The District must begin the conversation about redress for compounding harms it has perpetrated against Black Washingtonians. From enslavement to Jim Crow to mass incarceration, the District has repeatedly undermined the freedom, stability, and progress of its Black residents. The Metropolitan Police Department arrests Black people at a per-capita rate seven times higher and kills Black people at a rate 13 times higher than White people. The vast Black-White wealth gap is yet another manifestation of D.C.’s history of racial injustice. In D.C., the median White household wealth is 81 times that of Black households and it has the widest wage gap for Black women. It is time for reparative solutions. This bill will establish a task force to study and develop reparations proposals for Black residents in the District.
Status: Reintroduced in 2023