The New York City Council is currently considering a set of contentious bills, one of which explores the possibility of providing reparations to black New Yorkers for slavery, while another seeks to eliminate artwork deemed “racist” from public spaces.
Councilwoman Farah Louis, representing Brooklyn, introduced her reparations bill on Thursday, coinciding with the state Legislature in Albany passing a similar bill. The state legislation, awaiting consideration by Governor Kathy Hochul, aims to establish a commission to study the impact of slavery and racial discrimination throughout New York State, potentially leading to reparations.
Louis’ reparations bill specifically focuses on the city and proposes the formation of a nine-member task force tasked with delivering a report within a year of their appointment. Like the state bill, any recommendations put forth by the task force would be non-binding and advisory in nature.
This bill is part of a broader legislative package introduced by council members of color, with the intention of addressing historical injustices and rectifying them.
Another measure presented by Crystal Hudson, also representing Brooklyn, seeks to mandate the city’s Commission of Racial Equity to establish a “Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation” process. This process aims to establish historical facts regarding the city’s past involvement with slavery and subsequently recommend changes for local government and institutions to prevent similar occurrences. Notably, New York abolished slavery more than two centuries ago and played a significant role in the fight to free slaves during the Civil War, losing over 50,000 men in the process.
Sandy Nurse, another council member from Brooklyn, has introduced a bill that would require the city’s Public Design Commission, in collaboration with city agencies, to publicly release a plan for the removal of monuments and artworks located on city property. The plan would target pieces that allegedly honor ex-slave owners, individuals who profited from slavery, or those responsible for “systemic” crimes against indigenous peoples or humanity. The bill also mandates the installation of explanatory plaques near schools or public spaces associated with individuals deemed to have profited from slavery or committed other “crimes against humanity.”
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio faced controversy in 2017 when he established a commission to review monuments across the five boroughs. The move was prompted by protests by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, opposing the removal of a Confederate statue. Ultimately, the commission recommended the removal of only one statue, that of Dr. J. Marion Sims, a pioneering 19th-century doctor who conducted medical experiments on enslaved black women.
{Matzav.com}
This is a crowd of ‘un’-ever-grey fate.
Grandly, I would not even give them free bubblegum, but I might let that have a lane.
This is an era of Biden’s blue black.
Farah Louis was endorsed by our extremely hard working tireless dedicated askanim.
The joke is, this Councilwoman is from Haiti, not a “victim” of American slavery. Stupid woke garbage
Exactly!
The ‘Askunim’ sold it, and then fools bought it.
its time open a Ferrari dealership in Harlem
Keep on giving and I’ll keep on taking. It’s good that identify as a black man. And since race and gender aren’t facts and they are malleable and fluid, I shtam from black slaves.
The city of New York never enslaved anybody is going to pay people who were
never slaves. This is not reparations this is a special handout for people of a certain group! This racially discriminating “reparation”is biased against all other New Yorkers who were never enslaved and would like to get the same handout. The Germans gave reparations to the actual people they enslaved.
One would have to prove they were enslaved to be able to get reparations! This is kind of hard especially for people who never work the day in their lives aside for blaming others for their shortcomings.