide Reparations Rally with the Nationwide Reparations Community, timed to coincide with Malcolm X’s a hundredth birthday.
“As we grapple with the traumas of our historical past, we should give the correct consideration to the opportunity of reparations so as to actually heal,” Hunter stated in a press launch. “I’ll by no means cease working to carry reparations into the nationwide dialog of justice and therapeutic.”
Becoming a member of Booker and Lee within the push for reparations contains Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Rep. Hank Johnson. The Democratic leaders are displaying their dedication to the combat following their reintroduction of reparations laws in February.
Offered throughout Black Historical past Month, Pressley co-led the reintroduction of H.R. 40—the Fee to Research and Develop Reparation Proposals for African People Act, alongside Senator Booker. Pressley confused the invoice’s significance, saying, “Reparations are a crucial step in reaching justice.”
“We’re in a second of anti-Blackness on steroids, and we refuse to be silent,” Pressley stated. “We won’t again down in our pursuit of racial justice.”
Because the Trump Administration carries out its unprecedented onslaught of anti-Black insurance policies, I’m becoming a member of colleagues in introducing #HR40Reparations.
A necessary step towards repairing the hurt of slavery and its aftermath.
Tune in:https://t.co/oitgIA6GJt
— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) February 12, 2025
The invoice goals to create a federal fee to look at the enduring results of slavery and its aftermath, with the purpose of growing actionable reparation proposals for African American descendants of enslaved individuals. It additionally underscores that reparations can take many kinds—usually monetary, but in addition different measures designed to handle and restore the lasting hurt of slavery and systemic racism.
Lee’s reintroduction of the Reparations Now decision builds on the groundwork laid by former Rep. Cori Bush, who first launched it in 2023.
“We as a nation haven’t but actually acknowledged and grappled with the methods slavery, racism, and white supremacy proceed to drawback African People,” Booker stated in January. “Commissioning a research to higher perceive the place our nation has fallen brief will assist lawmakers higher handle the racial disparities and inequalities that persist as we speak because of generational injustices.”
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