OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:52 PM – Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Democrat lawmakers reintroduced legislation on Wednesday aiming to deliver slavery reparations to Black Americans amidst President Donald Trump’s federal purge of DEI policies.
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Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a member of the far-left Congressional group known as the “Squad,” and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are leading the charge to reintroduce H.R. 40 — also known as “the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act.”
Reparations could take many forms.
However, the term is generally referring to monetary payments made to Black Americans that are funded by U.S. taxpayers. It would aim to send funds to those who are descendents of American slaves.
“We find ourselves in a moment of emboldened white supremacy and anti-Black racism, and a weaponized Supreme Court that is actively gutting protections and progress that has been made,” Pressley stated on Wednesday.
“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 continued.
“Our government, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office, has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on Black communities.”
H.R. 40 has been previously introduced time and time again over the past three decades, with former Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who passed away over the summer from cancer — most recently expressing interest in the bill.
The bill was first introduced by former Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in 1989, and the contents of the bill has not changed since its most recent session.
“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,” Pressley added. “Because throughout history, it has been proven that when other folks catch a cold, Black folks, figuratively, catch pneumonia.”
Despite Pressley’s enthusiasm, the bill is not likely to pass in the Republican-controlled Congress — prompting Americans to question why Booker and Pressley are “wasting their time” as politicians even attempting to pass it.
Her push for reparations also follows after President Donald Trump’s signed executive orders purging diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) in the federal government — aiming to return the U.S. to a meritocracy-based system, and one based on skill set and intelligence rather than skin color, sexual orientation, or gender.
According to a statement by Booker’s office last month, 17 Democratic senators are co-sponsoring the bill to “better understand where our country has fallen short” while helping “lawmakers better address the racial disparities and inequalities that persist today as a result of generational injustices.”
“We as a nation have not yet truly acknowledged and grappled with the ways slavery, racism, and white supremacy continue to disadvantage African Americans,” Booker added.
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