Recognizing that the United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the crime of enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people in the United States.

Summary

Declares that the federal government harmed Black people through slavery, segregation, and continuing systemic discrimination and says those harms require reparative responses. The resolution urges support for a congressional study (H.R. 40), creation of a truth and reconciliation process, formal apologies, and coordinated local, state, and federal efforts to identify and address reparations claims and related harms to housing, health, education, safety, water and sanitation, and the environment.

Key Points

• Affirms that the federal government harmed Black people through slavery, segregation, and ongoing systemic discrimination.
• Characterizes reparations as a victim-centered, multi-part process including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, and prevention.
• Urges support for H.R. 40 and a congressional study to examine reparations proposals and remedies.
• Calls for a truth and reconciliation–style process and formal apologies for slavery and its continuing harms.
• Encourages coordinated local, state, and federal initiatives to identify claims and develop holistic responses in housing, health, education, safety, water, and environment.
• Honors victims of chattel slavery and recognizes organizations that lead the modern reparations movement.
• Is an expression of opinion and recommendation; it does not itself create binding reparations programs or appropriate funds.
• Focuses attention on structural causes of present racial disparities and seeks to create official processes for investigation and redress.

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