New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is leaving the door open to cash reparations for descendants of those harmed by slavery, saying he will wait for the recommendations of a city-appointed commission before deciding whether to support direct payments.

During an interview with Charles Blow for The Root, Mamdani was asked whether he would back financial reparations if the city’s reparations commission ultimately recommended them for New Yorkers affected by slavery.

Blow referenced remarks Mamdani made during his mayoral campaign, when he declared, “New York City participated actively in the slave trade and furthered its legacy through racist institutions, policies, and laws. The city should reconcile and repair this legacy of slavery, stolen wealth and discrimination.”

Responding to the question, Mamdani reaffirmed that position but declined to commit to any specific proposal before the commission completes its work. “First, I want to say that I stand by what I submitted. It’s the truth. It’s not a personal assessment. And we often think about slavery and the complicity in slavery as being exclusively to certain geographic areas of the country. Here in New York City, we were very complicit. So I look forward to whatever those findings are. I can’t give you an answer in advance of them, but I can tell you that this is critically important because this is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was,” Mamdani responded.

The commission examining the issue, known as the New York City Commission on Racial Equity (CORE), was established in 2024 under Local Law 92. Its mandate is to investigate the city’s historical involvement in slavery and evaluate the lasting consequences of that history. A companion measure, Local Law 91, created a separate Truth, Healing and Reconciliation initiative intended to provide a public process for acknowledging slavery’s legacy and its continuing effects on New Yorkers.

According to the commission’s timeline, the Truth, Healing and Reconciliation planning report is expected in June 2027, followed by the commission’s final reparations report the next month. If adopted, implementation of the Truth, Healing and Reconciliation initiative is scheduled to begin by June 18, 2028.

Linda Tigani, chair and executive director of NYC CORE, praised Mamdani for publicly recognizing New York City’s role in slavery while emphasizing that the commission believes acknowledgment alone is insufficient. “We would like to thank the Mayor for using his platform to acknowledge New York City’s complicit history in chattel slavery. New York was home to the second-largest slaveholding population in America, after Charleston, South Carolina. The first commodities traded on Wall Street included the buying and selling of enslaved Black people, and their brutal forced unpaid labor built one of the most powerful economic engines in the world. Recognizing this history is an important step toward understanding the enduring legacy of slavery and its impact on our city and nation,” Tigani told Fox News Digital.

She continued by arguing that the city must move beyond recognition and address what she described as the long-term economic consequences of slavery. “We must repay the longstanding debt owed and truly tackle the racial wealth gap in New York City which is directly correlated to the stain of slavery in New York City. Since the passing of Local Law 91 and 92, the NYC Commission on Racial Equity has reached thousands of New Yorkers to formulate recommendations to pay the debt and advance permanent structural change to end racist practice in our city.”

Despite welcoming Mamdani’s comments on slavery, the commission has also publicly criticized his administration. Earlier this year, after the mayor unveiled his Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan, CORE argued that the proposal failed to satisfy requirements laid out in the New York City Charter.

At the time, Tigani warned that the city could not afford to retreat from racial equity efforts, particularly in the current national political climate. “At a moment when communities across the country are deeply concerned about the direction of racial justice and equity under Donald Trump’s national political climate, New Yorkers made clear through our five-borough town halls that city government has a responsibility to lead with accountability and investments in communities most impacted by inequity,” she said.

CORE’s assessment concluded that the mayor’s proposal lacked several key elements, including a comprehensive citywide racial equity strategy, race-disaggregated data standards, neighborhood accountability measures, a meaningful response to concerns raised during community outreach, and transparent funding specifically tied to racial equity goals.

The commission has continued holding public events throughout the city to build support for its work. One of its largest efforts came during this year’s Juneteenth observance, which Forbes described as New York City’s biggest reparations gathering to date.

Political strategist Tyrik Washington, who has worked with CORE on its reparations research, said the event was intended to blend community celebration with policy discussions. “The goal of the event for NYC CORE was to create a space where joy, community, and civic engagement were at the center of both commemorating Juneteenth and advancing the conversation around reparations and racial equity,” he told the outlet in June.

Washington also expressed confidence that reparations could produce measurable economic improvements if enacted. “If reparations policies were implemented in New York City today, I believe that within five to ten years we would see measurable reductions in occupational segregation and meaningful progress toward pay equity for Black New Yorkers.”

Earlier this year, CORE released a progress report highlighting that $500,000 had been designated for community organizations participating in a Reparations, Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation Network during 2026.

According to the report, more than two dozen organizations are expected to receive grants worth tens of thousands of dollars to organize discussions about the city’s reparations study and gather public input as officials develop the Truth, Healing and Reconciliation plan.

The report also states that the funding is intended to compensate participants for the time they spend taking part in the discussions and to cover meeting expenses, including refreshments.

{Matzav.com}