NYC Council Approves Task Force to Explore Reparations Payments: Correspondence

The Issue: New York City lawmakers voting on a bill to study potential compensation for slavery reparations.

It’s a disgrace that the elected officials tasked with protecting and serving New York City are undermining it with their unreasonable bills (Reparations bid wins,” Sept. 13).

An immediate overhaul of the City Council is needed.

Slavery was abolished over 200 years ago in New York, and yet council members are proposing to allocate billions of taxpayer dollars for reparations.

Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-SI) succinctly stated, “If they can introduce me to one New Yorker who owned a slave, I’d be happy to consider it. But until then, I am not paying a dime as a reparation for a harm I did not cause.”

Lance Lovejoy

Maspeth

The premise behind this reparations task force bill is completely absurd.

Just like other New Yorkers, some African Americans are thriving, while others face challenges.

If the council genuinely wants to address the issue, they should focus on the glaring problem – our failing education system.

If New York implemented school choice and vouchers, it would empower African American parents to transfer their child from an underperforming school to a better one where they can thrive.

Many states and cities have successfully implemented such programs.

Bill Isler

Floral Park

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, and ratified the 13th Amendment on Feb. 1, 1865, officially ending slavery.

Around 320,000 white Union soldiers sacrificed their lives to secure the freedom of enslaved individuals.

The question arises – if reparations are provided to Black descendants of slavery, should the descendants of white Union soldiers who fought for their freedom also receive reparations?

Dan Carr

San Diego, Calif.

New York has no obligation to provide reparations.

So why is this topic still under discussion?

Any claim that New York is liable for reparations might make for an interesting story, but it is just that – a story.

Elizabeth Tebeaux

College Point, Texas

Therefore, individuals who never owned slaves will be compensating individuals who were never slaves.

Does this rationale make sense?

How much fraud and corruption is likely to stem from this?

Carol Meltzer

Manhattan

I wonder if any members of the party with a history of slavery, racism, and the KKK – the Democrats – have undergone basic economics training.

Considering the nearly two million African Americans in New York, the payout for reparations would be substantial.

But what would the repercussions be?

In my Economics 101 class, I learned about “too much money chasing too few goods,” implying that injecting a large sum of money into the economy could lead to inflation affecting everyone, not just the recipients of taxpayer funds.

Moreover, as Borelli emphasized, there is not a single person in New York today who was a slave or owned slaves.

The cost of slavery has already been paid for through the sacrifices made at Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania, and elsewhere.

Andrew MacDonald

Fanwood, NJ

Comparing the incredible value of living in 21st century America for African Americans to their ancestors’ countries in Africa would likely change perspectives on reparations.

Miles Kuttler

Aventura, Fla.

The debate on reparations has resurfaced once again.

While reparations are warranted, Democrats should bear the responsibility.

After all, many New Yorkers fought and perished to liberate slaves from Democratic slave owners.

A Democrat was even responsible for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the architect of Black freedom.

Following their defeat in the Civil War, Democrats adopted the mantle of the KKK and instituted Jim Crow laws.

Reparations are merely another step on that regrettable trajectory.

However, if Democrats have truly had a change of heart and seek to make amends for past atrocities, they should do so.

Forcing innocent individuals to atone for the sins of their predecessors is yet another injustice.

Lonnie Kennedy

Oklahoma City, Okla.

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