NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 New York City lawmakers approved legislation Thursday to study the city's significant role in slavery and consider reparations to descendants of enslaved people.
If signed into law, the package of bills passed by the City Council would follow in the footsteps of several other municipalities across the U.S. that have sought ways to address the country's dark history, as well as that began working this year.
New York fully abolished slavery . But businesses, including the predecessors of some modern banks, continued to from the slave trade 鈥 likely up until 1866. The lawmakers behind the proposals noted that the harms caused by the institution are still felt by Black Americans today.
鈥淭he reparations movement is often misunderstood as merely a call for compensation,鈥 Council Member Farah Louis, a Democrat who sponsored one of the bills, told the City Council on Thursday. She explained that systemic forms of oppression are still impacting people through redlining, environmental racism and services in predominantly Black neighborhoods that are underfunded.
The bills still need to be signed by Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. City Hall signaled his support in a statement calling the legislation 鈥渁nother crucial step towards addressing systemic inequities, fostering reconciliation, and creating a more just and equitable future for all New Yorkers.鈥
The bills would direct the city鈥檚 Commission on Racial Equity to suggest remedies to the legacy of slavery, including reparations. It would also create a truth and reconciliation process to establish historical facts about slavery in the state.
One of the proposals would also require that the city install an informational sign on Wall Street in Manhattan to mark the site of , which operated between 1711 and 1762. A sign was placed nearby in 2015, but Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said its location is inaccurate.
The commission would work with , which is also considering the possibility of reparations. A report from the state panel, which held its first public meeting in late July, is expected in early 2025. The city effort wouldn鈥檛 need to produce recommendations until 2027.
The city's commission was created out of during then-Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, which also recommended the city track data on the cost of living and add a commitment to remedy 鈥減ast and continuing harms鈥 to the city charter's preamble.
鈥淵our call and your ancestors' call for reparations had not gone unheard,鈥 Linda Tigani, executive director of the racial equity commission, said at a news conference ahead of the council vote.
A financial impact analysis of the bills estimated that the studies would cost $2.5 million.
New York is the latest city to study reparations. Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a notorious massacre of Black residents took place in 1921, .
Evanston, Illinois, became the first city to offer reparations to , including distributing some payments of $25,000 in 2023, according to . The eligibility was based on harm suffered as a result of the city's discriminatory housing policies or practices.
San Francisco approved reparations in February, but the mayor later cut the funds, saying should instead be carried out by the federal government. California budgeted $12 million for a that included helping Black residents research their ancestry, but it was defeated in the state's Legislature .
