The Living Consequences

Senator Cory Booker announced this afternoon that he is introducing legislation to study the possibility of reparations for slavery.

The presidential candidate’s proposal is intended to be a Senate companion to H.R. 40, the reparations bill introduced into the House this year by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.).

H.R. 40, which was previously introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in every Congress since 1989, would acknowledge our nation’s unresolved history of slavery and racial discrimination, and establish a commission to study its impact, consider a national apology, and suggest remedies.

This legislation, while a relatively mild step compared to voting on reparations themselves, or even on an apology for slavery and racism, has received no consideration in recent years. However, there has been a well-publicized flurry of endorsements of the idea of reparations from many of this year’s Democratic presidential candidates, and there is much speculation, fueled in part by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement, that H.R. 40 may start moving forward in the Democratic-controlled House.

Booker’s dramatic step was further highlighted by his statement announcing his intention, which pulled few punches:

Since slavery in this country, we have had overt policies fueled by white supremacy and racism that have oppressed African-Americans economically for generations.

This bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country.