By Nicholas Wu and Deborah Barfield Berry, USA Today — WASHINGTON – Calling racism the “poison of America,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer gave his support Tuesday to a bill to set up a commission to study reparations. “The disparities in race affect everything, not just the obvious things, but the non-obvious things” like pollution and climate change, Schumer explained. The bill, proposed by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Texas…
By Benjamin Barber, Facing South — As Republican lawmakers in Southern states continue their efforts to undermine the influence of a diverse electorate, Democratic presidential candidates are calling for new reforms to combat discriminatory voting policies and practices. Since the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and ended federal preclearance of election-law changes in places with a history of voting discrimination, state…
By Valerie Russ — Most Americans overwhelmingly oppose reparations to African Americans descendants of enslaved persons. But a slight uptick in support especially among younger Americans in recent years may be a result of activism over police killings over past five years.
Black women often have spearheaded the fight for reparations, but it’s time they put their needs front and center. By Courtland Milloy, The Washington Post — At a recent congressional…
By Dr. Maulana Karenga — The recent hearing in the House of Representatives on reparations marks an important step on the long struggle for justice for Black people and accountability…
Full Video: Washington, DC — On June 19, 2019 (Juneteenth), the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing on H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act. The purpose of the hearing was to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, its continuing impact on the community and the path to restorative justice.…
HR 40 is about more than money. It’s about grappling with history. By The Christian Century — In a widely discussed 2014 essay in the Atlantic titled “The Case for Reparations,”…
A monthly tax credit for low-income renters and a “baby bond” program to help first-time homebuyers are part of the presidential hopeful’s list of proposals. By Kriston Capps, City Lab — Pledging to make housing a priority in his 2020 presidential candidacy, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker unveiled a plan on Wednesday with features that would ease affordability, homelessness, and first-time homeownership pressure for millions of families. At the core…
By Inimai M. Chettiar, Priya Raghavan, Michael Waldman, Adureh Onyekwere — The American public has decisively concluded that our approach to criminal justice isn’t working. Mass incarceration is the civil rights…
By Jordain Carney, The Hill — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said on Monday that he will introduce legislation creating a commission to study the issue of granting reparations to African-Americans….
Openly talking about reparations for the descendants of enslaved men and women is a notable shift for Democrats. But the conversation still lacks substance. By P.R. Lockhart, VOX — A…
By Amie Parnes, The Hill — The most competition for black voters’ support in recent memory is set to take place among the candidates vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination to take on President Trump. African-American voters for years have been a key constituency in the Democratic race, helping to assure former President Obama’s and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s nominations in 2008 and 2016, respectively. But the fight this year…