CITY COUNCIL HOLDS HISTORIC
HEARING ON REPARATIONS

t was an historic moment. The City Council of New York held its first hearing on the subject of reparations to the descendants of enslaved Africans.

This landmark hearing was conducted by the Governmental Operations Committee, Chaired by Deputy Majority Leader Bill Perkins. Councilman Charles Barron, the prime sponsor of four reparations Resolutions, joined him. "This hearing speaks to the momentum of the reparations movement that is sweeping New York City and the nation," said Barron. "Africans built New York City's infrastructure and economy and were never paid. It's time that we as a municipality acknowledge this crime against humanity and resolve to allocate some form of reparation for the African Descendant Community in New York City."

The first Resolution calls for the City to fund a commission to study reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans held here on the City's soil. Another proposes a "Reparations Awareness Day," while a third declares support for the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit that seeks restitution from three corporations that profited mightily from the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. The fourth calls for the United States Government to hold fact-based hearings on the issue of reparations.

Perkins and Barron brought together an extraordinary roster of speakers who approached the subject from an array of viewpoints. The Federal, State and local levels of government were all represented as US Congressman John Conyers, Jr., State Assemblyman Roger Green, and former New York City Councilman Wendell Foster gave testimony. Deadria Farmer-Paellman and Atty. Roger Wareham, both pivotal in the class action lawsuit for retribution from Aetna Inc., FleetBoston Bank Financial Corporation, and the CSX Corporation, examined the issue from a legal perspective. A phenomenal amount of historical background was provided by Howard Dodson, Chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, professor at the City College of New York, Prof. James Small, Vice President of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, and historian Rosemary Meely.

Community leaders Dr. Delois Blakely, who carries on the legacy of Queen Mother Moore, and Rev. Herbert Daughtry also gave important testimony. Ajamu Sankofa of N'COBRA, Atty. Mutu Matsimela from the Reparations Mobilization Coalition, and Linda Roots, for the Metropolitan Council of the NAACP, provided invaluable insight as well. Marion Davis and Reggie A. Maybry spoke simply and to the point in behalf of themselves and their enslaved ancestors.

Also quite useful to the discussion was Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr., who voiced several arguments against reparations, giving them a chance to be rebutted. For example, he said he didn't believe reparations were in order because any debt owed was paid with the blood of the people who fought in the Civil War, and that dragging out this debate from the past would only be divisive.

Atty. Wareham addressed "this myth" that reparations would push the communities apart, stating, "They already are apart, and one of the reasons is, there has never been redress for the crime against humanity that was committed. When you look at the statistics that define the quality of life--infant mortality, healthcare, life expectancy, wealth, unemployment, incarceration--and you compare the statistics of the Black and Latino community with that of the white community, you would swear you were talking about 2 different nations, not people who supposedly have the same citizenship, opportunities, and rights. This discrepancy exists because of an historical imbalance that was never redressed. You can't move forward if you don't look back."

Dr. Jeffries pointed out as well that during the Civil War, half a million white folk deserted the Union Army because they didn't want to fight. In fact, there were so many that desertion was made a crime punishable by death to try to stop them! He spoke about New York City's infamous Draft Riots of 1863, when immigrants, particularly the Irish, rioted in lower Manhattan, vandalizing and terrorizing the African community. "They burned down a Black orphanage and maimed and murdered hundreds of our people," said Jeffries. "This is all documented and we have a sacred honor to lay it out."

Councilman Barron also reminded Vallone that his own father, former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., submitted a Resolution calling upon the US government to formally acknowledge the mistreatment of Italian Americans during the Second World War and to give these people and members of other ethnic groups similarly mistreated, reparations comparable to those given to Japanese Americans. "If it's good for Italians, it's good for Africans," stated Barron.

An absolute wealth of little-known historical information was presented at this hearing. For instance, Assemblyman Roger Green--who has introduced his own Bills on reparations up in Albany--clarified the fact that New York was the heaviest slaveholding region north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Furthermore, New York City was a focal point in the trade of enslaved Africans on the Eastern Seaboard.

Howard Dodson concurred. He stated that although New York enjoys a reputation as one of the liberal refuges from slavery during the decades leading up to the Civil War, it was a slavery colony and state for 200 years--longer than the 177 years it's been a free state.

He also made it crystal clear that every white person benefited from slavery in New York, not just slaveholders. Slavery was a publicly organized and operated institution created by the laws of the colony of New Amsterdam. The first slaves brought to New York in 1625 weren't brought as private "slaves" to work for individuals, but as public "slaves" to work for the City. They built forts, constructed houses--in general were the labor force that created the foundations of New York City as we know it today.

Dodson also explained that from the founding of the Republic through the years leading up to the Civil War, New York City, as the financial and commercial capital of the United States, controlled the sale of the slavery-produced goods that were sold abroad. Cotton grown by enslaved Africans was shipped up here from the South, and from here sold to Europe. Even though the slave trade was abolished in 1807, New York continued to operate as a hub of the illegal trade to Cuba and Brazil well into the 1860s.

And he revealed a truly shocking fact: "Due to its economic dependence on slavery and the slave trade, when South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood proposed that New York City also secede and join the confederacy. Fortunately, the City Council of 1861 voted down this proposition."

One of the things brought out abundantly in this hearing is that the colossal injustice to Blacks didn't end when slavery did in 1865; the horrors have continued down to this very day.

Rev. Daughtry, spoke about the fact that the most vicious time of terrorism for Blacks was between 1865 and 1898. "You talk about terrorism today," he said. "During that period tens of thousands of our people were killed, lynched--and the legacy carries on."

Prof. James Small backed this up, stating, "You've got to count the fact that the Ku Klux Klan has killed more African American citizens than bin Laden, yet it's not declared a terrorist organization. Slavery is alive and well; it's simply changed its form and mannerism." He explained that after 1865 slavery became a de facto institution in terms of the Black Codes, sharecropping, Jim Crow, red lining, and segregation in New York City, which--as the 2000 Census exposed--is, even now, one of the most segregated cities in the entire nation. "That is a result of slavery in the State and City of New York," said Small.

Atty. Mutu Matsimela also provided an overview showing the rightness of the demand for reparations not only for what occurred under slavery, but for the systemic, institutionalized racism--all the denial of basic human rights current today.

He also made it clear that, contrary to what the US government and mainstream press would have us believe, the struggle for reparations is an international movement with lawsuits being prepared in the Caribbean, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, and throughout Central America. "This effort going on here in New York City is, in fact, a part of a global movement around reparations," he concluded.

When Chairman Perkins brought this groundbreaking hearing to a close, he said that he anticipates at least one additional hearing before a committee vote that would then send the Resolutions to the full Council for consideration. For further information contact Perkins' office at (212) 788-7396 or perkins@council.nyc.ny.us.