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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York would create a commission to consider reparations to address the lingering, negative effects of slavery under a bill passed by the state Assembly on Thursday.

“We want to make sure we are looking at slavery and its legacies,” said state Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages before the floor debate. “This is about beginning the process of healing our communities. There still is generational trauma that people are experiencing. This is just one step forward.”

The state Assembly passed the bill about three hours after spirited debate on Thursday. The state Senate is expected to vote on the bill before the end of the legislative session on Friday.

New York is following the lead of California, which became the first state to form a reparations task force in 2020. That group recommended a formal apology from the state on its legacy of racism and discriminatory policies and the creation of an agency to provide a wide range of services for Black residents. They did not recommend specific payments amounts for reparations.

The New York legislation would create a commission that would examine the extent to which the federal and state government supported the institution of slavery. It would also address persistent economic, political and educational disparities experienced by Black people in the state today.

According to the New York bill, the first enslaved Africans arrived at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, then a Dutch settlement, around the 1620s and helped build the infrastructure of New York City. While the state Legislature enacted a statute that gave freedom to enslaved Africans in New York in 1817, it wasn’t implemented until 10 years later.

“I’m concerned we’re opening a door that was closed in New York State almost 200 years ago,” said Republican state Assemblymember Andy Gooddell during floor debates on the bill Thursday. Gooddell, who voted no on the bill, said he supports existing efforts to bring equal opportunity to all and would like to “continue on that path rather than focus on reparations.”

In California, the reparations task force said in their report that the state is estimated to be responsible for more than $500 billion due to decades of over-policing, mass incarceration and redlining that kept Black families from receiving loans and living in certain neighborhoods. California’s state budget last year was $308 billion. Reparations in New York could also come with a hefty price tag.

The commission would be required to deliver a report one year after their first meeting. Their recommendations, which could include monetary compensation for Black people, would be non-binding. The legislature would not be required to take them up for a vote.

New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who is the first Black person to hold the position, called the legislation “historic.”

If passed, Heastie along with the governor and legislative leader in the state Senate would each appoint three qualified members to the commission.

Other state legislatures that have considered studying reparations include New Jersey and Vermont. A Chicago suburb in Evanston, Illinois, became the first city to make reparations available to Black residents through a $10 million housing project in 2021.

On the federal level, a decades-old proposal to create a commission studying reparations has stalled in Congress.

Some critics of reparations by states say that while the idea is well-intentioned, it can be misguided.

William Darity, a professor of public policy and African and African American Studies at Duke University said even calling them reparations is “presumptuous,” since it’s virtually impossible for states to meet the potentially hefty payouts.

He said the federal government has the financial capacity to pay true reparations and that they should be the ones responsible.

“My deeper fear with all of these piecemeal projects is that they actually will become a block against federal action because there will be a number of people who will say there’s no need for a federal program,” Darity said. “If you end up settling for state and local initiatives, you settle for much less than what is owed.”

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Associated Press Writer Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California contributed to this report.

Maysoon Khan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Maysoon Khan on Twitter.

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EGL PUD (Partners Uplifting Our Daughters) Inc., a non-profit organization founded by Yandy Smith, partnered with New York Assembly Member Chantel Jackson to host the Teen Entrepreneur Pop-Up Shop on June 5.

The event, which took place at Bronx Borough Hall, showcased the achievements of 21 student entrepreneurs who created brands representing their desired roles in society and their commitment to giving back. The young entrepreneurs, known as social entrepreneurs, established businesses aimed at creating meaningful change in society. 

EGL PUD Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young girls overcome emotional obstacles and embrace their worth, enabling them to reach their full potential. By providing a platform for young entrepreneurs, EGL PUD Inc. empowers these girls to become future leaders and changemakers. 

The Pop-Up Shop celebrated the completion of a program led by EGL PUD, which equipped the students with essential skills and provided them with guidance and support. The students’ accomplishments were recognized with three citations, one from Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Assembly Member Chantel Jackson, and Council Member Kevin Riley. 

Each student now has a viable business with a dedicated website where their products can be purchased. Three of the students are already on their way to college and have flourished their businesses to create extra income providing them with support during their academic journey.  

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The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is hosting its 5th Annual Literary Festival on Saturday, June 17.

This year’s theme “Literacy is Generational Wealth” features book talks with Sarah Ladipo Manyika (Between Starshine and Clay, Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun), Cynthia Manick (No Sweet Without Brine), Henry Threadgill (Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music) and Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond (Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky) among others and workshops lead by Hasna Muhammad (Breathe in the Sky: Poems Prayers & Photographs) with Harlem Writers Guild and The Moth.

This year, author and historian Claude Johnson (Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball’s Forgotten Era) will join the festival for a special conversation presented by PUMA.

Mahogany L. Browne (Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, and Black Girl Magic) will open the 135th Street stages with her curated Woke Baby Children’s Festival featuring children’s readings, live music, and craft-making. 

The community-wide celebration will also feature storytelling workshops, a marketplace of local vendors and organizations, a New York Public Library mobile library, and programs for all ages.

Traditionally held on Juneteenth weekend, the Schomburg Center Literary Festival is held both outdoors and throughout the historic research library in Harlem, featuring discussions, workshops, and book signings with established and emerging writers across the Black Diaspora.

The festival takes place on Juneteenth weekend in honor of the holiday that commemorates the day news of emancipation reached enslaved Black people in Texas on June 19, 1865—2 years after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

“This year, we are thinking about the legacy of literacy,” said Novella Ford, Associate Director of Public Programs and Exhibitions. “We are honoring the importance of passing down books, positive ideas about reading, and continuing to be bold in our choices at a time when the currents are pushing against the freedom to read and the invaluable service of public libraries. This festival is a celebration of readers and writers across genres and generations.”

Festivities begin at 11:30 AM with the keynote conversation featuring Sarah Ladipo Manyika discussing Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora, and exploring Black thinkers of our times, including Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison and Wole Soyinka, and former First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker.

This year’s artwork Generational Wealth is produced by multidisciplinary artist Ernest A. Ford.

Programs will be held from 11:30 AM – 6 PM on four stages inside the Schomburg Center and outdoors on 135th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Malcolm X Boulevard. Author readings, panel discussions, and workshops will range from prose to poetry, comic books to young adult novels, fiction, and nonfiction. The festival is free, public, and open to all ages. See the full schedule at schomburgcenterlitfest.org. 

The 2023 Schomburg Center Literary Festival is powered by Puma. Major support is provided by Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation.

The Schomburg Center Literary Festival is part of The New York Public Library’s “Summer at the Library” initiative, which will launch June 5 and offers kids, teens, and their families a series of free programs at its 92 locations to spark a lifelong love of reading and learning, and help students combat “summer slide”—when they forget what they learned in the summer months while outside the classroom.  A full list of free programs and offerings can be found at nypl.org/summer. 

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