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New York, NY — New Yorkers for Reparations has assembled statements from a diverse group of public figures and advocacy organizations representing New Yorkers across the state, in support of Thursday’s official launch of the historic New York State Reparations Commission and excitement for what the commission does in the coming months.
The commission is tasked with reckoning with the whole truth of the state’s history, and recommending how to repair the ongoing impacts and lingering effects of segregation, discrimination, and enslavement on Black communities. It will investigate and document these historical injustices and based on its findings, the commission will recommend policies that can address and remedy our history of harm.
New York is now the second state after California to launch such a body with the selected commissioners with the necessary expertise, experience, and values for giving New Yorkers a transformative roadmap for righting the wrongs of injustice in our state from its foundation. This comes after a successful campaign by advocacy groups to get the Democratic-controlled legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul to enact the commission into law shortly before the new year, 108 organizations signed a letter endorsing the commission and youth activists led demonstrations across New York City and sent hundreds of messages to Hochul’s office at the end of 2023. The need for swift action was further underscored by the fall release of a groundbreaking report by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander exposing the historic economic theft and intergenerational harm done to Black New Yorkers.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16)
“I am so excited to celebrate the announcement of the New York State Reparations Commission. The Reparations Commission is the first step towards forging a path that acknowledges America’s original sin and addresses centuries of discrimination, redlining, and institutionalized oppression. We must be honest with ourselves and tell the truth about our history and how it impacts our communities today, so that together we can build a better future. In this process, and in commissions across the country, we must ensure that these efforts remain community led. From Massena to Seneca Village, every zip code should be engaged in this path to reparations. Our collective healing must happen not just here in New York but across the country, so that we can truly root out the lasting impact of slavery. In Congress, we are working on transformative legislation to create a reparations commission, and we are grateful to the grassroots efforts like those here in New York for setting an inspiring example. I am incredibly proud as a Black man and a New Yorker that we are taking this step in the right direction to foster racial healing, and I look forward to continuing to fight for these policies at the federal level.”
New York State Senator James Sanders Jr.:
“Today marks a monumental step towards healing and justice in New York. The launch of the Reparations Commission isn’t just about acknowledging the past, it’s about building a more equitable future for all. I believe this commission, with its diverse expertise and commitment to truth-seeking, has the power to craft transformative policies that address the systemic harms inflicted on Black communities for generations. This is just the beginning, and I stand ready to work alongside the commission and New Yorkers to ensure their recommendations become reality. Now is not the time for silence or inaction. This commission must reckon with the whole truth and deliver bold remedies. From economic disparities to wealth gaps, the legacy of slavery and discrimination still casts a long shadow. I look to the commission to address these harms, from education to healthcare to housing, and pave the way for a brighter future. For generations, Black New Yorkers have faced systemic injustices. The commission is a beacon of hope for healing and progress. Together, we can dismantle the walls of inequity and build a New York where opportunity thrives for all.”
Heather McGhee, board chair, Color of Change
“Reparations can be seed capital for New York’s prosperous future. The Governor needs to fully fund and support this new Commission so that it can engage New Yorkers across the state in better understanding how past state policies of enslavement and discrimination continue to drain wealth from New York’s communities.”
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander:
“When our office recently analyzed the data on racial wealth disparities, we found the median household net worth of white New Yorkers to be nearly 15 times that of Black New Yorkers. The average white New York high school graduate has net worth three times greater than the average Black college graduate. These numbers add up to opportunities denied to millions of Black New Yorkers, wealth disparities perpetuated across generations, and a poorer city and state for all of us since inequality holds back economic growth for all. The findings of the report clearly support the establishment of a commission to study these inequities and potential Reparations, and this announcement represents a historic step towards improving the lives of everyone in New York.”
Dr. Ron Daniels, President, Institute of the Black World 21st Century and Convener of the National African American Reparations Commission:
“The establishment of the New York State Reparations Task force catapults New York into the center of the surging U.S. and global reparations movement. Following on ground-breaking work of the California Reparations Task Force, the New York Task Force has an opportunity to educate the people of this state and the nation that the harms, the injuries inflicted on people of African through enslavement and its legacies were not just “down south,” they also occurred “up south” where the wealth of the “empire” state was built of enslaved labor. Moreover, even after slavery was abolished, its harmful legacies persisted and persist right up until the present, hampering the full development of Black people in this state. New York has the opportunity and obligation of leading the nation in repairing these injuries through the enactment of comprehensive reparations.”
Stanley Mark, senior staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), who testified in support of Japanese American redress before the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in 1982.
“The call for Reparations is personal for Asian Americans who fought for and secured redress for Japanese Americans unjustly ripped from their homes and incarcerated by the U.S. government during WWII. Black people never received the proper redress they deserved after enduring the horrors of American slavery and the Jim Crow era that followed, and that neglect has profoundly contributed to the anti-Black animus and disparities that continue to hurt Black people today and undermine the humanity in all of us. Dismantling discrimination and racism begins with an acknowledgment of the full truth, a task the New York Reparations Commission must be fully empowered to complete.”
