Buffalo Hosts Community Commission on Reparations Remedies

Almost a year ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an important piece of racial justice legislation into law, creating the state’s Community Commission on Reparations Remedies.  The board is tasked with studying the history of slavery in the state and what it might look like to provide restitution to the descendants of enslaved people who live here.  The committee was formed due in no small part to the racially motivated killing of 10 people at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo in May 2022, which also prompted the committee’s first meeting to take place here this week.  According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, the commission has to draft a report including “remedies and recommendations to address these historic wrongs,” adding that that’s exactly what reparations are meant to be: “A way to make amends for slavery and the ongoing harm to Black New Yorkers. These harms go beyond dollars and cents. Today, Black communities face systemic racism in education, employment, health, housing, and over-representation in our criminal legal system. These present-day problems have their roots in slavery’s legacy.”  During Tuesday night’s meeting, Buffalo native Aymanuel Radford, a member of New Yorkers for Reparations, spoke to the crowd. “Those...