ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — A group tasked with examining the legacy and lasting impacts of slavery and discrimination against the Black community in New York is set to hold its first public meeting Tuesday in Albany.
The New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies was formed in Dec. 2023, when Governor Kathy Hochul signed a measure securing its establishment. Appointments were then announced in Feb. 2024.
“Today’s announcement is an important step toward addressing the legacy of slavery and its impact on present day realities,” Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado said at the time. “Through the work of this Commission, our state can lead in what should be a national conversation about the truth of our past, and the healing work required to create a more just future.”
But New York is not the only state to have taken similar steps. In 2021, Virginia lawmakers passed a measure requiring the Commonwealth’s five oldest colleges and universities to research their historical involvement with slavery and “provide a tangible benefit for individuals or communities with connections to enslaved labor to break cycles of poverty,” for example.
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Tuesday’s first public meeting of New York’s reparations remedies commission also marks the beginning of the one-year timeline the governor laid out, by the end of which commission members must have released their report with findings and recommendations for next steps.
“The formation of the Commission to study reparations and racial justice represents not only an acknowledgement of the past but also a commitment to rectifying long-standing injustices,” Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said at the time the commission’s appointments were announced. “I am honored to appoint Dr. Darrick Hamilton, renowned economist and scholar; Dr. Seanelle Hawkins, a leader in community advocacy and engagement; and Linda Tarrant-Reid, an accomplished historian and activities, as our appointees. Their diverse expertise and profound commitment to justice make them invaluable to our mission.”
Stewart-Cousins, Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie each appointed three members to the nine-member commission.
“I am honored to appoint Dr. Ron Daniels, Lurie Daniel Favors and Rev. Dr. Deborah D. Jenkins,” Heastie said. “I have full faith in them and their fellow members of the commission as they take on the responsibility of examining our state’s history of slavery and how its legacy continues to impact the lives of Black New Yorkers today. I look forward to their report as we remain committed to dismantling centuries of racial, economic and institutional injustices across our state.”
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Other appointments include Jennifer Jones Austin, Timothy R. Hogues and Linda Brown-Robinson.
CBS6 reached out to the commission Monday for insight on the plans for Tuesday’s first public meeting, but has not gotten a response.
According to a release, the commission, which will be given $5 million to conduct its work, will hold public hearings to solicit input, and then submit its findings and recommendations one year from now.