The US Congress will vote in committee for the first time in its history next week on a bill that timidly opens the door to compensation for descendants of black slaves, a sensitive issue in a country where inequalities remain high.
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“This text, presented for the first time almost 30 years ago, provides for the creation of a commission to study slavery and discrimination in the United States since 1619 and recommend adequate responses,” the commission wrote on Friday. judiciary of the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats.
She has scheduled debates and a vote in committee for Wednesday.
This unprecedented step paves the way for a possible vote in plenary session in the Chamber, the date of which has not, however, been set. The future of this text remains uncertain in the Senate.
“Long after the abolition of slavery, the segregation and enslavement of African Americans in part determined the policies of this country, which in turn shaped its values and institutions,” the commission, Democrat Jerry Nadler.
“Today we still live with racial inequalities in access to education, health, housing, insurance, employment and other societal assets, which are directly attributable to the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination having been supported by the authorities, ”he added.
The powerful civil rights organization ACLU hailed the “historic” committee study of this law, called HR40.
“Congress has sat on HR40 for 30 years and this review and vote shows that our elected officials are finally listening to the will of the millions of people who demand that we begin to compensate the communities most affected by racism and oppression.” , denounced an official of the organization, Jennifer Bellamy.
Although this is “an important step in the right direction, this is only the beginning,” she added, vowing to “fight until HR40 is put to a vote in plenary session”.
At the end of March, the small town of Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, voted to grant funds to its African-American inhabitants to compensate for the damage created by discrimination in housing, the first city in the United States to put in implement such a measure.