RESOLUTION NO. _________, SERIES 2021
TITLE
A RESOLUTION RELATING TO THE SUPPORT OF FEDERAL REPARATIONS LEGISLATION AND THE PURPOSE OF HOUSE RESOLUTION 40 OF THE 117TH CONGRESS (AMENDMENT BY SUBSTITUTION).
BODY
SPONSORED BY: COUNCIL PRESIDENT JAMES AND
COUNCIL MEMBERS ARTHUR, CHAMBERS ARMSTRONG, AND PURVIS
WHEREAS, from 1619 to 1865, roughly 4,000,000 Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and its predecessor colonies; and
WHEREAS, slavery as an institution was officially sanctioned and enshrined by the United States Government in its Constitution and its statutes; and
WHEREAS, the institution of slavery served to brutally and immorally deprive Africans of their birthright citizenship, and to strip them and their descendants of agency and liberty over their lives, and of the fruits of their own hard labor; and
WHEREAS, the abolition of the institution of sanctioning the actual ownership of human beings in no way ended practices at the federal, state and local levels that effectively kept enslaved people and their descendants in positions of servitude and at an economic disadvantage - practices such as redlining, share cropping, unequal educational opportunities, disproportionately harsh treatment by the criminal justice system, among others; and
WHEREAS, as a result of these longstanding and pernicious practices, Black Americans continue to be burdened with significantly worse health, educational, and employment opportunities, leading to significantly higher incarceration rates, unemployment at over twice the rate of White Americans, and an accumulated wealth of only 1/16th of that currently held by White households; and
WHEREAS, on January 4, 2021, the United States House of Representatives introduced legislation to commence the process of addressing these inequities, through House Resolution 40; and,
WHEREAS, the legislation's stated purpose is to create a Commission to study and develop reparations pro...
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