In January of 1989, Mr. Conyers first introduced the bill H.R. 40, the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. He has reintroduced H.R. 40 every Congress since 1989, and will continue to do so until it's passed into law.
One of the biggest challenges in discussing the issue of reparations in a political context, is deciding how to have a national discussion without allowing the issue to polarize our party or our nation. The approach Mr. Conyers has advocated for over a decade, has been for the federal government to undertake an official study of the social, political, and economic impact of slavery on our nation.
Over 4 million Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and its colonies from 1619 to 1865, and as a result, the United States was able to become the most prosperous country in the free world. It is undisputed that African slaves were not compensated for their labor. More unclear however, is what the effects and remnants of this relationship have had on African-Americans and our nation from the time of emancipation through today.
Mr. Conyers has requested the number of the bill, 40, as a symbol of the forty acres and a mule that the United States initially promised freed slaves. This unfulfilled promise and the serious devastation that slavery had on African-American lives has never been officially recognized by the United States Government.
Mr. Conyers legislation does four things: (1) acknowledges the fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery; (2) establishes a commission to study slavery and its subsequent racial and economic discrimination against freed slaves; (3) studies the impact of those forces on today's living Africa Americans; and (4) would allow the commission to make recommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies to redress the harm inflicted on living African-Americans.
H.R. 40 has strong grass roots support within the African-American community, as well as major civil rights organizations, religious organizations, and academic and civic groups from across the country. This support is very similar to the strong grassroots movement that proceeded another major legislative initiative, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday bill. It took 15 years for this legislation to pass. It was introduced during the Spring of 1968 and was finally enacted during the Fall of 1983. Throughout most of those 15 years, the idea of a federal holiday honoring an African-American civil rights leader was considered radical.
Like the King Holiday bill, Mr. Conyers has seen the support for H.R. 40 increase each year. There are currently 37 co-sponsors. Support also extends outside of the Congress as various city councils and other local jurisdictions have supported his bill. The city councils in Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, DC, and Atlanta have passed bills supporting H.R. 40.
It is a fact that slavery flourished in the United States and constituted an immoral and inhumane deprivation of African slaves' lives, liberty, and cultural heritage. As a result, millions of African-Americans today continue to suffer great injustices. Our country can no longer afford to leave slavery in the past and the issue of reparations for African-Americans must be resolved.