U.S. Rep. Summer Lee introduced a resolution Thursday that would effectively provide reparations to the descendants of Black American slaves amid a flurry actions by President Donald Trump and a Republican-led Congress to remove what they term woke policies.
Lee, a Swissvale Democrat who represents parts of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, is the latest face behind the movement calling for reparations.
She is part of what fellow U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Boston, called a deep bench of Black legislative talent that is committed to pushing for long-sought-after restitution to atone for the harms slavery perpetuated that have not ended.
Lee, Pressley and a room full of like-minded activists and supporters held the event in Washington and livestreamed it on Facebook.
The resolution makes a 135-point argument for reparations, detailing the lingering harms of slavery, racism, discrimination and violence against the descendants of Black slaves. It also details how other groups, like Japanese Americans who were interred during World War II and 9/11 victims, were provided restitution by the government.
“This country needs to fix what it broke many years ago,” said former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Missouri.
Bush previously introduced the legislation. It and previous wholesale attempts at paying restitution to relatives of slaves have largely failed, but the idea behind reparations dates back at least 242 years.
Belinda Royall, who had been born in present-day Ghana, was sold as a child to Isaac Royall. She was freed after 50 years and fled to Nova Scotia. In 1783, Massachusetts awarded her a pension of 15 pounds, 12 shillings.
Royall’s story has been spotlighted by Black writer Ta-Nehisi Coates to bolster the case for reparations.
A website called Reparations 4 Slavery provides a scholarly timeline of the issue.
In 2021, when Democrats held a congressional majority, House Resolution 40, which would create a commission to study reparations, made it out of committee but never came to a vote.
Earlier this year, Pressley was joined by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., reintroducing the legislation.
Lee’s resolution also calls for passage of HR 40.
She and her colleagues said they are making their push, despite lacking the necessary support needed to advance the legislation, because it’s the right thing to do and to respond to the Trump-led drive to rid the country of diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the government and institutions that benefit from government funding.
The administration’s moves have been “anti-Blackness on steroids,” Pressley said. “The antidote to anti-Blackness is pro-Blackness.”
They offered no details on exactly who would get reparations, how much they would be or how it would be funded.
HR 40 would provide $20 million for a commission to study how to go about reparations.
“The U.S. government has a moral and legal obligation,” Lee said.
Republicans have generally unilaterally opposed any attempt at reparations. Western Pennsylvania’s Republican congressional delegation didn’t immediately respond to requests seeking comment on the issue.
It isn’t immediately clear how many Americans are descended from slaves and how the government would determine who could be eligible for reparations. Lack of answers to those questions isn’t an excuse for not righting the wrong of slavery, Lee and her supporters said.
“It is a moral obligation,” Lee said.
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.