Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee says House can pass reparations bill

For several years Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has picked up the mantle to lead efforts to create a commission to study reparations for African Americans, and now the Democrat from Texas and others believe they finally have the votes for passage in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“This has been a 30-plus year journey,” Jackson Lee declared last week.

“We had to take a different approach. We had to go one by one to members explaining this does not generate a check.”

Jackson Lee said there’s now enough votes in the House for passage of the historic piece of legislation.

If the measure passes and ultimately becomes law, it will create a commission that would hold hearings with testimony from those who support and oppose the idea.

“Reparations is about repair and when you repair the damage that has been done, you do so much to move a society forward. This commission can be a healing process. Telling the truth can heal America,” she said.

If the Senate doesn’t join the House in passing the bill, the congresswoman said she and others would push President Biden to sign an executive order to create the commission.

Jackson Lee added that there has never been another time in which she has garnered so much support and momentum for H.R. 40, the reparations legislation that focuses on truth, racial healing, and transformation.

Jackson Lee recently reflected on the long-overdue redress to descendants of African slaves and praised the resiliency of Black Americans.

“I want to give credit to the giants that were and are Black Americans. They are giants,” Jackson Lee said.

“I want to give credit to the everyday mom and dad who get up every day and get to work and provide for their family. I’m going to give [credit to] those who came up on the farms or stayed on the farm and raised nine and 10 and 12 children.”

The Congresswoman continued, “I want to give them the honor that they deserve, and that is to recognize the insurmountable odds that some of them had and how they continue to plant seeds of respect and dignity in their children.

“Has anyone addressed the question of slavery and its comprehensive impact on Black Americans in this country? This is what H.R. 40 will do.”

While the bill doesn’t place a monetary value on reparations, it does focus on truth, racial healing, and transformation.

Jackson Lee, who sits on numerous House committees, including the Judiciary, Budget, and Homeland Security, has made the reparations legislation her top priority during the 117th Congress.

“I think if people begin to associate this legislation with what happened to the descendants of enslaved Africans as a human rights violation, the sordid past that violated the human rights of all of us who are descendants of enslaved Africans, I think that we can find common ground to pass this legislation,” Jackson Lee said.

“Can anyone imagine that we’ve never gotten a simple, effective, deeply embedded, and well-respected apology?”