MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – There is a call to action to stop a bill making its way through the state House and Senate chambers.
If passed, the bill would not allow local governments to give reparations to descendants of slaves.
It’s a bill that was introduced in 2023 and halted just over a year ago, but now it is moving again.
House Bill 0474 sponsored by Representative John Ragan of Anderson County is up for discussion on April 10.
The Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 0429 is sponsored by Senator Brent Taylor of Shelby County.
According to online records, in April of last year the Senate adopted and passed Senate Bill 0429 as amended. The amendment rewrote the bill to “prohibit a county, municipality, or metropolitan government from expending funds for the purposes of studying or disbursing reparations.”
Reparations meaning money or benefits provided to people who are the descendants of people who were enslaved.
The House version was up for discussion on Thursday but was moved to April 10.
A group in Memphis has started a petition to get the bill withdrawn immediately.
“I don’t think it will impact what is happening in Shelby County as it stands. But it will compromise and suppress some of the efforts going forward, if we are ever going to get to the truth and if we are ever going to experience the racial and economic harmony and equity that so many people say they want. This bill compromises our ability to accomplish that,” said Rev. Earle Fisher, pastor of Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church.
Fisher says there is still a lot of work to be done to get this bill withdrawn. He also said although Memphis and Shelby County are not specifically listed in this bill he still feels like the county and city are being targeted with this legislation.
Right now, the petition to withdraw this bill has just over 1,000 signatures.
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