New York City passes bill to create 'Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation process' to redress impacts of slavery

New York City's City Council voted this week to pass reparations legislation to that require's the city's already extant Commission on Racial Equity "to establish a Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation process in connection with the City’s historic involvement in slavery and its present-day legacies." The bill was brought to the floor by the Committee on Civil and Human Rights.

The collection of bills forms the task force to consider the creation of "freedom trails," while another would create signage in the Financial District to mark the location of a slave market during the colonial days. It would create the Truth and Reconciliation process to protect those affected, and make recommendations to prevent further injustices.

This is not a cash reparations bill, said City Council Member Farah Louis. "Financial restitutions is not what we're doing right here, what reparations is about. It's about having a conversation, putting together a committee." As for those who are concerned about the legislation, she said "they should trust the process."

In New York, slavery was ended in 1799 under a Gradual Emancipation Act, which meant no one could be born into slavery. That process was completed in 1829, ahead of the Civil War and the emancipation of all enslaved persons across the US. 

The bill, which has yet to be signed by scandal-plagued Mayor Eric Adams, contains directives for how the process would work. "The process’s objectives would be to establish facts about slavery and its ongoing legacies in the City; to protect and acknowledge affected persons and communities throughout and after the process; and to recommend changes for government and institutions to prevent recurrence and perpetuation of harm," it reads. Adams said he supports it.

It was sponsored by Council Member Crystal Hudson, who said "Our nation’s inability to properly redress such a historic wrong allows this deep injustice to continue to manifest itself in distinct and tangible ways, be it the prison industrial complex, predatory lending, redlining, or inequality in our school systems."

"CORE," the bill text continues, "would be required to hold public proceedings and conduct public engagement activities across all five boroughs, and to publish and memorialize its findings and recommendations. CORE would first undertake a two-year, participatory planning process before implementation, and would coordinate its work with the New York State community commission on reparations remedies and the reparations study."

Chair of the Committee on Civil and Human Rights Council Member Nantasha Williams, a Democrat representing a Queens district, sponsored a bill to create a "freedom trail" across the city, which is part of the package of bills attempting to redress slavery, which was abolished nearly two centuries ago. 

"This package of bills is not only about reparations. It’s not only about the truth, because we know across the country we are seeing truth completely eviscerated," she said. "It is also about making sure that we remember, through markers and trails."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul already signed a bill last year to create the "New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies," which is similar, but at the state level. The NYC commission would work together with the one established in Albany.