Bill Text: NY S02416 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to acknowledging the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the City of New York and the State of New York; establishes the New York state community commission on reparations remedies to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, the impact of these forces on living African-Americans and to make recommendations on appropriate remedies; provides for the repeal of such provisions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 22-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S02416 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S02416-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2416 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 20, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. BRISPORT, BAILEY, BROUK, CLEARE, COMRIE, COONEY, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, LIU, MYRIE, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the City of New York and the State of New York; to establish the New York State community commission on repara- tions remedies, to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against people of African descent, and the impact of these forces on living people of African descent and to make determinations regarding compensation; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York 2 State community commission on reparations remedies". 3 § 2. Legislative intent. Contrary to what many believe, slavery was 4 not just a Southern institution. Prior to the American Revolution, there 5 were more enslaved Africans in New York City than in any other city 6 except Charleston, South Carolina. During this period, enslaved Africans 7 accounted for 20% of the population of New York and approximately 40% of 8 colonial New York's households owned enslaved Africans. These enslaved 9 Africans were an integral part of the population which settled and 10 developed what we now know as the State of New York. 11 The first enslaved Africans arrived in New Amsterdam, a Dutch settle- 12 ment established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, around 1627. 13 These enslaved Africans did not belong to individuals, but worked for 14 the Dutch West India Company. The Dutch West India Company had estab- 15 lished Fort Amsterdam, a fortification located on the southern tip of 16 the Island of Manhattan, for the purpose of defending the company's fur 17 trade operations on the North River, now known as the Hudson River. In EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00148-05-3S. 2416 2 1 1624, New Amsterdam became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic 2 and it was designated the capital of the province in 1625. 3 These first enslaved Africans cleared forests, prepared land for agri- 4 culture and built an infrastructure of roads, buildings and walls of 5 timber and earthwork, including the wall that gives Wall Street its 6 name. During the following years, more enslaved Africans were brought to 7 the New World for the purpose of expanding the settlement. 8 New Amsterdam came under English control in 1664 and was renamed New 9 York in honor of the then Duke of York, in whose name the English had 10 captured it. Three years later, the Dutch gave up their claim of the 11 city and the rest of the colony, in exchange for control of certain 12 trade routes and areas. 13 The change of control of the city did not hinder the system of slav- 14 ery; it was an enormously profitable enterprise and it continued under 15 English control. In fact, the English enacted new slave codes aimed at 16 keeping this population repressed. Further, a new class of pro-slavery 17 business owners also emerged seeking to, directly and indirectly, bene- 18 fit from the slave trade. They supplied food, tools and grain to slave 19 plantations in North America and in the West Indies. Slave labor built 20 and maintained ships used for trade between North America, Europe, the 21 Caribbean and Africa. Enslaved Africans produced goods for sale and 22 worked in private homes. Even newspapers benefited from slavery: adver- 23 tisements of enslaved Africans for purchase were a major source of 24 revenue for the papers during the eighteenth century. With these econom- 25 ic relationships in place, the pro-slavery forces in New York jealously 26 guarded what they viewed as their financial interests. 27 Life was repressive for enslaved Africans in New York. The New York 28 City Common Council passed a number of restrictive laws designed at 29 curtailing the rights and freedoms of enslaved Africans. Enslaved Afri- 30 cans were barred from owning significant property and from bequeathing 31 what they did own to their children. The number of people of African 32 descent who could gather in one place was limited. Restrictions on move- 33 ment included requiring enslaved Africans to carry lanterns after dark 34 and to remain in certain geographic areas. 35 Penalties for breaking these and other laws were severe. Beatings, 36 mutilations and executions were common. 37 Enslaved Africans refused to submit to the slave existence. The condi- 38 tions of their lives gave rise to rebellions and the development of a 39 network known as the Underground Railroad. 40 Moreover, a powerful abolitionist movement developed. Nonetheless, the 41 end of slavery in New York did not come easily or quickly. Those who 42 profited from the slave economy fought to maintain the system. 43 In 1799, the New York State Legislature, at a time when sixteen 44 sitting New York State Senators personally owned dozens of enslaved 45 Africans, passed "An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery." This 46 legislation was a first step in the direction of emancipation, but it 47 provided little relief in the short-term. Rather, it provided for only a 48 gradual manumission. All children born to enslaved women after July 4, 49 1799 would be freed, but only after their most productive years: age 28 50 for men and age 25 for women. Enslaved Africans already in servitude 51 before July 4, 1799 were reclassified as "indentured servants," but in 52 reality, remained enslaved Africans for the duration of their lives. 