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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.

 

IBW21

IBW21 (The Institute of the Black World 21st Century) is committed to enhancing the capacity of Black communities in the U.S. and globally to achieve cultural, social, economic and political equality and an enhanced quality of life for all marginalized people.