The representative Ayanna Pressley will reintroduce HR 40, federal legislation to study slavery repairs, on Wednesday, when the Trump administration leads a large -scale reversal of the efforts of diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government.
The bill, which had 130 copatrochinters in the last session, is not likely to advance under the congress controlled by Republicans, and the White House has previously opposed the repair efforts.
“We are in a moment of emboldened white supremacy and anti-negral racism, and an armed supreme court that is actively destroying protections and progress,” said Pressley, D-Mass., A NBC News in an exclusive interview.
She described the country as “a painful turning point.” She added: “We have a hostile administration that actively works to delay decades of progress and more recent progress when it comes to our civil rights.”
Last month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that prohibits Dei’s policies in federal agencies, calling them illegal and discriminatory, which led to federal workers being low and emboldening some of the largest companies in the United States to recover promises of corporate capital.
Despite the obstacles, Pressley said it is essential to continue pressing HR 40.
“I am actively working to give the assaults of a hostile administration that means damage to all that calls this home, but will have a disparate impact on black Americans,” said Pressley, “because throughout history, it has been shown that when it has been shown that when it has been shown that other people catch a cold and black people, figuratively, they catch pneumonia. “
HR 40 has continuously introduced in the last three decades, and Pressley is officially taking over the representative Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who died last summer of cancer. Lee’s daughter, Erica Lee Carter, who completed the rest of Lee’s term, approached Pressley to take care of the bill.
The content of the bill has not changed since it was introduced in the last session, confirmed the Pressley office. It would create a commission to study and propose repairs for slavery and subsequent racial discrimination. The representative John Conyers, D-Mich., Presented it for the first time in 1989, and Lee took over when he retired in 2017.
After the end of the civil war, General William T. Sherman asked a group of black leaders in Savannah, Georgia, how the approximately 4 million newly emancipated blacks could be better supported. They proposed to issue 40 acres and a mule.
The fact that repair defenders are never considered “40 acres and a mule” as a federal promise not fulfilled.
“Our government, regardless of who occupies the Oval office, has the moral and legal obligation to provide repairs for the slavery of Africans and their lasting damage in black communities,” Pressley said.
After emancipation, repairs were self -organized through grassroots organizations such as the former Slave mutual relief, Bounty and Pension Association and federal agencies such as the Libertos Office, but none lasted a long time. After the reconstruction period, Jim Crow’s laws throughout the country facilitated the continuation of racial discrimination and segregation.
Republic defenders often point to the racial wealth gap as evidence of the continuous effects of slavery. The average wealth of white homes in the United States is $ 250,400, more than nine times more than black homes, which is $ 27,100.
HR 40 left the Judicial Committee of the Chamber for the first time in 2021, after a movement stimulated by the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The cities and states have been considering the efforts more and more.
As the main sponsor in the camera, Pressley will be in charge of convincing fellow legislators that repairs remain urgent and should be a priority. Senator Cory Booker, Dn.J., presented the equivalent of the Senate last month.
“We will advocate for support inside and outside the hill,” Pressley said. “There has always been a great movement and coalition around HR 40.”
In 2021, 77% of black Americans said they supported the issuance of repairs linked to slavery, while only 18% of White Americans agreed, according to the PEW Research Center.
When asked about federal repairs in a 2019 interview with The Hill, Trump said: “I don’t see what happens.”
The White House has not responded to a request for comments on the bill.
“We are undeniably challenging times now,” said civil rights lawyer and defender of repairs Nkechi Taifa. “It is absolutely essential that HR 40 remain our North Star.”
TAIFA organizes a monthly meeting for repair organizers and directs public educational events. “We are firm in the fight for repairs, regardless of whether this is a moment of political agitation or not,” he said.
The National Repairs Organizer Dreisen Heath said that Pressley was the appropriate legislator to continue pressing the bill because “intersectional problems is actively married and does not apologize about it.”
Pressley has participated in the introduction of the legislation on baby bonds, which are trusted funds administered by the government to address the racial wealth gap; Criminal Justice Reform; and another racial equity is important as a congressman.
“I love doing the consensus construction work,” said Pressley. “I think I will breathe a new iteration of life in this movement.”
“I hope it means something for black Americans,” he said about the continuous meaning of HR 40, “and I hope it means something for people of conscience, who care about the work of truth, reconciliation and healing.”
