Tell Congress to Support Pre- and Post-Civil War Study on Reparations, Racial and Economic Discrimination

From the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epi.org/):

The United States has a painful history with slavery—and those deep and systemic racial injustices have been carried forward for hundreds of years.

EPI’s director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE), Valerie Wilson, recently moderated a discussion on reparations with the authors of From Here to Equality, William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen. In their book, Darity and Mullen address racial and economic injustices head-on and make the most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery.

“Racism and discrimination have perpetually crippled black economic opportunities. At several historic moments the trajectory of racial inequality could have been altered dramatically, but at each juncture, the road chosen did not lead to a just and fair America.”   —From Here to Equality (Darity, Mullen)

Together, we have an opportunity to demand Congress authorize a study of reparations.  Legislation of this kind has been introduced into Congress every year since 1979, but it has never been moved to a vote. Now is the time for action.

Join the EPI Policy Center and our national coalition at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-the-petition-black-americans-deserve-reparations-demand-congress-commission-a-reparations-study-now to demand Congress pass H.R.40, which calls for a reparations study on both slavery in the pre-Civil War United States and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans for generations to follow.

There are 137 co-sponsors to H.R.40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act. But the House has yet to pass the crucial legislation.

In addition to examining the ramifications of slavery and calling for a study of reparations, the legislation documents that “following the abolition of slavery the United States Government, at the Federal, State, and local level, continued to perpetuate, condone and often profit from practices that continued to brutalize and disadvantage African-Americans, including share cropping, convict leasing, Jim Crow, redlining, unequal education, and disproportionate treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system.”[1]

The legislation further states, “as a result of the historic and continued discrimination, African-Americans continue to suffer debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships including but not limited to having nearly 1,000,000 black people incarcerated; an unemployment rate more than twice the current white unemployment rate; and an average of less than 1/16 of the wealth of white families, a disparity which has worsened, not improved over time.”

Add your name! Join the EPI Policy Center and our national coalition to demand Congress pass H.R.40 to study reparations to move our nation forward and end systemic racial inequality.

In recent months, countless Americans have taken to the streets to demand racial and economic justice. To demand an end to police violence. To demand that we eliminate the systemic racism that is embedded throughout our society. Finally.

We can’t fix systemic racism unless we hear the voices of Black Americans, elevate their concerns, and take concrete steps to reform and replace these broken policies. And we say loudly and clearly: Black Lives Matter.

Calling on Congress to pass H.R.40 is an essential first step. Thank you for all you do to fight for an economy that works for all of us, not just the privileged few.