A group of House Democrats has officially reintroduced a resolution that would prompt the U.S. government to spend trillions on reparations for Black Americans, arguing that the money is owed as a payment for the hardships experienced by Americans under chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and policies that the group described as systemically racist.
For context, the Reparations Now Act, initially announced in 2023 by former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), was reintroduced on May 15, 2025, by several House Democrats, primarily led by Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania. During a press conference held on the same day, Rep. Walker and others behind Reparations Now spoke out about their rationale, arguing that reparations are a “moral and legal obligation.”
During the press conference, Rep. Lee spoke out about the impetus behind Reparations Now, saying, “We’re here to say that there’s no more waiting, no more watering down, no more putting justice on layaway.” Rep. Lee added, “Black folks are owed more than thoughts and prayers. We’re owed repair, we’re owed restitution, and we’re owed justice.”
Continuing, Lee argued that “reparations are a proposal to level the playing field,” making the case that the “only way” for Black Americans to thrive is by “remedying the harms that have been done by the system.” She added, “We need real, concrete action. We need policies that close the racial wealth gap, eliminate Black maternal health disparities, fund education, address environmental racism in our communities, and we need reparations. It is a moral obligation, the debt that this country owes.”
In addition, Cori Bush, who reportedly attended the press conference, said that America has “profited off the stolen labor, the stolen land, and stolen lives of Black people” for over 400 years, adding, “From the first shackled bodies brought to these shores — and those that didn’t make it to the shores — to the grueling, back-breaking, murderous work done on plantations that built America’s wealth, to the federal officials who enslaved human beings while they wrote our laws even here in this building, America has been cashing checks written in Black blood.”
When Bush originally introduced the Reparations Now Act in 2023, she reportedly said, “Black people in our country cannot wait any longer for our government to begin addressing each and every one of the extraordinary bits of harm it has caused since its founding, that it continues to perpetuate each and every day all across our communities all across this country.” She added that the hardships endured by enslaved Africans were “innumerable, but they are well documented, traceable, and persistent.”
The reintroduction of the Reparations Now Act came shortly after Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) also reintroduced H.R. 40, a policy that would create a federal commission dedicated to investigating the impact of slavery and racism in the United States. During a press conference on February 12, 2025, Rep. Pressley said, “We are in a moment of anti-Blackness on steroids, and we refuse to be silent.”
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Continuing, Rep. Pressley said that her party “will not back down in our pursuit of racial justice,” adding, “The antidote to anti-Blackness is to be pro-Black, and we will do it unapologetically. The United States government owes us a debt, and we need reparations now.” Rep. Summer Lee added, “Our government, no matter who is in power, has an obligation to right these wrongs. If we are to truly address the racial and economic injustices rooted in this country, Congress must pass HR 40.”
Watch coverage of the Democrats’ call for reparations:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video