Gov. Hochul signs the Reparations Bill

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor-at-Large
Given the unrelenting community pressure, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Reparations Bill, which had lingered for almost 6 months but had a fast-approaching December 31st, 2023, deadline.
It happened on December 19, 2023, at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan, filled with electeds, activists, lobbyists and reparation advocates. After 30 minutes of talking about the bill, New York’s slave-holding legacy, and steadily recounting her blue-collar family’s civil-rights-affiliated credentials, Gov. Hochul finally signed the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies Act. There was much fanfare, happy tears, and a sense of community achievement.

Gov. Hochul quoted Dr. Martin Luther King and cited Harriet Tubman and Thomas Jefferson – who had over 600 enslaved Black people. Gov. Hochul stated, “Today, we are continuing our efforts to right the wrongs of the past by acknowledging the painful legacy of slavery in New York,” Governor Hochul said. “We have a moral obligation to reckon with all parts of our shared history as New Yorkers, and this commission marks a critical step forward in these efforts.”
The governor’s office states that “S.1163-A/A.7691 establishes the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies and acknowledges the fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery.”
“Our persistent demand for the NYS Governor to sign this historic NYS Reparations Bill passed by the Senate and Assembly on June 8, 2023, was finally signed and made into law on December 19, 2023,” long-time reparations advocate Amadi Ajamu told Our Time Press. “The bill (S.1163A) establishes a Community Commission on Reparations Remedies. As we move forward, we must maintain our principles and our historical view of the political, economic, and social repair that needs to be addressed in these critical remedies. This Commission has a very important mission and must stay on point. It must define these remedies transparently on every level, including the debt owed to the descendants of enslaved Africans, the Jim Crow century, and their continued exploitation to this day.”

“The reparations bill signed by the governor represents the power of the community to force the government to do the right thing,” City Councilman Charles Barron told Our Time Press. “This bill that I wrote and sponsored was amended from a community commission to become a somewhat watered-down state commission.
“I think Gov. Hochul is a hypocrite. She has the power over a $129 billion state budget to take of homelessness, unemployment, and poverty in the Black community and to make sure that we have more than adequate healthcare – the very things that we need a reparations commission to address but refuses to do so. We will be organizing a People’s Commission in 2024.”
A smiling Dr. Ron Daniels, President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century, told Our Time Press, “I think it is good that the vision of Queen Mother Moore and Charles Barron is finally reaching fruition. The long and arduous struggle in New York should have been first, but we are glad that New York is now joining and coming to the forefront of the US and global reparations movement. We hope that President Biden is watching so that he will follow suit.”
“Today, in one respect, was a victory in the fact the Governor finally addressed the demand by Black folks in New York. However, this bill is not like the Emancipation Proclamation. This is a bill that sets up a commission,’’ staunch reparations advocate Attorney Roger Wareham told Our Time Press. “The real work begins now in how you make this commission do what it needs to do, so in the December 12th Movement, we are going to be calling for the setting up of a People’s Commission. We will be holding a ‘Victory, Let’s Get to Work’ rally in January to continue the involvement of the community and make sure that whatever comes out of this commission reflects the real demands of Black folks in New York State.”
Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie said, “African Americans have been subjected to racial, economic, and institutional injustices that have plagued our communities for decades – we can create legislative solutions and political structures that can make a lasting impact.”

State Senator Jabari Brisport told Our Time Press that the day was important because “it represents another step in the decades-long fight by radical Black activists to fight for reparations, a debt owed to our people. It is not the end of our journey; it’s the beginning of a new chapter, and we are looking forward to the second.”
State Senator Cordell Cleare cried when Our Time Press asked why it was so personal to her. “The children of the offspring of slavery, of Jim Crow, police brutality, the disparities in healthcare and education – those things continue to plague us. Finally, we get recognition. We get an opportunity for someone to look at that damage when people say Black people are this or that…they don’t understand the root causes of all those things. So this is a step towards justice, not just in terms of compensation, but also for justice.”
“This is a day that we have been waiting for for generations,” State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told Our Time Press. “It acknowledges that New York had a role in the slave trade, and it is so important that we be honest about what happened, and this is the beginning of that acknowledgment.”
“My mother, Portland Zinerman, is 81 years old,” Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman told Our Time Press, “born in Suffolk, Virginia, and migrated to Brooklyn in the fifties. She has seen segregation, sharecropping, the Voting Rights Act, the first Black president, and now has her daughter witness the necessary repair for our family and so many others who were victims of the transatlantic slave trade. I get to sit here and witness the signing of the bill.”
“I am at peace,” New York State Senator James Sanders Jr. told Our Time Press. “The battle to get here has been interesting. I am at peace with this phase as we gear up for the next phase. It’s going to be ten times tougher than this because of ignorance.”
Bill co-sponsor Assemblymember Michaelle C. Solages said, “Reparations lay the groundwork for a future where all New Yorkers can thrive and prosper. I commend the Legislature, the Governor, and advocates for their collaborative efforts. I am proud to have sponsored this legislation and eager to continue advancing together in shaping our shared future.”
Brooklyn NAACP President L. Joy Williams said, “We extend our deepest gratitude to the Honorable Charles Barron, who began this journey along with N’COBRA, December 12th Movement at the Institute for the Black World when legislation was introduced in 2017 and included a community-driven process.”

*FULL DISCLOSURE: This reporter is also working with the office of State Senator Codell Cleare.