Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 40 To address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery, its subsequent de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimi- nation against African Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 9, 2023 Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. MFUME, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. KILMER, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mr. CARSON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. COSTA, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. CHU, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. POCAN, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. LIEU, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. CUELLAR, Mrs. WATSON COLE- MAN, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. KEATING, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BUSH, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. CASE, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, and Mr. HORSFORD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to estab- VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 40 IH lish a commission to study and consider a national apol- ogy and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery, its subsequent de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appro- priate remedies, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commission to Study 4 and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 8 (1) approximately 4,000,000 Africans and their 9 descendants were enslaved in the United States and 10 colonies that became the United States from 1619 to 11 1865; 12 (2) the institution of slavery was constitu- 13 tionally and statutorily sanctioned by the Govern- 14 ment of the United States from 1789 through 1865; 15 (3) the slavery that flourished in the United 16 States constituted an immoral and inhumane depri- 17 vation of Africans’ life, liberty, African citizenship 18 rights, and cultural heritage, and denied them the 19 fruits of their own labor; 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 40 IH (4) a preponderance of scholarly, legal, commu- 1 nity evidentiary documentation and popular culture 2 markers constitute the basis for inquiry into the on- 3 going effects of the institution of slavery and its leg- 4 acy of persistent systemic structures of discrimina- 5 tion on living African Americans and society in the 6 United States; 7 (5) the brutal overthrow of Reconstruction, 8 which represented a significant but constrained mo- 9 ment of advances for Black rights as epitomized by 10 the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Con- 11 stitution, the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 12 and the Freedman’s Bureau, failed African Ameri- 13 cans by failing to ensure their safety and security; 14 (6) following the abolition of slavery and end of 15 Reconstruction the United States Government, 16 through laws enacted at the Federal, State, and 17 local level, continued to perpetuate, condone and 18 profit from practices that continued to brutalize and 19 disadvantage African Americans, including share 20 cropping, convict leasing, Jim Crow, redlining, un- 21 equal education, and disproportionate treatment at 22 the hands of the criminal justice system, resulting in 23 stolen labor and ultimately forestalling landmark 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 40 IH contributions in science, arts, commerce and public 1 service; 2 (7) the civil rights movement, and other efforts 3 to redress grievances arising from systemic inequi- 4 ties, were sabotaged, both intentionally and uninten- 5 tionally, thus rendering the accomplishments of 6 those efforts transitory and unsustainable, and fur- 7 ther embedding racial inequality in society; 8 (8) examples of discriminatory Federal Govern- 9 ment actions directed against African Americans in- 10 clude— 11 (A) the creation of the Federal Housing 12 Administration, which adopted specific policies 13 designed to incentivize residential segregation; 14 (B) the enactment of legislation creating 15 the Social Security program, for which most Af- 16 rican Americans were purposely rendered ineli- 17 gible during its first two decades; 18 (C) the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 19 1944 (commonly known as the GI Bill of 20 Rights; 58 Stat. 284, chapter 268), which left 21 administration of its programs to the States, 22 thus enabling discrimination against African- 23 American veterans; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 40 IH (D) the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1 1938, which allowed labor unions to discrimi- 2 nate based on race; and 3 (9) as a result of the historic and continued dis- 4 crimination, African Americans continue to suffer 5 debilitating economic, educational, and health hard- 6 ships including but not limited to having nearly 7 1,000,000 Black people incarcerated; an unemploy- 8 ment rate more than twice the current White unem- 9 ployment rate; and an average of less than 1⁄16 of 10 the wealth of White families, a disparity which has 11 worsened, not improved over time. 12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab- 13 lish a commission to study and develop Reparation pro- 14 posals for African Americans as a result of— 15 (1) the institution of slavery, including both the 16 Trans-Atlantic and the domestic ‘‘trade’’ which ex- 17 isted from 1565 in colonial Florida and from 1619 18 through 1865 within the other colonies that became 19 the United States, and which included the Federal 20 and State governments which constitutionally and 21 statutorily supported the institution of slavery; 22 (2) the de jure and de facto discrimination 23 against freed slaves and their descendants from the 24 end of the Civil War to the present, including eco- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 40 IH nomic, political, educational, and social discrimina- 1 tion; 2 (3) the lingering negative effects of the institu- 3 tion of slavery and the discrimination described in 4 paragraphs (1) and (2) on living African Americans 5 and on society in the United States; 6 (4) the manner in which textual and digital in- 7 structional resources and technologies are being used 8 to deny the inhumanity of slavery and the crime 9 against humanity of people of African descent in the 10 United States; 11 (5) the role of Northern complicity in the 12 Southern based institution of slavery; 13 (6) the direct benefits to societal institutions, 14 public and private, including higher education, cor- 15 porations, religious, and associational; 16 (7) and thus, recommend appropriate ways to 17 educate the American public of the Commission’s 18 findings to advance racial healing, understanding, 19 and transformation; 20 (8) and thus, recommend appropriate remedies 21 in consideration of the Commission’s findings on the 22 matters described in paragraphs (1) through (7); 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 40 IH (9) submit to the Congress the results of such 1 examination, together with such recommendations. 