File #: Res 0337-2002    Version: * Name: Establishing a New York State commission to quantify the debt owed to people of African descent (A.9286-B)
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Governmental Operations
On agenda: 6/19/2002
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the State Legislature to enact Assembly Bill A9286-B, establishing a New York State commission to quantify the debt owed to people of African descent and permitting certain claims and making an appropriation therefor.
Sponsors: Bill Perkins, Charles Barron, James Sanders, Jr., Kendall Stewart
Council Member Sponsors: 4
Res. No. 337 Title Resolution calling upon the State Legislature to enact Assembly Bill A9286-B, establishing a New York State commission to quantify the debt owed to people of African descent and permitting certain claims and making an appropriation therefor. Body By Council Members Perkins, Barron and Sanders; also Council Member Stewart Whereas, Slavery was practiced in New York State for nearly two centuries; and Whereas, The government of New York State not only legalized the enslavement of Africans and their descendants, but also enacted "slave codes," taxes on the sale of enslaved persons and fines payable to the local government or poor house administrators for violations of the "slave codes"; and Whereas, New York's colonial and subsequent State and local governments and businesses sanctioned and profited from the inhumane and immoral trade in men, women, and children of African ancestry; and Whereas, Tremendous profits were made from the wages, unjust enrichment, forced labor, and second class citizenship of enslaved Africans; and Whereas, Slavery's legacy of poverty, illiteracy, segregation and discrimination has never been adequately addressed; and Whereas, Financial reparations for crimes against humanity and for State sponsored discrimination have become a remedy for victims of such crimes - Native Americans, Jewish holocaust victims, Japanese Americans interned during World War II, and victims and their descendants of the Rosewood riots in Florida are all recent examples of this standard; and Whereas, This bill, sponsored by Assembly Member Roger L. Green of Brooklyn, will provide a mechanism for research and deliberations on how to compensate communities, especially children and families of African descent for the collective wrongs suffered as a result of state sanctioned slavery and discrimination; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council calls upon the State Legislature to enact Assembly Bill A9286-B, establishing a New York State commission to quantify the debt owed to people of African descent and permitting certain claims and making an appropriation therefor. 692-2002/JF |1013| |1013|