Nicole Carty, executive director of Get Free and resident of Brooklyn:
“When Black people get free, we all get free. Our generation fully backs this Reparations commission so they can provide us with a roadmap to making freedom and equality real in New York. Gen Z and Millennials across race and place demanded our elected leaders take urgent action on reparations because we know that the lies and laws created to dehumanize, exploit, and control Black people are a threat to dignity and freedom for all. While MAGA Republicans want to continue this legacy by whitewashing our history and stoking fears against our efforts to create a more equal future, we’re bringing New Yorkers together to reckon with the whole truth of our history and repair the ongoing impacts of white supremacist lies, laws, and violence from their foundation.
Trevor Smith, co-founder and executive director of BLIS Collective:
“Today marks another pivotal moment in our march toward true justice and liberation for Black people, in New York, and across the nation. We are deeply encouraged about the expertise, experience, and commitment to Reparations demonstrated by the appointed commissioners, and invite them to be in conversation with the coalition for the duration of the commission. Nationally, there exists a ‘hope gap’ on the topic of Reparations within Black communities, where over 70 percent of Black people support Reparations but less than 10 percent believe it is possible in their lifetime. The work of the commission has the potential to address this and profoundly reshape the narrative surrounding reparations both within New York and across the country. The BLIS Collective is inspired to support the work of New Yorkers for Reparations and the commission to ensure the eventual recommendations are turned into tangible and transformative policy and cultural changes.”
Erin Heaney, Executive Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice, the largest racial justice organization explicitly organizing white people in U.S. history and Buffalo resident.
“Repairing the ongoing impacts of anti-Black discrimination on New Yorkers since enslavement is good for all of us. This is a historic opportunity for us to grapple with the legacy of slavery in our state, move beyond the divisive narratives that have been used to control our lives and pit us against one another, and build a state that makes good on the promise of freedom, equity and dignity for all of us.”
Lanessa Chaplin, Director of the New York Civil Liberties Racial Justice Center:
“Today, New York state takes a historic step to reckon with the egregious and entrenched legacy of slavery in New York. The only way to build a fairer New York is to face our history and create a roadmap to repair the harm of our state’s legacy of white supremacy, which impacts Black New Yorkers to this day. Today, median household net worth for White New Yorkers is nearly 15 times greater than the median household net worth of Black New Yorkers. But repairing does not only require reconciling our past. We must also face our shared present and dismantle its racist structures and systems. By launching a formal Reparations study commission, we are charting the course to address anti-Black discrimination and injustice and make equality a reality for all New Yorkers.”
Antar Keith, chair of the Democrats Abroad Reparations Task Force and NY-18 voter:
“The Democrats Abroad Reparations Task Force applauds the announcement of the New York State Reparations Commission’s membership. We look forward to working with the commissioners to ensure the voices of New Yorkers both in state and abroad are heard as we build a better, safer New York for all. Past and present discriminatory policy not only harms Black New Yorkers at home, but also leaves lasting damage which remains even when we move abroad. No matter where we reside on Earth, Black New York voters and our allies will continue to push the Empire State to become a beacon of reparative justice. The world is watching as we embark on this historic journey together.”
Enith Williams, founder and executive director of the Reparations Finance Lab:
“It is fitting that New York State has taken this historic step in the long march toward justice, truth, and reparations for the legacy of enslavement, anti-Black racism, and continuing economic harm when we consider the role of its financial sector in enabling and enriching those institutions and individuals that profited from that history. Wall Street was not only one of the largest slave markets in the North it was also where the profits of enslavement flowed from the South and where much of the contemporary harms of wealth extraction and exclusion has been centered through practices such as Redlining and the subprime mortgage crisis. This is a long overdue reckoning and we welcome the establishment of the commission.”
Richard Brookshire, CEO and co-founder of the Black Veterans Project:
“The New York State Reparations Commission has a historic opportunity to lay bear the unfiltered truth of how anti-Black racism has shaped the institutions and economy of our state. From enslavement to institutional discrimination reverberating across generations, we have a collective mandate as New Yorkers to secure the historical record at a time of right-wing erasure and provide impactful policy remedies that can place us all on a path of true equity and equal opportunity. New York’s role in obstructing access to the GI Bill following World War II and continued disinvestment in the communities Black veterans call home must be reckoned with. Black Veterans Project looks forward to supporting the Commission’s work and advancing the inter-generational struggle for a true reckoning.”
Emily Akpan, Reparations co-chair at Tsuru for Solidarity, co-chair of New York Day of Remembrance Committee:
“As Japanese Americans, we know that Reparations are possible. During World War II, the U.S. federal government forcibly removed and incarcerated our families and ancestors, and in 1988, after years of advocacy, Japanese Americans won reparations for this injustice. Our community has not stopped at this victory. We know that until our governments have fully repaired the violence and harm it has done to communities, particularly Black and Indigenous communities, none of us are truly free. We hope that the Commission will lead to real material changes and reparative justice in the lives of Black Americans, not just in New York, but across the country.”
David Wheaton, Economic Justice Policy Fellow, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc. (LDF)
“Today marks an important step in the fight for racial justice in New York. The New York State Reparations Commission has the opportunity to study and redress the horrific past of slavery and racist laws that have negatively impacted Black New Yorkers for generations. In employment, housing, education, and the criminal justice system, Black New Yorkers currently face disproportionate challenges that stem from institutional and structural racism rooted in chattel slavery and discriminatory government policies. We are hopeful that the Commission will work diligently to help pave the way for reparative justice to Black New Yorkers.”
Get Free is building a national GenZ & Millennial-led movement to repair past harms, remove ongoing barriers to equality, and realize a future where freedom is for all.
