Black New Yorkers Reveal How Much They Want in Reparations from the State and What They Think These Payments Should Look Like

Black New York residents have some provocative thoughts on the issue of reparations as compensation for slavery and other ‘racial injustices.’

Back in December 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill that established a “community commission to study the history of slavery in New York state” to examine “various forms of reparations.”

Less than a year later, an emboldened NYC council passed slavery reparations legislation to ‘yield material solutions’ from US history.

FOX News caught up with activists following a New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies last Saturday and asked them several questions, including how much the reparations should cost.

One New Yorker said that the cost per resident should be “$800,000 for each foundation of Black Americans.”

“We need $800,000 for each foundation of Black Americans. That’s simple,” Aubrey Muhammud told Fox News in an interview. “That’s in New York.”

“That’s about the cost of living that’ll get you a home, or a small business, or for you to recover from any financial duress.”

New Yorkers had differing opinions on what such payments should look like, however. One thought it should operate like a central bank for black people.

“I think it should be, me personally, I think there should be a new Freedmen’s Bureau back, and that is like a central bank almost to Black America and would be distributed to Black communities,” Rex Burns said.

Others said the state government should write a check.

“It shouldn’t only be a check, but it should start with a check,” Brooke Lean told Fox News.

Regardless of the final payment amount and method, locals who attended the public hearing said that the government owed them after their ancestors were enslaved.

“I think that we are owed a debt,” Caprice Reins told Fox News.

Attendee Tanasia Poke added that financial compensation is the only way to achieve “true justice.”

“It’s been the greatest impact to our community overall, generationally. And so, by policy and finance, it’s how it’s been institutionalized in the first place. It is the way to repair it,” Poke said.

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