North -American representative Yvette Clark did not have to look on Wednesday the legacy of segregation and discrimination in the United States.
Were right behind them.
“Each member of my back, their mothers were born in segregation,” said Clark, D-ny. During a press conference at the Capitol in the United States. “Our mothers, not great -grandmothers, were born in policies that followed the slavery of Chattel.”
Clark, the President of the Black Caucus Congressjoined Massachusetts’ representative Ayanna Pressley, and a coalition of black legislators, as Pressley refiled a long -term bill This would finally establish a national commission to study repairs for the descendants of the north -enslaved American and the economic discrimination that resulted in.
“To be clear, this bill is not a symbolic gesture, but a significant step in repairing the deep structural injustices that continue to hurt current black communities,” said Pressley, D-7th District.
Nord -American Senator Cory Booker, DN.J., sponsor a colleague bill on the other side of Capitol Hill, Pressley, added that his proposal so far has attracted the support of more than 70 of his cabbage · Legs.
The calendar of the announcement, during the observance of this year of the month of black history, and the ongoing attacks on the diversity policies of the Trump White House, emphasized the urgency of the “long -defeated” commission. , Pressley continued
“What point of critical inflection in America. The time could not be more urgent, “said Boston Democrat.” There is no better time to introduce this bill than during the month of black history, a time when we reflect on our history, our struggle And our collective power.
Efforts to create the date of the study commission until 1989, when the late U.S. representative, John Cogners, D-Mich., entered the first version of the legislation.
Cogners, who died in 2019, did not live to see his proposal signed in the law.
Nor does the representative Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas., Who kneaded the bill during the last session of the congress. Lee died on July 19, 2024 in Houston.
Lee’s daughter, former American representative, Erica Lee Carter, D-Texas, who performed the balance of his mother’s mandate for the 18th Congressional District Seat at the Lone State, was at a His disposition on Wednesday for the press conference.
“This fight against injustice is personal for her and me,” Lee Carter said, referring to Pressley. )[The bill] It is a long time and even more necessary in this administration, as hatred is encouraged, discrimination is promoted and code words are used to publicize the worst of our north -Americans. “”
Lee Carter paid tribute to Pinyers and his efforts to advance the legislation, saying that “he understood, from the founding of the country, closed the enslaves of African offspring and the disparity was written in our Constitution” .
A 2024 report from the Brookings Institution found that while black wealth grows in general, The racial wealth gap has also increased.
Between 2019 and 2022, “median wealth increased by $ 51,800, but the racial wealth gap increased by $ 49,950, and added a total difference of $ 240,120 in richness between the average white home and the home. Median black, “found the study.
Lee Carter said on Wednesday that he has traveled around the country, talking to a wide variety of people, working to convince them that the group of repairs is not a “useless exercise or exercise”.
“They and we know that we are nothing without official registration and documentation, you cannot get the mistakes without a precise record of these errors,” he said, comparing the commission to file an insurance claim.
The bill asks the nation “to look under the hood and identify what has been wrong for hundreds of years and determines if there are ways to repair [it]. “”
The North -American Representative, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Dn.j., offered an additional framing, drawing a line of intergenerational continuity between Cogners, Jackson Lee and Pressley.
“So I am grateful to my little sister Ayanna for collecting this missing legislation, great Sheila Jackson Lee,” said Watson Coleman. “This is the legacy of Lee’s representative. And we represent his legacy … Ayanna continues with this legacy at a time when courage and commitment to justice are needed now more than ever.”
Pressley made it clear on Wednesday that the effort will extend very past the month of black history. It is there to win –
“I think it’s really important in these moments that we call something something. We are in a time of anti-black on steroids and we refuse to silence,” he said. “We will not look for racial justice again.”
“… So today, we have an option. You can continue to maintain an unfair status quo, or we can work actively to alter it,” he said.
Wednesday’s event also comes as cities and states across the country, including Boston, consider or have been approved, Repairs for their black citizens.
During an appearance in GBH News ”Boston Public Radio program ” On Wednesday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who is re -election this year, was asked about her city efforts to improve minorities and women who contract.
“What Boston represents and what we are such a clear proof is that when you look at the reality of our communities,” said Wu, who faces his Democrat Josh Kraft at this year’s ballot box.
“When we look at the disparities that exist between the results on health and longevity or income of homes or home ownership, it is very clear that historically, policies have taken us to this point,” he continued . “And policies are needed to ensure that we all benefit from the full participation of our entire community, economically and in another way.”