NY creates commission to study slavery reparations

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)-- In New York City, Governor Kathy Hochul signed racial justice legislation.

She said while New York State prides itself on the Underground Railroad and the thousands of New York Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War, the state does have an ugly side to its history.

"Yes, here in New York, there was a slave market, where people bought and sold other human beings with callous disregard," said Hochul. "It happened right on Wall Street for more than a century."

According to Hochul, it’s time to acknowledge those injustices.

"I’m authorizing the creation of a commission—a committee to study what reparations might look like in New York. Let’s be clear about what reparations mean. It doesn’t mean fixing the past and undoing what happened. We can’t do that, nobody can. But it does mean more than giving people a simple apology 150 years later."

According to the law, the governor, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, will each get to appoint three people to the commission within 90 days.

New York is not the first state to do this.

California Senator, Steven Bradford, served on California’s Reparations Task Force and shared some of the 115 recommendations that were put forth. "From free education at our college systems to assistance with first-time homebuyers, to relief from state taxes for a period of time, to even cash payments," explained Bradford.

In California, it’s now up to the legislature to decide which recommendations move forward. "The Black Caucus primarily will take the lead on introducing those pieces of legislation," said Bradford.

Here in New York, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt is against the legislation. “The reparations of slavery were paid with the blood and lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans who fought to end slavery during the Civil War….As we’ve seen in California, I am confident this commission's recommendations will be unrealistic, will come at an astronomical cost to all New Yorkers, and will only further divide our state,” said Ortt.

We will continue to follow the process as appointments are announced.