NYC bill proposes signage marking Wall Street as first slave market, along with reparations study
New York City lawmakers passed legislation Thursday to study the city’s pivotal role in slavery and consider reparations for descendants of slaves.
If signed into law, the package of bills passed by the City Council would follow in the footsteps of several other cities across the United States that have sought to address the country’s dark history, as well as a separate commission of the state of New York started operations this year.
New York abolished slavery completely. in 1827. But businesses, including the predecessors of some modern banks, continued financial benefits from the slave trade — which likely lasted until 1866. Lawmakers behind the proposals note that the harms caused by the system still affect black Americans today.
“The reparations movement is often misunderstood as just a call for reparations,” Council Member Farah Louis, a Democrat who sponsored one of the bills, told the City Council on Thursday. She explained that systemic forms of oppression still impact people through segregation, environmental racism, and underfunded services in predominantly black neighborhoods.
The bills still need to be signed by Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. City Hall expressed its support in a statement calling the legislation “another important step toward addressing systemic inequities, promoting reconciliation, and creating a more just and equitable future for all New Yorkers.”
The bills would direct the city’s Racial Equity Commission to recommend remedies for the effects of slavery, including reparations. It would also create a truth and reconciliation process to establish historical facts about slavery in the state.
One of the proposals would also require the city to install an informational sign on Wall Street in Manhattan to mark the location of the New York’s First Slave Marketactive from 1711 to 1762. A sign was placed nearby in 2015, but Public Defender Jumaane D. Williams, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said its location was inaccurate.
The Commission will work with current state committeeis also considering the possibility of compensation. A report from the state board, which held its first public meeting in late July, is expected in early 2025. The city’s effort wouldn’t need to make a recommendation until 2027.
The city committee was established from 2021 racial justice initiative during the administration of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, also recommended that the city track cost-of-living data and add a commitment to remedy “past and present harms” to the preamble of the city charter.
“His and his ancestors’ calls for reparations have been heard,” Linda Tigani, chief executive of the racial equality commission, said at a press conference ahead of the council vote.
An analysis of the bills’ financial impact estimates that the study would cost $2.5 million.
New York is the latest city to explore reparations. Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the infamous massacre of black residents in 1921, announced a similar committee last month..
Evanston, Illinois, has become the first city to offer compensation to Black people and their descendants in 2021including distributing some $25,000 worth of payments in 2023, according to PBSEligibility criteria are based on the extent of harm caused by the city’s discriminatory housing policies or practices.
San Francisco approved the compensation in February, but the mayor later cut the money, saying that the compensation should instead be done by the federal government. California has budgeted $12 million for a compensation program included helping black residents research their ancestors, but it was defeated in the state Legislature. this month.
