The City Council is mulling a package of controversial bills that include weighing whether black New Yorkers deserve reparations for slavery, and another resurrecting a woke push to remove artwork they consider “racist” from public property.
Councilwoman Farah Louis (D-Brooklyn) introduced her reparations bill on Thursday – the same day the state Legislature in Albany approved a comparable bill.
That legislation, which has been sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul for consideration, would create a commission to study the effects of slavery and racial discrimination on the entire Empire State and potentially reward payments.
Louis’ reparations bill – which only covers the city — would create a nine-member task force that would be required to deliver a report one year after being appointed. Like the state bill, any recommendations would be non-binding and strictly advisory.
It is part of a larger legislative package introduced Thursday by some council members of color they said is aimed at “rectifying” historical “injustices.”
One measure by Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn) would require the city’s Commission of Racial Equity to create a “Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation” process that establishes “historical facts” about the city’s past use of slavery and then recommends changes for local government and institutions to “prevent recurrence” – even though New York abolished slavery more than two centuries ago, and lost more than 50,000 men while fighting to free slaves during the Civil War.
Hellbound and Down 