Demanding Action on Reparations, Greens Release National Petition Pressuring Passage of HR 40

WASHINGTON — In anticipation of Independence Day, the Green Party of the United States has released a national petition demanding Congress and President Biden pass HR 40 to study and develop reparations proposals for Americans whose ancestors were enslaved in the United States.

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, July 1, 2021

Contact:

Michael O’Neil, Communications Manager, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Diana Brown, Co-chair, Media Committee, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Philena Farley, Co-chair, Media Committee, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Tahern Crews, Co-chair, Green Party National Black Caucus, [email protected], 202-804-2758

“HR 40 was first introduced in 1989 and has been introduced in every following congressional session,” said Green Party National Co-chair and National Black Caucus Co-chair Trahern Crews. “It is shameful that legislation representing such rudimentary — and yet necessary — steps toward reparations has been allowed to languish this long. It is time for the American ‘conversation’ around the legacy of slavery to turn into action and restitution.”

Four million Africans and their descendants were enslaved within the territory and colonies that became the United States from 1619 to 1865. Greens and other advocates for racial equity argue that a system of structural and institutional racism has persisted beyond the Emancipation Proclamation and the 1964 Civil Rights Act to the current era.

“The long-term effects of American chattel slavery and repressive public policies such as convict leasing, red-lining, redistricting and mass incarceration are apparent in both demographic data and documented violence against Black lives,” said Philena Farley, a member of the National Black Caucus Executive Committee. “COVID-19 and the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Daunte Wright and Andre Brown at the hands of police have, time and again, illuminated ugly systemic racism and brutal disparities between Blacks and Whites in the United States,” continued Farley.

The Green Party’s petition calls on representatives of both houses of Congress to co-endorse and pass HR 40, which would establish a commission to study and develop reparations proposals and “examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies.”

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party HR 40 Petition at GP.org

Text of HR 40 at Congress.gov

Green Party endorses U.S. House Resolution on Reparations for the descendants of Africans enslaved in the U.S. Feb 14, 2018

Demanding Action on Reparations, Greens Release National Petition Pressuring Passage of HR 40

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