53 In 1817, the New York State Legislature enacted a statute that gave 54 freedom to New York enslaved Africans who had been born before July 4, 55 1799. However, this statute did not become effective until July 4, 1827.S. 2416 3 1 Despite these laws, there were exceptions under which certain persons 2 could still own enslaved Africans. Non-residents could enter New York 3 with enslaved Africans for up to nine months, and the law allowed part- 4 time residents to bring their enslaved Africans into the state temporar- 5 ily. The nine-month exception remained law until its repeal in 1841, 6 when the North was redefining itself as the "free" region in advance of 7 the Civil War. 8 Nevertheless, many formerly enslaved Africans fleeing slavery and 9 arriving in New York were forced back into slavery following the Fugi- 10 tive Slave Law of 1850. Moreover, even as the laws regarding slavery 11 were loosened, both public and private discrimination continued to main- 12 tain similar social relationships and racial hierarchies. 13 During the Civil War, sentiments in New York regarding the war were 14 divided and tense. New York's finance and local institutions were still 15 deeply entangled in the slave trade in the South and the Caribbean, and 16 New York profited tremendously from the trade in Southern cotton. By 17 some estimates, New York received 40% of U.S. cotton revenue through its 18 financial firms, shipping businesses, and insurance companies. 19 Near the start of the war, in January 1861, New York City Mayor 20 Fernando Wood actually suggested to the New York City Council that New 21 York secede and declare itself a "free city" in order to continue its 22 profitable cotton trade with the Confederacy. These same pro-slavery 23 forces erupted into violence when the national Conscription Act was 24 enacted on July 11, 1863. Pro-slavery forces engaged in "draft riots" in 25 New York City, violently targeting Black Americans. Before the riots 26 were finally stopped by federal troops four days later, over 119 New 27 Yorkers, mostly Black Americans, had been killed. After the end of the 28 Civil War, Congress passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to offi- 29 cially end slavery, make Black people citizens, and enable Black men to 30 enjoy all rights of citizenship including the right to vote. Although 31 New York had given Black men the right to vote in 1827, it retained 32 property requirements, and included new restrictions on the right to 33 vote for those accused of committing crimes, to continuously maintain a 34 system of disenfranchisement. On April 14, 1869, New York ratified the 35 15th Amendment in a party-line vote. In 1870, however, control of the 36 Senate changed to those who were sympathetic to the recently defeated 37 South, with State Senator William "Boss" Tweed leading a charge for New 38 York to rescind its ratification of the 15th amendment (i.e., the right 39 to vote). New York legislators at the time claimed that allowing Black 40 New Yorkers to vote "would introduce ignorance to the ballot box and the 41 suffrage would be cheapened and degraded". Along another party-line 42 vote, New York rescinded its ratification. Fortunately, however, this 43 rescission did not prevent the 15th Amendment from being ratified. 44 Following the Civil War, conditions for Black Americans in New York 45 remained poor. Newly emancipated enslaved people and their families 46 needed to contend with both public and private discrimination in the 47 State of New York. Although civil rights legislation was passed in the 48 years following the Civil War, in an attempt to guard against acts of 49 discrimination, Associate Justice Joseph P. Bradley, of New York State, 50 wrote a majority (8-1) decision for the United States Supreme Court, 51 striking down these civil rights laws. The case related to an 1879 inci- 52 dent, where a Black New Yorker had been turned away from the Grand Opera 53 House located on West 23rd Street and 8th Avenue; even though this man 54 had paid for a ticket, he was turned away, and a local policeman forci- 55 bly removed him from the premises. Although the following lawsuit was 56 brought under the civil rights act, Justice Bradley rejected the claims,S. 2416 4 1 stating: "Can the act of a mere individual, the owner of the inn, the 2 public conveyance or place of amusement, refusing the accommodation, be 3 justly regarded as imposing any badge of slavery or servitude upon the 4 applicant...? After giving to these questions all the consideration 5 which their importance demands, we are forced to the conclusion that 6 such an act of refusal has nothing to do with slavery or involuntary 7 servitude." With this ruling, private citizens were once again permitted 8 to lawfully discriminate against their fellow New Yorkers, with no legal 9 recourse. A subsequent New York Times editorial, however, stated that it 10 did not foresee any substantial changes in daily life because the civil 11 rights legislation to protect Black New Yorkers "has never been 12 enforced" in any meaningful way. 13 With this legal precedent, expanding even more broadly when the 1896 14 case of Plessy v. Ferguson explicitly permitted segregated railroads and 15 street cars, Jim Crow laws, along with various forms of private discrim- 16 ination, spread across the country and New York State. Segregation 17 became particularly common in both education and housing. In 1883, when 18 a Black resident of Kings County sought to enroll her daughter in a 19 school for white children, her child was denied admission. In the subse- 20 quent lawsuit of People, ex. Rel King v. Gallagher, the Court ruled in a 21 4-2 decision that "[t]he system of authorizing the education of the two 22 races separately has been for many years the settled policy of all 23 departments of the State government, and it is believed obtains very 24 generally in the States of the Union." The New York Court of Appeals 25 upheld the segregation of schools in Kings County. Although the laws 26 have changed in the years since this decision, research has shown that 27 up to the present day of this writing, New York still is the most segre- 28 gated state for Black students. 