House hearing on reparations for slavery set for next week
https://apnews.com/461a171095b54709b12e0e6bd0f80b95
Never thought I would see the day
The topic of reparations for slavery is headed to Capitol Hill for its first hearing in more than a decade with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover set to testify before a House panel.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is scheduled to hold the hearing next Wednesday, its stated purpose to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its continuing impact on the community and the path to restorative justice. The date of the hearing, June 19, coincides with Juneteenth, a cultural holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved blacks in America.
Former Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the longtime sponsor of House Resolution 40, first proposed the measure calling for a study of reparations in 1989. Conyers reintroduced the bill every session until his resignation in 2017 .
Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, the resolutions new sponsor, introduced it earlier this year and pushed for next weeks hearing. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in February that she supports a reparations study, a topic that hasnt been the subject of a House hearing since 2007.