Eric Adams supports controversial bill which decides whether black New Yorkers deserve reparations for slavery
- Mayor Eric Adams supports the ‘spirit and intent’ of NYC black reparations bill
- Sideya Sherman said the controversial bill should be tweaked to avoid overlapping with two comparable state bills
- It’s unclear how much would be spent on reparations in New York, economists in California found as much as $800 billion would be needed for pay-outs.
The office for New York City Mayor Eric Adams says it supports the ‘spirit’ legislation that could trigger black New Yorkers to be paid reparations for slavery.
Sideya Sherman, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity, said the controversial bill should be tweaked to avoid overlapping with two comparable state bills.
The bill, which was created by Councilwoman Farah Louis to launch a task force to study the effects of racial discrimination on the city could potentially lead to payments being issued, The Post reports.
During a City Council hearing on September 19, Sherman said any reparations task force needs to spend more than one-year maximum in Louis’ bill before advising their findings.
She advised while some bills, which are part of a package of eight which dig into the City Council legislation hoped to remedy ‘racial injustices’, Mayor Adams and her office support their ‘spirit and intent’.
While it’s unclear how much would be spent on reparations in New York, economists in California found as much as $800 billion would be needed for pay-outs.
The estimate is more than 2.5 times California’s $300 billion annual budget, and does not include a recommended $1 million per older Black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average life span.
Last month, a poll revealed more than half of California voters do not support cash reparations for slavery – after Gov Newsom’s task force recommended residents be given $5million handout.
The research showed a potential issue for lawmakers as they begin to consider reparation in the state next year.
Governor Gavin Newsom set up a reparation task force, which suggested awarding every black resident $5million.
It also believes that those entitled to the cash should have their personal debt wiped and guarantee a $97,000 income for 250 years and $1 homes.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey commissioned by the Los Angeles Times found that 59 percent of voters oppose cash payments.
After two years of deliberation, the task force sent a final report and recommendations to the state capitol – where a decision will be made on the matter.
The group suggested that cash payments to all descendants should be based on health disparities, mass incarceration and over-policies as well as housing discrimination.
Up to $13,619 is recommended for health disparities each year the person has resided in California – which was worked out by comparing life expectancy between Black non-Hispanic and white non-Hispanic Californians.
Eligible descendants are recommended to be given $2,352 for mass incarceration, and housing discrimination is $3,378 for each year between 1933 and 1977, if they resided in California.
It comes as Adams met with migrants in Ecuador but stopped short of telling them not to come to the Big Apple.
Adams greeted residents of a family shelter in Quito as part of his tour of Latin America in which he was supposedly setting out to deter asylum seekers from attempting to enter the US.
But staffers at the Fundación Gotitas de Oblación, where Adams spent about an hour with 10 migrant families, were surprised to hear Adams was meant to be deterring people from heading to Gotham, The Post reports.
‘I didn’t know anything about that,’ said one of the shelter supervisors reportedly said through a translator.
‘He just came and said good job.’
Employees claimed Adams was eager to learn about the non-profit shelter and the services it provides as well as how they help migrants into work and homes.
One worker who gave Adams a tour of the facility claimed the mayor never brought up migrants — or the US.