July 21, 2022, Washington, DC – Representative Sheila Jackson Lee and the HR-40 Strategy Group today held a news conference calling on President Joe Biden to issue an Executive Order creating the HR-40 Commission. The Commission would be responsible for examining the Transatlantic Slave Trade and slavery and past and present injustices carried out against African Americans. The Commission would also produce and recommend remedies to the negative effects caused by past discriminatory institutions. The news conference was MC’d by Dr. Ron Daniels, convenor of the National African American Reparations Commission.

“Today’s news conference was a call to action for the nation to improve its relationship with African Americans by addressing the wrongs of slavery and committing to take the necessary steps to make our community whole,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who sponsored HR-40 Legislation. “This is about freedom and a formal acknowledgment of historic wrongs, and recognition of continuing injury against the descendants of the women and men who built this country. The creation of the HR-40 Commission would be reparative and restorative, and it’s long overdue.”

The call comes roughly a year and a half after President Biden vowed to issue an executive order to create the Commission.

“We are still dealing with the effects of slavery and the direct impact it has made on Black families and communities throughout the diaspora,” said Dr. Ron Daniels, convenor of the National African American Reparations Commission. “We know that the bulk of this nation’s wealth was built on the backs of enslaved Africans. The fact that centuries later we have yet to create a national reparations commission is an affront to the generations of women and men who were ripped from their homelands, robbed of their culture, and forced to build the wealth of their oppressors. The time for reparations is now, and the creation of the HR-40 Commission is the first step toward making that a reality.”

National African American Reparations Commission

Convened by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (ibw21.org) the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) is comprised of leading African American activists, scholars, professionals and experts in the fields of law, economics, politics, health, education, religion, labor and community development. As such NAARC serves as an influential and authoritative voice on the definition, values and criteria for reparatory justice initiatives and a vehicle, among others, to intensify, broaden and deepen the Reparations Movement in the U.S. and globally. For list of commissioners and more information about NAARC and its 10-Point Reparations Plan visit https://reparationscomm.org/

Amid the pandemic, we are currently attempting to limit the amount of physical mail. If physical mail is absolutely necessary, please use the contact form on our website or direct emails to info@reparationscomm.org for mailing instructions. Donations can be made online at https://reparationscomm.org/donate/ 

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