Currently there is a bill being pushed through Congress that would get the process started for reparations to descendants of Black people who were enslaved in America. There is good news and bad news. The bad news is, the senate most likely won’t pass it.
The good news is Joe Biden does NOT need the senate or house of representatives to do it. He can do it himself with an executive order. Before we get too excited, HR 40 is not reparations itself, but a bill that would create a commission to study how slavery, American Apartheid (Jim Crow), and institutional racism has affected Black people. The bill states that after this study, then reparations would be proposed.
As stated by, Theodore R. Johnson, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, Joe Biden has the legal power to create an executive order to make this happen. Somebody might say, “well executive orders can be reversed by the next president.” This particular executive order can not be reversed. If a commission studies the details surrounding reparations, the next president can not…