A hearing at Capitol Hill on the topic of reparations for slavery will take place on Wednesday, with actor Danny Glover and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates set to testify.
What We Know:
- The hearing is title “House Resolution 40 and the Path to Restorative Justice” and will be held on June 19, which coincides with Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved blacks in America.
- The purpose of H.R. 40 is “to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its continuing impact on the community and the path to restorative justice.” The topic for hasn’t been the subject of a House hearing since 2007.
- Coates put a spotlight on the subject in 2014 with his piece, “The Case for Reparations.” Glover, an activist as well as the star of the Lethal Weapon movies and The Color Purple, has spoken in favor of the issue for years.
- The bill is sponsored by Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas. Former Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan first proposed the bill in 1989 and has reintroduced it every session of Congress until his resignation in 2017.
- According to CNN, a commission of 13 members will compile a report of findings and recommendations on the issue and send it to Congress.
The topic has been supported by many 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates, who have proposed different policies. Book author and candidate Marianne Williamson unveiled a proposal to give $100 billion to black Americans. While Senator Kamala D. Harris suggested in a March interview with NPR that reparations could take on the form of mental health treatment for black Americans.
