Queens Debates

Local resident Charles Thompson has a personal stake in the issue of slavery reparations now being hotly disputed by judges and legislators across the country, including in Queens.
"My forefathers were slaves to the white man," said Thompson, lamenting the profits reaped from the subjugation of his ancestors. "What goes around should come around. The white man has to help us get our footing so we can elevate ourselves." Though Thompson freely acknowledged the difficulties of establishing who should be held culpable for crimes committed a century and a half ago, he said that any reparations "would be appreciated." "If we get reparations, we could all come together," he said, referring to people of all creeds and colors.
Unlike Thompson, however, Shirley King, an African-American woman questioned on Jamaica Ave., this past week thinks that the wounds of slavery need not be reopened. "I think its a waste of time. Thats past and gone. Its a waste of our tax money."
Residents across Queens of all backgrounds are divided as to how to grapple with this impassioned struggle, fraught with complications.
While most of the borough locals and elected officials questioned by The Queens Courier believe that some redress should be made in recompense for the atrocities of slavery, few agree on either the logistics or the priority this issue should be given. Some advocate for a tax credit or cash payment to every African-American who can trace his or her lineage to a slave, while others question the feasibility of proving connections which were often undocumented, or for which the records are lost.
Still others contend that any reparations made should be distributed to the black community at large. "Im not so much in favor of giving every individual reparations though I personally could use it," quipped Councilman James Sanders [D Laurelton]. "Im interested in making more massive investments in job and business creation, in education and infrastructure, where these historic descendants can improve their plight. Some may call it reparations, I call it back pay."
Queens Pols Back Bill
Sanders recently co-sponsored with Councilman John Liu [D-Flushing] the first New York City Council resolution directly tackling the issue of slavery reparations. The resolution, drafted by Councilman Charles Barron, alleges that between 1625, when the Dutch established New Amsterdam, and 1827, when slavery was abolished in New York State, "Africans built New York Citys infrastructure and economy and were never paid," all the while being "subjected to the worse [sic] kind of rape, torture, brutality and murder the human mind can conjure up." In order to conclude how these injustices should be addressed, the resolution urges the establishment of the Queen Mother Moore Reparations Commission to be funded by the City and supervised by the Black and Latino Caucus of the Council. The Commission named for the civil rights leader who collected over a million signatures in the early 1960s unsuccessfully petitioning President John F. Kennedy to pay reparations to the descendants of United States slaves would hold hearings and conduct research for as long as it is deemed necessary to recommend a compensation package.
Barron has called the initiative his "number one" priority in the Council, "because the debt is long overdue and the injury to people has been generational and psychological."
By contrast, Councilman Allan Jennings [D Jamaica] said, "I really dont think that the City Council is the right venue to address this issue. It is the place of Congress to do so." Both Barron and Jennings are African-American.
The introduction of the Council resolution in January preceded the landmark law case concerning reparations now being considered in federal court in Brooklyn by almost two months. On March 26, three New York City descendants of slaves filed suit against FleetBoston Financial Corp., Aetna Inc., and CSX, charging that earlier incarnations of the three companies reaped profits from the slave trade. Rather than claiming a specific amount of damages owed, the suit seeks a creation of a commission similar to the one proposed by the Council resolution, which would determine how much restitution the descendants of slaves are owed for their labor and damages incurred.
Borough President Helen Marshall, the first African-American woman to achieve the highest office in Queens, said through a spokesman that, "I admire the goal of the plaintiffs, whose goal is to benefit those who have been disadvantaged, but Im watching it closely to understand the dynamics." Marshall added, "I think its somewhat of a long shot, because this effort is over a century old."
A Holocaust?
Some proponents of reparations, like Sanders and Barron, challenge the statute of limitations which may be applicable to any such claims by pointing to reparations made to Jews for the Holocaust, Japanese Americans for the internments of World War II, and Native Americans for European colonialism. Councilman David Weprin [D Hollis], however, believes that the plights of the Jews and those of African American slaves are not commensurate. "In my opinion, you cant compare the two. Clearly, the Holocaust was a genocide situation involving atrocities of immeasurable capacity and it was also not too long ago, 50-55 years ago. There is direct testimony, videotapes, traceable bank accounts. In the case of slavery, the evidence is hard to prove and speculative. I would be very leery, and in tight financial times, I wouldnt be in favor of the City of New York coming up with any money."
Assemblyman William Scarborough [D-Queens], who favors reparations, though he deems other issues "more pressing," warns of drawing correspondences between wrongs. "You always get into a difficulty when you try to compare injustices. You know, your injustice is worse than my injustice. Im not even going to go there. They are both terrible atrocities by themselves."
A Long Fight Ahead
As the debate over reparations heats up, politicians and civic groups in Queens are reaching out to residents to elicit their opinions as to what should be done. Councilman Leroy Comrie [D-St. Albans], will be hosting a town hall meeting on the subject. The Queens chapter of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America [NCOBRA] located in Rochdale Village is rallying its members for an Aug. 17 march on Washington D.C. Other elected officials are encouraging their constituents to contact them with their opinions, no matter where they stand on the debate.
The issue of reparations is such a political hot potato that many Queens elected officials refused to speak about it on the record. One such official questioned how white people can be lumped into one group, when many whites came as immigrants to the United States a century after the horrors of slavery.
But, John Watusi Branch, founder and director of the Afrikan Poetry Theatre, said, "White Americans, regardless of their background, have benefited from slavery and the prejudice that followed it. This is a competitive country and when you hold back one group it allows others to go forward."
Elizabeth Cooper contributed to this story.
Front Cover Newspaper Clip Courtesy of Queens Historical Society.