Feb 17, 2025 Story by: Editor
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) is preparing to reintroduce H.R. 40, also called the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act.
Despite the Republican majority in the House, Pressley is determined to advance the bill, which had 130 co-sponsors in the previous session. She emphasized the urgency of the legislation, stating that the nation is at “a moment of emboldened white supremacy and anti-Black racism.” “We have a hostile administration working actively to roll back decades of progress and more recent progress when it comes to our civil rights,” she said, describing the country as being at “a painful inflection point.”
Originally introduced in 1989 by the late Democratic Rep. John Conyers, H.R. 40 was later championed by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee after Conyers retired in 2017, as noted in a 2021 NPR article. The bill’s title refers to the promise made to formerly enslaved individuals of “40 acres and a mule.” It calls for the creation of a 13-member commission tasked with studying the impact of slavery and racial discrimination in the U.S. The commission would hold hearings and submit its findings to Congress, followed by recommendations for “appropriate remedies” and the consideration of a “national apology” for the harms caused by slavery.
Rep. Jackson Lee once stated during an interview, “I don’t think anyone could argue against the fact that the trajectory of slavery has gone through the centuries, the decades, and is in the DNA of descendants of enslaved Africans.” She added, “America would do well to try to bring healing and repair in this time and this century.”
Pressley has taken the lead, calling these policies “illegal and discriminatory” and urging Fortune 500 companies to retract their equity pledges. Despite former President Donald Trump’s 2019 claim that federal reparations were unlikely, a 2021 survey found that 77% of Black Americans supported reparations tied to slavery, compared to just 18% of white Americans. Pressley shared, “I’m working actively to blunt the assaults from a hostile administration that means harm to everyone that calls this country home but will have a disparate impact on Black Americans.” She added, “Because throughout history, it has been proven that when other folks catch a cold, Black folks, figuratively, catch pneumonia.”
Although challenges remain, Pressley is committed to keeping the bill in the spotlight, with support from Senate leaders like Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who introduced the Senate version in January 2025. Civil rights attorney and reparations advocate Nkechi Taifa expressed her backing for Pressley’s efforts, saying, “We are in undeniably challenging times now” and stressing that “it is essential that H.R. 40 remain our North Star.”
Beyond reparations, Pressley is working on legislation related to government-managed trust funds, known as baby bonds, criminal justice reform, and other racial equity issues. She expressed her passion for consensus building, stating, “I think I will breathe a new iteration of life into this movement.”
Source: Black Enterprise
