What Black New Yorkers Say They’re Owed: Highlights From a State Reparations Hearing

[Elderberry]

Legal Insurrection by Elizabeth Stauffer 5/31/2026

“It shouldn’t only be a check, but it should start with a check. Then we can start addressing education issues, redlining issues, policing issues. …”

In 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation creating the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies. The commission would explore the state’s role in slavery, its “lasting effects … on people of African descent,” as well as possible reparative measures.

On Saturday, the commission held a public hearing to solicit feedback from black New Yorkers on what reparations should look like in practice, including who should be eligible, what forms of compensation should take, and how the state should address the enduring effects of slavery and discrimination.

To say the least, the state may not have been prepared for some of the demands that were made.

Although more than 160 years have passed since the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, some black New Yorkers maintain that they are owed compensation from Americans whose ancestors never owned slaves, arrived on these shores decades after emancipation, or fought — and even died — in our nation’s bloodiest war to end it.

Fox News put together a video (below) highlighting key moments from the hearing as well as their own interviews with some of the attendees.

[Emphasis added.]

One man, whose claim to black identity was not immediately evident from his appearance, suggested reparations of $800,000 for “each foundation of black Americans.” While the phrase itself was ambiguous, his subsequent comments, along with testimony from other attendees, indicated that he was calling for an $800,000 payment to each black American.

“We need $800,000 for each foundation of black Americans,” he said. “That’s simple. In New York, that’s about the cost of living that’ll get you a home or a small business or for you to recover from any financial duress.”

More: https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/05/what-black-new-yorkers-say-theyre-owed-highlights-from-a-state-reparations-hearing/

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

LOL But a check should definitely be involved no doubt. A big one. /s

[jafo2010]

Pandering lunacy.  There is not one person living in the USA today that has any responsibility for what happened 160 years ago.  Not one!

My budget for reparations is:    ZERO DOLLARS!    ZERO!!!

The time has come for Congress to basically curtail any language in regard to reparations.  California, now New York?  When will Puerto Rico award each person of color $50 million in reparations?  Pure Democommie idiocy!!!!!

[DefiantMassRINO]

 

Once we cut them the checks, we're even.  No more pity, remorse, or sympahty for slavery.  You got your money, now go away.

"Waaah waaah waaah, my ancestors were slaves ... " Woah, stop right there.  We gave you your reparations, and we are no longer obligated to listen to your additional cries for more white guilt shakedowns.

Business is business, and our business is done once you cash that check.

[libertybele]

I want reparations for being a White female who has been shown prejudiced by a Black employer and/for being a non-Hispanic speaking applicant ...more than once ....

[Timber Rattler]

The thorny legal (and practical) question that always dooms such nonsense is how does a black American prove direct descent from a slave since (being property) slaves did not appear on any enumerated census (until 1870), nor are there any surviving records documenting specific lineages for them and their ancestors.  The Freedman's Bureau tried but gave up before it was disestablished in 1872.  Any records before then are pretty much non-existent on slaves and slave families.  Just having dark skin is not enough to legally establish a slave ancestry claim in court.
 
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau

https://www.archives.gov/files/calendar/genealogy-fair/2018/2-kluskens-handout.pdf

This is something that has bedeviled historians and genealogists for decades, and that problem never will be solved.

And what about any blacks who immigrated to America AFTER the Civil War?

[andy58-in-nh]

None of you were slaves. None of your great-grandparents were slaves.

New York opposed slavery and its white soldiers fought in a war that resulted in freedom for black Americans.



Have you considered changing your behavior, instead?

[Cyber Liberty]

I think everybody else deserves reparations from blacks for the rampant crime they've committed over the past 50 years!

[jafo2010]

The overwhelming majority of black people in the USA came here as free men and women or are descended from free men/women, not slaves.

AND I REMIND ALL HERE, IT WAS THE REPUBLICANS THAT VOTED FOR THE FREEDOM OF SLAVES, AND A REPUBLICAN POTUS THAT PUSHED IT THROUGH CONGRESS.  THE DEMOCRATS OPPOSED ENDING SLAVERY.

IT WAS REPUBLICANS THAT SIGNED THE ANTI DISCRIMINATION ACT IN THE EARLY 60S, NOT THE DEMOCRATS.  THEY OPPOSED THE LEGISLATION, AND FIVE SOUTHERN STATES VOTED AGAINST LBJ WHEN HE RAN FOR OFFICE IN 1964.