NY governor chooses Syracuse leader to examine slavery reparations: ‘This is long overdue’

Linda Brown-Robinson, a longtime leader of Syracuse’s Black community, will serve on a state commission that will recommend how to address the harmful effects of slavery in the state. Gov. Kathy Hochul chose Brown-Robinson as one of her three appointees to the nine-member New York Community Commission on Reparations Remedies. Hochul signed a bill into law in December that established the commission. Its task is to examine the extent to which the federal and state government supported the institution of slavery. The commission also will look at how New York – which fully abolished slavery in 1827 – engaged in the transfer of enslaved Africans. New York City, especially, profited off the slave trade. Brown-Robinson, 77, said Friday she realizes the importance of the role she will play on the commission, and knows the historic significance of the task ahead. “This is long overdue for our state and long overdue for our country, especially for people who didn’t have a voice in the past or had it taken away,” Brown-Robinson told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. Brown-Robinson is a former president of the Syracuse and Onondaga County branch of the NAACP. She and her husband, Van Robinson, helped start the local...