Democratic Officials Reintroduce Bill for Slavery Reparations – One America News Network
OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:52 PM – Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Democratic lawmakers reintroduced a bill on Wednesday seeking to provide reparations for slavery to Black Americans, amidst President Donald Trump’s efforts to eliminate DEI policies at the federal level.
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Leading the initiative are Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a prominent member of the progressive Congressional group known as “the Squad,” and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who have reintroduced H.R. 40 — officially termed “the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act.”
Reparations could manifest in various forms.
Typically, this term refers to financial compensation to Black Americans, funded by U.S. taxpayers, aimed at assisting descendants of enslaved individuals.
“We are confronting a moment marked by rampant white supremacy and anti-Black racism, coupled with a compromised Supreme Court that is eroding the protections and progress achieved,” Pressley remarked on Wednesday.
“We have an antagonistic administration actively attempting to reverse decades of advancements in our civil rights,” she added.
“Our government, irrespective of who occupies the Oval Office, has a moral and legal responsibility to deliver reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its enduring consequences on Black communities.”
H.R. 40 has been proposed multiple times over the past thirty years, with the late former Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) recently demonstrating interest before her passing due to cancer last summer.
The bill was initially introduced by former Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in 1989, and its fundamental proposals have remained unchanged in the latest session.
“I’m actively working to counteract the threats from an antagonistic administration that poses risks to all who call this country home, significantly impacting Black Americans,” Pressley remarked. “Historically, it’s evident that when others suffer, Black people often bear a much heavier burden.”
Despite Pressley’s passion, the bill faces challenges passing through a Republican-controlled Congress, leading some Americans to question the motivations behind Booker and Pressley’s efforts to pursue it.
Pressley’s push for reparations follows President Trump’s executive orders dismantling DEI initiatives in the federal government, aiming to return the U.S. to a system based on merit, skill, and intelligence rather than factors like race, sexual orientation, or gender.
According to a statement from Booker’s office last month, 17 Democratic senators are co-sponsoring the bill to “better comprehend where our nation has faltered” while assisting “lawmakers in addressing the racial disparities and inequalities that still prevail today due to historical injustices.”
“As a nation, we have yet to fully recognize and confront the ways in which slavery, racism, and white supremacy continue to hinder African Americans,” Booker stated.
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