Reparations commission approved by NYC Council

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- What does New York City owe to people whose ancestors were enslaved, and to others who were negatively impacted by the slave trade? That's what a commission that the New York City Council created with a vote on Thursday will try to answer over the next three years.

More than half of the council's members co-sponsored a bill that will create a commission to study "the impacts of slavery and its legacies in New York City and recommending potential reparative measures for resulting harms." The measure passed by a strong margin on Thursday afternoon. 

Hours before the final testimony and vote, supporters of the legislation held a rally on the steps of City Hall. As they pointed out, the early American building was constructed in part by enslaved people. 

One of the supporters, Ammie Belle Olatunji, who turns 95 next month, said that the bill's time is overdue. 

"I want to get my reparations in my lifetime," she said.

Elsewhere around New York, some residents agreed with her. 

Mildred Rojas, who lives in the Bronx, reacted strongly to the news that the measure had passed. "I think that's amazing," she said, while walking past the corner of Wall and Water streets, a location near where the city's slave market had once been located. "That's really great that they approved it. It's about time."

The main sponsor of the bill is New York City Council member Farah Louis. She talked about the legislation on the PIX11 Morning News. The reparations study, she said, is meant to figure out details of what forms of compensation might be most feasible, and most applicable to communities in New York.

"We're going to work with subject experts on constitutional law, urban planning, on historical trauma," Louis said, "to make sure we get this right." 

In addition to her bill that created a commission to study reparations, three other measures related to the city's enslavement history are now also on course to become law. They were also approved in votes on Thursday afternoon.

One bill creates a commission to promote racial healing; another creates what's called a freedom trail, highlighting historical locations related to the slave trade; the third bill creates and a new historical marker that shows where the city's slave market had been located, at Wall and Pearl streets. 

That marker would replace a temporary one that's a block away on Water and Wall streets. It's where Rasheed Lucas, a Queens resident, was walking past when he told PIX11 News his reaction to the new measures. 

"[It's] something that we need put together for us, who helped build this economy," he said.   

Regarding reparations specifically, its study commission will hold public hearings, and provide updates periodically. It's supposed to make its final recommendations by July 2027. The details will be determined over the course of that time. 

The measure is consistent with a bill approved last year by New York State that creates a reparations commission at the state level. Some Republicans in the state legislature and the City Council have expressed concerns about the cost of the studies, as well as the costs of the reparations themselves. 

In response, L. Joy Williams, the president of the Brooklyn NAACP, said that it's important for all people to note that reparations are meant to make conditions better for everyone, overall, and not to target specific groups.

"No one is coming to your house to empty your personal bank account," Williams said in an interview.

The newly approved measures require mayoral approval in order to become law. Mayor Eric Adams has expressed interest in the past in supporting reparations.