Because our upcoming issue of
the Journal of Educational Controversy is devoted to the theme of “The
Ethics of Memory: What Does It Mean to Apologize for Historical Wrongs,” I was alerted to an email that was sent out
by the American Civil Liberties Union today.
They reminded us that the bill H.R.
40 , Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans
Act, is still before the 116th Congress (2019-2020) and stress the urgency for action
because there is a chance the final draft might be reported out of the judiciary
committee before the end of the year. Although the bill was first introduced on
January 3, 2019 and subcommittee hearings were held on June 19, 2019, the ACLU writes:
“Over the course of 2020, our country has gone through what many are calling a
national reckoning on race. This was sparked by the tragic but all-too-familiar
killings of Black lives – George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and
countless others – at the hands of police.”
To achieve racial justice, they continue, we must “examine the impact of
slavery and its legacy, and make strides toward reparations---and H.R. 40 is a
path forward on that.”
The following is the bill
summary:
This bill establishes the
Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans. The
commission shall examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the
United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.
Among other requirements, the commission shall identify (1) the role of federal
and state governments in supporting the institution of slavery, (2) forms of
discrimination in the public and private sectors against freed slaves and their
descendants, and (3) lingering negative effects of slavery on living
African-Americans and society.
Earlier, we published on our blog a transcript of the testimony by Ta-Nehisi Coates that was delivered before
the congressional hearing on HR 40 on June 19th. His influential 2014 article “The Case for
Reparations” in The Atlantic revived the issue of reparations for slavery
and its legacy.
