Commission to study reparations in N.Y. to convene for first time

Nine commissioners are slated to meet for the first time next week to start an 18-month study of potential reparations for descendants of enslaved people and the impacts of New York’s role on the slave trade. The state’s Community Commission on Reparations Remedies will meet on July 30 in the state Capitol in Albany and outline their work, which will continue for the next year and a half before the group submits a final report to the Legislature by the end of 2025. Slavery remained legal in New York until 1827, but the state insured slave owners in other parts of the country for many more decades. Commissioners who will study reparations include experts from historically Black colleges and universities, civil rights and poverty experts, faith leaders and others, who were appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie earlier this year. “They all have a unique expertise, which is very exciting to see, that they come from different lenses, whether it’s public, private [or] academia, they all have a unique perspective to bring to the table,” Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages said Thursday.  Several commissioners were not available to comment or did not respond...