In the 2023 legislative session, both houses of the New York State Legislature passed the Reparations & Remedies Communities Act but, thus far, the Governor has failed to sign the bill into law.  

The law would create a commission to examine the impact of slavery and its legacy on living Black New Yorkers, and then make recommendations for reparations. The commission would hold public hearings to solicit community input.

Please join the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian (BPHA) Legislative Caucus in demanding that Gov. Hochul listen to New Yorkers who want restorative justice in our state. As Bryan Stevenson has put it, “slavery didn’t end in 1865, it just evolved.” We, as New Yorkers, must reckon with this legacy and pay what is due to those impacted by our state’s history of anti-Black racism.  

Wall Street was a slave market. The New York corporations that still operate here today profited off the slave economy. During this time, New York received 40% of cotton revenue in the United States.

As slavery was abolished, lawmakers at every level of government began creating policies designed to keep the cost of Black labor as low as possible and preserve White supremacy. The legacy of these policies – from red-lining to mass incarceration – still actively harm Black communities today.

Please send an email now to demand that Gov. Hochul sign the Reparations & Remedies Community Act into law immediately.

Learn more about the BPHA Caucus at bphacaucus.com