{"id":944017,"date":"2026-07-18T20:21:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/944017\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T20:21:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:21:53","slug":"greene-new-reparations-call-reminds-us-it-hasnt-been-250-years-of-freedom-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/944017\/","title":{"rendered":"Greene: New reparations call reminds us it hasn\u2019t been 250 years of freedom for all"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary,<\/a> here\u2019s an ugly open secret to consider about one of its original states: More than 20,000 New Yorkers owned Black people at the height of slavery in America.<\/p>\n

I say \u201copen\u201d secret because this shameful history has been documented publicly for generations.<\/p>\n

Yet this nation we\u2019re so caught up in celebrating this year continues to whitewash \u2014 pun absolutely intended \u2014 its appalling past to the point that any attempt to set the historical record straight is attacked<\/a> by its very own government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for New York to embrace its history instead of running from what some feel are uncomfortable conversations,\u201d Todd Cox, associate director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund said in a statement last week. \u201cNew York was a willing participant in the most degrading, dehumanizing and despicable economic enterprise of slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox\u2019s observation accompanied a new report the LDF released last week along with the New York Civil Liberties Union on how the state can right its wrongs.<\/p>\n

Its solution is easily one of the most controversial subjects in America.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Other New York: The Legacy of Slavery and the Case for Reparations Now\u201d<\/a> analyzes the impacts of slavery and its legacy of discrimination against Black New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

\"NEWNew York Gov. Kathy Hochul signs legislation creating a commission for the study of reparations in New York on Dec. 19, 2023, in New York City. Hochul was joined by Rev. Al Sharpton, various members of New York government leadership and influential community members. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The NYCLU and LDF have teamed up to call for immediate reparations amid delays from the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies,<\/a> which won\u2019t issue its recommendations to Gov. Hochul and the state Legislature until 2029.<\/p>\n

The commission was appointed in 2023.<\/p>\n

According to the new report, the evils of slavery still shape the lives of Black New Yorkers today in discriminatory housing policies, environmental racism, redlining, police brutality, mass incarceration, chronically underfunded and segregated schools and voter suppression.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the report determined that:<\/p>\n

\u2014 The median wealth of Black New Yorkers is $18,870, nearly 15 times less than the median wealth of white New Yorkers, which is $276,900, and that New York State has a wider racial wealth gap than the United States as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u2014 New York\u2019s housing history reveals a deliberate and systemic effort to exclude and displace Black communities, denying them the stability and generational wealth that homeownership provides. Nearly 90 years after redlining and urban renewal, formerly redlined communities remain some of the highest poverty neighborhoods in New York.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Zoning laws reinforced the racial hierarchy established under slavery, forcing Black people to live in industrial areas with increased pollution, leading to disproportionately high asthma, cardiovascular disease, premature delivery and premature death.<\/p>\n

\"AA child attends a slavery reparations protest on Aug. 9, 2002, in New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama\/Getty Images).<\/p>\n

\u2014 Schools serving predominantly Black students have been severely underfunded and disproportionately affected by environmental hazards, crumbling infrastructure and lead poisoning.<\/p>\n

\u201cReparations are a debt that is owed. Enslaved Black people built the foundation of New York\u2019s economy, but Black families in our state still face racism that has been codified into our laws and budgets,\u201d said Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, director of the NYCLU\u2019s Racial Justice Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York State was not a bystander to slavery \u2014 it created, enacted and protected the institution of slavery. Reparations must be extended to all Black New Yorkers descended from those enslaved by New York State, and to all Black New Yorkers still living under the systems slavery built.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of us will be here when the next 250 years rolls around, but we can all play a part in making that quincentennial better than the semiquincentennial that just passed.<\/p>\n

While the fireworks shows, beach bashes, cookouts and holiday concerts this month reminded us that there is much to celebrate, it is important to recognize that the last 250 years neither started nor ended under the best of circumstances.<\/p>\n

In every one of the last 250 years, many Americans could have legitimately asked, \u201cIndependence for whom?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack New Yorkers deserve more than another study,\u201d said Donna Lieberman, the NYCLU\u2019s executive director. \u201cThey deserve reparations now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, here\u2019s an ugly open secret to consider about one of its…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":944018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[380136,5229,380135,380134,405,403,17050,5226,5225,5228,5227,41340,34086,71827,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-944017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-250th-annivesary","tag-america","tag-black-new-yorkers","tag-leonard-greene","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-state","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-reparations","tag-semiquincentennial","tag-slavery","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116942849287685176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}