ALBANY- Governor Kathy Hochul and leaders in the State Senate and Assembly earlier this week announced appointments to the state’s Community Commission on Reparations Remedies. The commission, which was formed largely along party lines in 2023 and garnered some Republican support, is set to begin its work in the coming weeks.
Slavery was fully abolished in New York by 1827 and the newly formed commission is tasked with fully examining the ongoing impact of slavery on New Yorkers.
“As Americans, we have a solemn responsibility to reckon with our history and that includes understanding the painful legacy of slavery in New York,” Hochul said. “We have assembled an extraordinary group of highly-qualified individuals to serve on the new Commission, and will review their final recommendations.”
The commission has a broad mandate and is empowered to look at more than just the institution of slavery. It is tasked with studying the lingering negative effects of slavery and discrimination on living people of African descent in New York and make recommendations including possible cash payments to decedents of individuals who were enslaved.
Hochul and the Democratic leaders of the Senate and Assembly each had three appointments to the new commission.
Hochul appointed Jennifer Jones Austin, the CEO and Executive Director of FPWA, an anti-poverty policy and advocacy nonprofit; Timothy Hogues, her Commissioner for the Department of Civil Service and President of the Civil Service Commission; and Linda Brown-Robinson, the Immediate Past President of the Syracuse Onondaga NAACP.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins appointed Darrick Hamilton, Ph.D., a university professor, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and the founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School; Linda Tarrant-Reid, an author, historian, freelance journalist, photographer and community activist; and Seanelle Hawkins, the President and CEO of the Urban League of Rochester.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie appointed Dr. Ron Daniels, the Founder and President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century; Lurie Daniel Favors, Esq., the Executive Director at the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College; and Rev. Dr. Deborah D. Jenkins, Founding Pastor of Faith @Work Christian Church.
The commission will have one year to provide a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and legislature and plans to hold public hearings to solicit input from stakeholders.