WHEREAS:

The dehumanization and atrocities of slavery in the United States were mandated by formal laws that were codified and enshrined within the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS:

The U.S. government has never acknowledged, apologized or otherwise taken responsibility for its role in slavery or segregation(de jure and de facto) and has never made reparation to African Americans for the generations of labor expropriated from them, deprivation of their freedom and rights and terrorism against them resulting in widespread injury and death; and

WHEREAS:

The 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa acknowledged that the transatlantic slave trade and slavery were crimes against humanity; and

WHEREAS:

A bill pending before the United States House of Representatives, H.R. 40,

1. acknowledges the fundamental injustice and inhumanity of slavery;
2. establishes a commission to study slavery, its subsequent racial and economic discrimination against freed slaves and the impact of those forces on living African Americans today;
3. makes recommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies; and

WHEREAS:

H.R. 40 and the concept of reparations have been supported by state and local resolutions across the country, including legislation passed in the states of Louisiana and California, and by the city councils of Detroit, Mich., Cleveland, Ohio, Chicago, Ill., Evanston, Ill., Atlanta, Ga., Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Md., Inglewood, Calif., Dallas, Texas, Philadelphia, Pa., Paterson, N.J., Burlington, Vt.; and

WHEREAS:

Numerous national, state, and local organizations as well as religious institutions, legal organizations and labor unions, have officially endorsed the concept of reparations and H.R. 40; and

WHEREAS:

The United States government has acknowledged and taken responsibility for its role in the unjust internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War and has undertaken to pay reparations to the internees and their descendants and to apologize for the unjust abrogation of their rights; and

WHEREAS:

The United States has lent its support to other reparations claims even where such claims did not take place on United States soil.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME recognize the date of February 25th of each year as Reparations Awareness Day, having been celebrated as such by the growing reparations movement for the past decade; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME hereby express our support for H.R. 40, and call upon the states' Congressional delegations of each of our affiliates to endorse the bill and advocate for its passage in Congress; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME forward a copy of this resolution to Representative John Conyers of Michigan, the author and primary sponsor of H.R. 40; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME engage in supportive activities to publicize the concept of reparations and the passage of H.R. 40.

SUBMITTED BY:

Brenda Stokely, President and Delegate
AFSCME Council 1707
New York