Sheila Jackson Lee: “Most of the colleagues of this House know that I have introduced H.R. 40, the Commission to Study Slavery and Develop…”

“Most of the colleagues of this House know that I have introduced H.R. 40, the Commission to Study Slavery and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, which can be defined as repairing. I read to my colleagues an assessment of the U.N. Human Rights chief in a landmark report, launched after the killing of George Floyd in the United States, urging countries worldwide to do more to help end discrimination, violence, and systemic racism against people of African descent and to make amends to them, including repair, reparations. That word strikes fear in most people's hearts and minds because they don't take a moment to understand what ending systemic racism and institutional racism is or what repairing is. Repairing is a global concept. It means that if you have been harmed or there is something broken, you fix it. When you think about racism in the United States, it is something broken. There are many ways to address it: dealing with education and healthcare, dealing with the economy of people who have an enormous wealth gap, but breaching the gap and bringing people together. I ask my colleagues for us to move forward on H.R. 40 because it is healing legislation, and it will bring Americans together. ____________________”