NYC bills propose sign marking Wall Street as first slave market, along with reparations study

If signed into law, the package of bills passed by the City Council would follow in the footsteps of several U.S. municipalities that have sought ways to address the country’s dark history, as well as a separate New York state commission that has begun to work this out. year.

New York completely abolished slavery in 1827. But businesses, including the predecessors of some modern banks, continued to benefit financially from the slave trade—perhaps as late as 1866. Legislators behind the proposals noted that the institution’s damage is still being felt by to Black Americans today.

“The reparations movement is often misunderstood as simply a call for reparations,” Farah Louis, a Democrat who sponsored one of the bills, told the City Council on Thursday. She explained that systemic forms of oppression still affect people through redlining, environmental racism, and services in predominantly black neighborhoods that are underfunded.

The bills still have to be signed off by Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. The City Hall signaled its support in a statement calling the legislation “another crucial step toward addressing systemic inequities, promoting reconciliation, and creating a fairer and more equitable future for all New Yorkers.”

The bills would direct the city’s Commission on Racial Equity to suggest remedies for the legacy 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 Manhattan’s Wall Street to mark the site of New York’s first slave market, which operated from 1711 to 1762. A sign was placed nearby in 2015 , but Attorney General Jumaane D. Williams, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said its location was inaccurate.

The commission would work with the existing state commission, which is also considering the possibility of reparations. A report from the state commission, which held its first public hearing in late July, is expected in early 2025. The city’s effort is not expected to produce recommendations until 2027.

The city commission was created out of a 2021 racial justice initiative during then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which also recommended the city track data on the cost of living and added a commitment to fix “ past and continuing damages” in the preamble to the city charter. .

“Your call and your ancestors’ call for reparations did not go unheard,” Linda Tigani, executive director of the racial equity commission, said at a news conference before the council’s vote.

A financial impact analysis of the bills estimated the studies would cost $2.5 million.

New York is the latest city to study repairs. Tulsa, Oklahoma, site of a notorious massacre of black residents in 1921, announced a similar commission last month.

Evanston, Illinois, became the first city to offer reparations to black residents and their descendants in 2021, including handing out $25,000 in payments in 2023, according to PBS. Eligibility was based on harm suffered as a result of the city’s discriminatory housing policies or practices.

San Francisco approved the repairs in February, but the mayor later cut the funding, saying the repairs should instead be done by the federal government. California budgeted $12 million for a reparations program that included helping black residents research their ancestors, but it was defeated by the state Legislature this month.