Kathy Hochul signs bill authorizing slavery reparations task force in New York

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed a bill on Tuesday authorizing the creation of a task force examining reparations for slavery in New York.

The law creates a task force that will look into the effects of slavery and racism in the Empire State while looking at the possibility of giving reparations to descendants of enslaved people. Hochul signed the bill at a ceremony alongside black leaders on Tuesday, reminding people that slavery was not just a product of the South but occurred in other states in the early history of the United States.

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“Today, I challenge all New Yorkers to be the patriots and rebuke, and not excuse, our role in benefiting from the institution of slavery,” Hochul said Tuesday at a press conference.

Slavery was legal in New York until 1827 and was outlawed nationwide with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. The New York governor said that despite slavery being outlawed in those respective years, it did not end the “terrible wounds” of the institution.

“Our state still remained a dominant player in the illegal slave trade,” Hochul said. “The practice continued, and our financial and business institutions prospered. Even when the Confederacy surrendered at Appomattox in 1865, that ended that terrible bloody conflict. It didn’t mark the end of slavery’s terrible wounds. It didn’t end then. If it did, we wouldn’t be having a conversation today. Former slaves and their children and their children’s children across our nation have been haunted by racism and disenfranchisement.”

Hochul also said by signing the task force into law, New Yorkers can help “bend the whole universe” closer to justice.

“Today this is our opportunity, New Yorkers,” she said. “All of us can be the heroes and do the hard work of acknowledging the ugly truths of the past, and do our part to keep [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s] dream alive and help bend the whole universe a little closer to justice by our actions here today.”

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The law comes three years after California authorized a commission of its own to explore reparations for past slavery and racism against black people.

The California task force provided a formula for reparations payments in its final report, which was released earlier this year. The calculations were separated into categories for alleged health harms, over-policing, housing discrimination, property takings, and devaluation of businesses. The California legislature has yet to act on the reparations proposals from the task force.