29 Discrimination in housing has also been a persistent and constant 30 issue in New York since the Civil War. In addition to the housing 31 inequality that came with wealth inequality, landlords have engaged in 32 discriminatory housing practices. Black Americans of all backgrounds 33 typically paid disproportionately higher rents, and were forced into 34 dilapidated tenement conditions, with the support of public officials. 35 This pattern of geographic isolation would continue to impact Black 36 Americans in New York continuously throughout the years, including 37 through the state-sanctioned discriminatory "redlining" practices in the 38 1930s, and in the segregationist urban planning implemented by individ- 39 uals like Robert Moses in later decades. Importantly, the Federal Hous- 40 ing Administration (FHA), an institution that refused to insure mort- 41 gages in or near African American neighborhoods, subsidized builders who 42 were creating subdivisions and developments in the suburbs, with the 43 proviso that none of the homes be sold to African Americans. For exam- 44 ple, in Levittown, New York, the FHA guaranteed bank loans for 45 construction and development to Levittown on the condition that no homes 46 be sold to African-Americans, and that every home have a clause in its 47 deed prohibiting resale to African-Americans. 48 The consequences of these past practices are still with us today. In 49 1991, a massive African burial ground was discovered in the heart of New 50 York's financial district during the construction of a skyscraper. The 51 excavations that followed the termination of the construction project 52 yielded the skeletal remains of 419 Africans, many of whom were women 53 and children. 54 The consequences of slavery in New York State is not an echo of the 55 past, but can still be observed in daily life. Systemic racism has 56 cemented a legacy of generational poverty, and we still see todayS. 2416 5 1 instances of voter suppression, housing discrimination, biased policing, 2 food apartheid, and disproportionate rates of incarceration. Currently, 3 in the United States, the imprisonment rate of Black Americans for drug 4 charges is almost six times that of white Americans, despite the rate of 5 drug usage being similar among both groups. Likewise, the use of the 6 "Stop and Frisk" tactic by the New York City Police Department has had 7 disparate impacts: at the policy's peak in 2011, an estimated 685,724 8 people were stopped, with fifty-three percent of those being Black, even 9 though only twenty-six percent of New York City's population was Black. 10 These policies have also led to the tragic deaths of Black Americans 11 here in New York, such as Daniel Prude, who was unarmed and facing a 12 mental health crisis when he was forcibly restrained by Rochester 13 police, and ultimately died due to complications of asphyxia resulting 14 from his restraint. 15 New York State's status as an economic and cultural hub of the world 16 has been built and shaped by slavery. The contributions of enslaved 17 Africans has provided the resources upon which trade and commerce in New 18 York was built. Some of our most prestigious institutions and infras- 19 tructure were built with these contributions. However, New York State 20 also has the largest income disparity in the country, and that large 21 disparity is in large part the legacy of our slave system. 22 This legislation is necessary because the slavery that flourished in 23 New York State constituted an immoral and inhumane deprivation of Afri- 24 cans' life, liberty, citizenship rights, cultural heritage, and denied 25 them the fruits of their own labor. A sufficient inquiry has not been 26 made into the effects of the institution of slavery on present day soci- 27 ety in New York. 28 § 3. Establishment, purpose and duties of the commission. a. Estab- 29 lishment. There is hereby established the New York State community 30 commission on reparations remedies (hereinafter referred to as the 31 "commission"). 32 b. Duties. The commission shall perform the following duties: 33 (1) Examine the institution of slavery which existed within the State 34 of New York and in the City of New York. The commission's examination 35 shall include, but not be limited to, an examination of: 36 (A) the capture and procurement of Africans; 37 (B) the transport of Africans to what is now known as New York City 38 and New York State for the purpose of enslavement, including their 39 treatment during transport; 40 (C) the sale and acquisition of Africans as chattel property in inter- 41 state and intrastate commerce, including the direct and indirect bene- 42 fits that New York received from these economic relationships; 43 (D) the treatment of enslaved Africans in the City of New York and the 44 State of New York, including the deprivation of their freedom, exploita- 45 tion of their labor, and destruction of their culture, language, reli- 46 gion, and families; and 47 (E) the treatment of formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants 48 in the City of New York and the State of New York during the period 49 between the end of the Civil War and the present. 