H.R. bills (117th Congress)
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
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 discrimination 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.
Ms. Jackson Lee (for herself, Ms. Plaskett, Mr. Rush, Mr. Espaillat, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Norton, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Khanna, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Norcross, Mr. Ruppersberger, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Meng, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Welch, Mrs. Trahan, Ms. Pressley, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Green of Texas, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs. Dingell, Ms. Adams, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mr. Beyer, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr. Crow, Mr. Suozzi, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Nadler, Mr. McGovern, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Jones, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Keating, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Evans, Ms. Speier, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Strickland, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Velázquez, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Payne, Mr. Morelle, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mrs. Demings, Mr. Bera, Mr. Takano, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Schakowsky, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. Titus, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Mfume, Mr. Carson, Ms. Fudge, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Barragán, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Brown, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Neal, Mr. Pallone, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Costa, Mr. Horsford, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Soto, Ms. Dean, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Casten, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Veasey, Miss Rice of New York, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Omar, Ms. Bass, Mr. Peters, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Butterfield, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Chu, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Foster, and Ms. Bush) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
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 discrimination 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act”.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.—The Congress finds that—
(1) approximately 4,000,000 Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and colonies that became the United States from 1619 to 1865;
(2) the institution of slavery was constitutionally and statutorily sanctioned by the Government of the United States from 1789 through 1865;
(3) the slavery that flourished in the United States constituted an immoral and inhumane deprivation of Africans’ life, liberty, African citizenship rights, and cultural heritage, and denied them the fruits of their own labor;
(4) a preponderance of scholarly, legal, community evidentiary documentation and popular culture markers constitute the basis for inquiry into the on-going effects of the institution of slavery and its legacy of persistent systemic structures of discrimination on living African Americans and society in the United States;
(5) following the abolition of slavery the United States Government, at the Federal, State, and local level, continued to perpetuate, condone and often profit from practices that continued to brutalize and disadvantage African Americans, including share cropping, convict leasing, Jim Crow, redlining, unequal education, and disproportionate treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system; and
