New York will consider the possibility of issuing reparations, including direct payments, for descendants of enslaved African people living in the state, under a bill Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law on Tuesday.
The legislation creates the state Community Commission to Study Reparations Remedies, a nine-member panel tasked with studying slavery’s history in New York and its lasting effects on residents. The panel is set to begin work within the next six months, once its members are appointed.
Among other things, the commission will recommend what the bill calls “appropriate remedies and reparations” for descendants of enslaved African people, including changes to state laws and policies.
The law allows the commission to consider whether direct compensation is warranted, as well as who should be eligible for it.
“Let’s be clear about what ‘reparations’ means,” Hochul said at a bill-signing ceremony at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan. “It doesn’t mean fixing the past — nobody can do this. But it does mean offering more than an apology.”
New York is the second state to launch an official group to weigh potential reparations for slavery: A California task force issued a report earlier this year recommending direct compensation and a formal apology for the state’s role in enslaving people.
In New Jersey, residents kicked off their own reparations effort in September after the state Legislature failed to pass a bill creating a reparations task force. And in the New York City Council, bills on studying reparations were introduced this past summer.
New York lawmakers approved the legislation in June, just before ending their annual session at the state Capitol in Albany. State Sen. James Sanders of Queens and Assemblymember Michaelle Solages of Long Island, both Democrats, sponsored the bill, which passed along party lines.
Hochul had not signaled her position on the bill until she signed it on Tuesday, though she hinted at her support…
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