50 (2) Examine the extent to which the federal government, as well as the 51 state and local governments of New York, supported the institution of 52 slavery, including the extent to which such governments prevented, 53 opposed, or restricted efforts of freed enslaved Africans to repatriate 54 to their homeland.S. 2416 6 1 (3) Examine how New York State engaged in the interstate transfer of 2 enslaved Africans, and carried out federal policies in the furtherance 3 of slavery. 4 (4) Examine other forms of discrimination in the public and private 5 sectors against freed enslaved Africans and their descendants during the 6 period between the end of the Civil War and the present. 7 (5) Examine the lingering negative effects of the institution of slav- 8 ery and the matters described in paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4) of 9 this subdivision on living people of African descent and on society in 10 the State of New York. 11 (6) Recommend appropriate ways to educate the American public of the 12 commission's findings. 13 (7) Recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of the commis- 14 sion's findings on the matters described in paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and 15 (4) of this subdivision. The commission shall determine the form of 16 compensation, including but not limited to the amount of compensation 17 and who should be eligible for such compensation. Remedies, however, 18 shall not be limited solely to compensation. 19 c. Report to the legislature. The commission shall submit a written 20 report of its findings and recommendations to the temporary president of 21 the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leaders of the 22 senate and the assembly and the governor not later than the date which 23 is one year after the date of the first meeting of the commission held 24 pursuant to subdivision c of section four of this act. 25 § 4. Membership. a. Appointment of members. The commission shall be 26 composed of eleven members who shall be appointed within 90 days after 27 the effective date of this act, as follows: 28 (1) one member shall be appointed by the governor; 29 (2) one member shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly; 30 (3) one member shall be appointed by the temporary president of the 31 senate; 32 (4) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assem- 33 bly; 34 (5) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the 35 senate; 36 (6) two members shall be appointed by the National Coalition of Blacks 37 for Reparations in America (N.C.O.B.R.A.); 38 (7) two members shall be appointed by the December 12th Movement; and 39 (8) two members shall be appointed by the Institute of the Black 40 World. 41 b. Qualification of members. All members of the commission shall be 42 persons who are especially qualified to serve on the commission by 43 virtue of their education, training, or lived experience, in the fields 44 of African or American studies, the criminal legal system, human rights, 45 and the history of slavery in New York. 46 c. First meeting. The first meeting of the commission shall take place 47 within 180 days after the effective date of this act. 48 d. Quorum. Six members of the commission shall constitute a quorum, 49 but a lesser number may hold hearings. 50 e. Chair and Vice Chair. The commission shall elect a Chair and Vice 51 Chair from among its members no later than the first meeting. 52 f. Compensation. The members of the commission shall receive no 53 compensation for their services as members, but shall be reimbursed for 54 their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their 55 duties.S. 2416 7 1 § 5. Powers of the commission. a. Hearings and sessions. The commis- 2 sion shall, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, 3 solicit public input from stakeholders and interested parties, and shall 4 hold such hearings and sit and act at such times and at such places in 5 the United States, as the commission considers appropriate. 6 b. Powers of subcommittees and members. Any subcommittee or member of 7 the commission may, if authorized by the commission, take any action 8 which the commission is authorized to take by this section. 9 c. Obtaining official data. The commission may acquire directly from 10 the head of any department, agency, or instrumentality of the state, 11 available information which the commission considers useful in the 12 discharge of its duties. All departments, agencies, and instrumentali- 13 ties of the state shall cooperate with the commission with respect to 14 such information and shall furnish all information requested by the 15 commission to the extent permitted by law. 16 § 6. Termination. The commission shall terminate 90 days after the 17 date on which the commission submits its report to the temporary presi- 18 dent of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leaders of 19 the senate and the assembly and the governor as provided in subdivision 20 c of section three of this act. 21 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be 22 deemed repealed 90 days after the New York State community commission to 23 study reparations remedies submits its report to the temporary president 24 of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leaders of the 25 senate and the assembly and the governor as provided in subdivision c of 26 section three of this act; provided that, the chair of the New York 27 State community commission to study reparations remedies shall notify 28 the legislative bill drafting commission upon the submission of its 29 report as provided in subdivision c of section three of this act in 30 order that the commission may maintain an accurate and timely effective 31 data base of the official text of the laws of the State of New York in 32 furtherance of effecting the provisions of section 44 of the legislative 33 law and section 70-b of the public officers law.
