This week, the Maryland House of Delegates overwhelmingly voted to create a commission to study and recommend potential reparations for slavery and diagnose the impacts of centuries-long racial injustice in the state.
Passed by a party-line vote of 101-36 on Wednesday, the Maryland Reparations Commission now heads to Democrat Gov. Wes Moore's desk for consideration.
The commission plans to "study and make recommendations relating to appropriate benefits to be made to individuals whose ancestors were enslaved in the State or were impacted by certain inequitable government policies."
Democrats outnumber Republicans in the House 102-39 and have controlled both the Senate and House in Maryland since 1920.
If signed by Moore, the bill will tackle specific federal, state, and local policies from 1877 to 1965, the post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras. Those years "have led to economic disparities based on race, including housing segregation and discrimination, redlining, restrictive covenants, and tax policies," according to the bill.
Suggested forms of reparations outlined in the bill include a formal statement of apology, monetary compensation, property tax rebates, social service assistance, as well as licensing and permit fee waivers and reimbursement.
"The commission will carefully examine and evaluate a range of reparations proposals that will not only consider financial restitution, but will also explore strategies to support and uplift vulnerable communities that continue to suffer the lingering and evasive effects of discriminatory practices rooted in systematic racism," Del. Aletheia McCaskill, D-Baltimore County, said in January.
On Thursday, Democrats rejected an amendment by Del. Lauren Arikan, R-Harford, who tried to amend the bill to included the impact of government policies on those who were sexually abused as minors.
"That is what reparations is, paying back the aggrieved and the injured," she said. "So don't wait 200 years to help the families of these victims who we have harmed today."
Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, D-Anne Arundel and Prince George's, said that while she sympathized with the spirit of Arikan's amendment, such a change would alter the purpose of the bill. Arikan's amendment was rejected by another party-line vote of 101-34.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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