Opinion
The New York Post editorial board eviscerated Governor Kathy Hochul (D) following her signing a bill to create a reparations commission in New York State.
Hochul signed the bill despite advisers suggesting that it would be a divisive act. The commission will be tasked with studying the Empire State’s legacy of slavery and will make recommendations on potential payments to combat wealth inequality.
The commission will be comprised of nine individuals appointed by the governor, state assembly speaker Carl Heastie, and state Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, all of whom are Democrats.
The conclusion – the committee will offer its initial report approximately one year after its creation – seems inevitable.
“If this committee can present a viable path forward, to helping the descendants of New York slaves in addressing the harms and disparities, that exist in education, that exist in housing, that exists in health care, that exist in the environment, that, my friends, will lift all of us up,” Hochul said.
Hochul acknowledged concerns of legal immigrants who came to America well after slavery had ended but moved forward regardless.
“They will say, ‘We had no involvement in slavery […] None of our relatives were slave owners.’ And there’s part of me that worries about leaping into this conversation because of the racial divisions, strife it could sow,” she said.
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New York Sets Up Commission To Study Reparations
Also taking part in the bill signing setting up a New York reparations commission was Reverend Al Sharpton, one of the objectively biggest race hustlers in the country.
Sharpton’s entire career began when he raised his profile by completely fabricating a race crime, backing Tawana Brawley in falsely accusing four white men of rape.
He was naturally thrilled with the commission, and even noted that Hochul’s advisers cautioned against it.
“I know her political advisors told her it is too risky. But she did it because it’s right,” he said. “I met with her last Thursday on several issues that we’re dealing with nationally, and she told me she had decided to sign this bill and she said that it’s going to be unpopular to some, but I’m going to do what’s right.”
The New York Post editorial board noted that Hochul signed a bill to study the disenfranchisement of blacks in New York while surrounded by some of the most powerful people in the state – who are all black.
The board denounced the reparations commission as a “divisive lefty pipe dream.”
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Nobody Has Disenfranchised Blacks More Than Democrats
The Post editorial board notes that New York passed a law in 1817 to abolish slavery, and from that time tried to compensate the black community through “affirmative action and minority loans and grants for small businesses, among countless other programs.”
“Yet this committee is bound to come up with some astronomical number to compensate for historical racism, which will infuriate white residents who don’t agree with collective punishment for actions they were not a part of — not to mention other ethnic groups that have their own grievances,” they write.
The board concludes, “Congratulations, Gov — you’ve set back race relations for no good reason except a political stunt.”
Hochul’s state has some slightly bigger issues to contend with than Hochul’s reparations ppe dream. There is an ongoing illegal immigrant crisis which she and New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) have both acknowledged is putting a strain on New York.
Their budget deficit is expected to swell to $9.5 billion next year. A new study shows that New York lost more residents than any other state in the country, as they’re fleeing in droves.
While attending a House hearing to address slavery reparations back in 2019, Representative Burgess Owens (R-UT) slammed Democrats, saying that they should be the only ones held responsible for paying reparations due to “all the misery” they’ve caused blacks throughout history.
“Let’s pay restitution,” Owens said. “How about the Democratic Party pay for all the misery brought to my race …”
The concept of reparations remains incredibly unpopular in America.
Polling shows that three-quarters or more of white adults oppose reparations, as do a majority of Latinos and Asian Americans. Even in deep blue California, the only other state to create a reparations commission, voters overwhelmingly object to the idea of cash payments to make up for slavery.
There is no more nakedly racist legislation than a call for reparations based on skin color and a faux notion that anybody in America today has ever suffered from slavery.
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