SUPPORT OF H.R. 40: THE COMMISSION TO STUDY REPARATION PROPOSALS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS ACT

WHEREAS, U.S. Rep. John Conyers introduced H.R. 40, The Commission To Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, a commission to:

• examine the institution of slavery in the United States from 1619 through 1865 and the extent to which the federal and state governments constitutionally and statutorily supported the institution of slavery;
• examine discrimination against freed slaves and their descendants from the end of the Civil War to the present, including economic, political and social discrimination;
• examine the lingering negative effects of slavery and the discrimination on living African Americans and on society in the United States;
• recommend appropriate ways to educate the American public of its findings;
• recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of its findings; and
• submit to the Congress the results and recommendations of such examination; and

WHEREAS, the following members of Congress have signed on to the bill: Brady, Cummings, Davis, Fattah, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Kilpatrick, McCarthy, McDermott, Meeks, Millender-McDonald, Norton, Owens, Rangel, Rush, Schakowsky, Thompson, Towns, Waters and Watson; and

WHEREAS, slavery is a shameful stain at the center of American history; and

WHEREAS, the labor of millions of slaves was a significant economic engine of this country from 1619 to 1865; and

WHEREAS, their contribution to the fabric of this country has never been appropriately recognized; and

WHEREAS, we know and appreciate the educational, intellectual and pragmatic value of open discussion,, particularly on complex and difficult subjects such as the one that will be studied by H.R. 40; and

WHEREAS, we know that as a nation we only benefit from such discussions on this and other important issues;

RESOLVED, that the AFT endorse H.R. 40: The Commission To Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act's call for a genuine study of these issues and the impetus that such a study will give to this important national discussion. [Executive Council, February 2005]