Originally published 6.19.19 by The Takeaway, WNYC Studios —
On this Juneteenth, or June 19, we celebrate the end of slavery in the United States 154 years ago. Members of Congress chose this symbolic day to hold hearings on a reparations bill. The bill, if it passes, will establish a commission to determine whether — and if so, how — the US government owes anything to the descendants of enslaved people.
To discuss the bill, the hearing and the idea of reparations, Nkechi Taifa came on The Takeaway. She’s a human rights attorney, president of The Taifa Group, LLC and a commissioner of the National African American Reparations Commission
And, Representative James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat and House Majority Whip, joined us earlier this week to remember the anniversary of a church shooting in Charleston four years ago. He stuck around to talk about reparations.
Originally published by The Takeaway on June, 19 2019. Produced by Zach Gottehrer-Cohen and hosted by Tanzina Vega. Click on the ‘Listen’ button above to hear this segment.
