Democratic White House hopeful Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., appealed to members of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to push forward with a measure that would create a commission to explore ways to make amends to black Americans for more than two centuries of slavery.
“This bill, which I am now leading on the Senate side, is the beginning of an important process, not just to examine and study this history that has not been addressed, the silence that persists, but also to find practical ideas to address the enduring injustices in our nation,” Booker told the panel’s Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, referring to H.R. 40. “The categorizations of such an effort that I hear from others is wrong and undermines our collective purpose and common ground. This idea that it’s just about writing a check to one American to another falls far short of the importance of this conversation and what I believe we will truly talk about.”
The legacy of slavery is alive today in America, Booker said.
“I say that I am brokenhearted and angry right now,” the presidential candidate continued, telling lawmakers he returned to Capitol Hill this week after seven black men were shot in his New Jersey neighborhood. “We, as a nation, must address the consistent inequalities or we will never fully achieve the strength and the possibility that we have.”
Booker featured in the first session of the hearing, the first to focus on H.R. 40 since it was introduced in 1989 by then-Rep. John Conyers, who served nearly 53 years in the House. The mention of Conyers, who resigned in 2017 amid a slew of sexual misconduct allegations, drew cheers from the packed room, outside of which a crowd continued to congregate as people tried to convince U.S. Capitol Police to let them inside.
H.R. 40 was reintroduced in the 116th Congress by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. The congresswoman said she spoke to Conyers on Tuesday, who urged her “to move on and to lead on.”
“There are diverse opinions in this room … But I will say that those who picked cotton paid for very basic wealth of this nation,” Jackson Lee said during her opening statement, calling for the bill to receive a full committee hearing and mark-up, to be considered and passed by the House and Senate, and be sent to President Trump’s desk for his signature. “So I ask my fellow colleagues that this is simply a constructive discussion that will lead to the practical responses,” she added.
Emotions were evident, particularly during the opening statement of Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., the subcommittee’s ranking member. His remarks, in which he described the “injustice” monetary reparations would have on taxpayers, triggered jeers from some of those in attendance.
The hearing also showcased testimony from actor Danny Glover, 72, and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, 43.
