Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the potential House Democratic leader who has been endorsed by outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is a cosponsor of the slavery reparations study legislation currently pending in the House.
Formally titled the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, H.R. 40 passed out of the House Judiciary Committee in April 2021, but it has not been put up for a full House vote.
The bill would establish a 13-member commission to “examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.” The United States declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
“Year after year, decade after decade, century after century, we’ve come a long way,” Jeffries said during a Brookings Institution discussion addressing “structural racism” in U.S. public policy institutions in February 2020. “But, you know, some notion of truth and reconciliation, how do we move forward toward a more perfect union, I think has got to be part of any conversation connected to H.R. 40.”
Hellbound and Down 