2 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT AND DUTIES. 3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 4 legislative branch the Commission to Study and Develop 5 Reparation Proposals for African Americans (hereinafter 6 in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 7 (b) DUTIES.—The Commission shall perform the fol- 8 lowing duties: 9 (1) Identify, compile, and synthesize the rel- 10 evant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the in- 11 stitution of slavery which existed within the United 12 States and the colonies that became the United 13 States from 1619 through 1865. The Commission’s 14 documentation and examination shall include facts 15 related to— 16 (A) the capture and procurement of Afri- 17 cans; 18 (B) the transport of Africans to the United 19 States and the colonies that became the United 20 States for the purpose of enslavement, including 21 their treatment during transport; 22 (C) the sale and acquisition of Africans 23 and their descendants as chattel property in 24 interstate and intrastate commerce; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 40 IH (D) the treatment of African slaves and 1 their descendants in the colonies and the 2 United States, including the deprivation of their 3 freedom, exploitation of their labor, and de- 4 struction of their culture, language, religion, 5 and families; and 6 (E) the extensive denial of humanity, sex- 7 ual abuse, and the chatellization of persons. 8 (2) Study and analyze the role which the Fed- 9 eral and State governments of the United States 10 supported the institution of slavery in constitutional 11 and statutory provisions, including the extent to 12 which such governments prevented, opposed, or re- 13 stricted efforts of formerly enslaved Africans and 14 their descendants to repatriate to their homeland. 15 (3) Study and analyze the effects of laws en- 16 acted by the Federal Government and State govern- 17 ments with discriminatory intent or discriminatory 18 effect on the formerly enslaved Africans and their 19 descendants following the overdue recognition of 20 such persons as United States citizens beginning in 21 1868. 22 (4) Study and analyze the other forms of dis- 23 crimination in the public and private sectors against 24 freed African slaves and their descendants who were 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 40 IH belatedly accorded their rightful status as United 1 States citizens from 1868 to the present, including 2 redlining, educational funding discrepancies, and 3 predatory financial practices. 4 (5) Study and analyze the lingering negative ef- 5 fects of the institution of slavery and the matters de- 6 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (7) of section 2(b) 7 on living African Americans and on society in the 8 United States. 9 (6) Recommend appropriate ways to educate 10 the American public of the Commission’s findings to 11 advance racial healing, understanding, and trans- 12 formation. 13 (7) Recommend appropriate remedies in consid- 14 eration of the Commission’s findings on the matters 15 described in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and 16 (6). In making such recommendations, the Commis- 17 sion shall address, among other issues, the following 18 questions: 19 (A) How such recommendations comport 20 with international standards of remedy for 21 wrongs and injuries caused by the State, that 22 include full reparations and special measures, 23 as understood by various relevant international 24 protocols, laws, and findings. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 40 IH (B) How the Government of the United 1 States will offer a formal apology on behalf of 2 the people of the United States for the per- 3 petration of gross human rights violations and 4 crimes against humanity on African slaves and 5 their descendants. 6 (C) How Federal laws and policies that 7 continue to disproportionately and negatively 8 affect African Americans as a group, and those 9 that perpetuate the lingering effects, materially 10 and psycho-social, can be eliminated. 11 (D) How the injuries resulting from mat- 12 ters described in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), 13 (5), and (6) can be reversed and provide appro- 14 priate policies, programs, projects, and rec- 15 ommendations for the purpose of reversing the 16 injuries. 17 (E) How, in consideration of the Commis- 18 sion’s findings, any form of compensation to the 19 descendants of enslaved Africans is calculated. 20 (F) What form of compensation should be 21 awarded, through what instrumentalities, and 22 who should be eligible for such compensation. 23 (G) How, in consideration of the Commis- 24 sion’s finding, what forms of satisfaction, in ad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jan 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H40.IH H40 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 40 IH dition to apology, should be implemented in an 1 effort toward return of dignity and racial heal- 2 ing, and reconciliation. 3 (H) How, in consideration of the Commis- 4 sion’s findings, any other forms of rehabilita- 5 tion or restitution to African descendants is 6 warranted and what the form and scope of 7 those measures should take. 8 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Commission shall 9 submit a written report of its findings and recommenda- 10 tions to the Congress not later than the date which is 18 11 months after the date of the first meeting of the full Com- 12 mission held pursuant to section 4(f). 13 SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP. 14 (a) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT.— 15 (1) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall be 16 composed of 15 members, who shall be appointed as 17 follows: 18 (A) POLITICALLY APPOINTED MEMBERS.— 19 Not later than 60 days after the date of enact- 20 ment of this Act: 21 (i) Three members s [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]