Maryland to consider slavery reparations after Gov. Wes Moore’s veto is overridden
Maryland will create a commission to study potential reparations for slavery after lawmakers voted Dec. 16 to override a veto by Gov. Wes Moore – the nation’s only Black governor – that disappointed many fellow Democrats, the Associated Press reported.
Moore said in his veto letter in May that it was a difficult decision to veto the bill, which was a priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, the AP wrote. But he wrote there has been enough study of the legacy of slavery, and it was now time to “focus on the work itself” to address it.
But Democrats who control both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly decided the commission was needed to better examine how to do that, the AP reported.
“This topic isn’t easy, but, again, without formal study, reparations risk being dismissed as symbolic or unconstitutional, regardless of moral merit,” Sen. Charles Sydnor, a Democrat, told the AP.
After his veto was overridden, Moore told the AP that while he disagrees with the legislature’s decision, “I am eager to move forward in partnership on the work of repair that we all agree is an urgent and pressing need.”
“I believe the time for action is now – and we must continue moving forward with the work of repair immediately,” Moore said in a statement. “That mission is especially vital given the immediate and ongoing effects of this federal administration on our constituents, including communities that have been historically left behind.”
Potential reparations outlined in the bill include official statements of apology, monetary compensation, property tax rebates, social service assistance, as well as licensing and permit fee waivers and reimbursement, the AP wrote.
Maryland’s Black population is about 30%, the AP reported, the highest percentage of any state outside of the Deep South.
U.S. Capitol unveils statue of teen civil rights icon, taking Robert E. Lee’s spot
The U.S. Capitol on Dec. 16 began displaying a statue of a teenage Barbara Rose Johns as she protested poor conditions at her segregated Virginia high school, the Associated Press reported, a pointed replacement for a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that was removed years ago.
An unveiling ceremony of the statue representing Virginia in the Capitol took place in Emancipation Hall, featuring Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s congressional delegation and Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger.
Johnson said more than 200 members of Johns’ family were on hand.
Johns was 16 in 1951 when she led a strike for equal education at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. The cause gained the support of NAACP lawyers, who filed a lawsuit that would become one of the five cases that the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed in Brown v. Board of Education. The high court’s landmark 1954 decision declared “separate but equal” public schools unconstitutional.