Politics
Companies That Participated in the Slave Trade Could Face New Rules in Illinois Under Proposal
Companies that participated in the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries could have to fess up and pay up if they want to do business with Illinois in the 21st century.
State Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago), sponsor of the Enslavement Era Disclosure and Redress Act (House Bill 1227), said it’s a way for corporations that profited on the backs of enslaved people to help repair the legacy of harm caused for generations of Black Americans.
“Black Americans we have waited so long,” Harper said. “We have waited so long in vain for our communities to be made whole. After hundreds of years of repression and oppression on so many levels, we waited long enough. Enough is enough. Enough excuses, enough delays, enough broken promises. It’s time for us to stop talking about and start acting on the things that we need to do today.”
The measure requires companies (including preceding entities) that want to do business with the state of Illinois and participated in slaveholding or the slave trade to say so — be it whether they transported enslaved people on trains or provided loans.
“Numerous American businesses across various industries, including insurance, banking, tobacco, cotton, sugar, railroads, and shipping, reaped substantial profits by exploiting the uncompensated labor of enslaved persons,” the proposal reads. “However, very few American industries and the underlying businesses and individuals have adequately acknowledged their connection to the Enslavement Era.”
Firms would be responsible for reviewing their records for evidence of participation in slaveholding and then sharing that information with the state when submitting a bid.
Any forthcoming information would be made publicly accessible, and the state would hold hearings based on the disclosures, for the purpose, according to the bill, of promoting “knowledge of the nature and scope of the slaveholding and slave trading activities in Illinois” which will “promote healing.”
Along with their bid for state business, would-be contractors with ties to slavery would also have to include a “statement of financial redress” committing to paying money into a new state fund.
The bill does not specify how much companies would need to give.
Failing to follow through on the money would result in “automatic termination of its contract with the State of Illinois,” the bill reads.
The funding would be used to pay for projects in economically depressed areas that were hurt by redlining or Jim Crow-era policies.
It’s a way for corporations to “take responsibility for any past actions” and to “demonstrate their commitment to fostering a more just and equitable society,” the bill reads.
Backers said people, companies and governments got rich because of slavery, while even after slavery was abolished those who were enslaved were left with nothing, leaving a racial wealth gap that persists today.
“You are not giving us a handout,” said state Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana), who like Harper is a member of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. “You are giving us what is deserved, to those who are descendants of the enslaved. And no policy that we pass in this building will ever close the economic gap that went on for 400 years. We will not close the education gap that went on for 150 years before we even got access to education.”
The measure was filed Tuesday, when Harper promoted it at a news conference in Springfield featuring national leaders in the reparations movement, including from Reparations United and the National African American Reparations Commission.
The proposal could face opposition.
After Evanston launched its first-in-the-nation municipal reparations program, the self-described “conservative foundation” Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit alleging that program is a breach of the Equal Protection clause. Judicial Watch did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Illinois redress proposal.
But the measure also quickly gained 21 sponsors. Creating and enforcing an “Illinois slavery era disclosure bill” is, by law, a specific mission for Illinois’ African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission, of which Harper is a member.
The commission, which was created through a series of laws passed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and meant to address harms to Black Illinois residents, has been on a statewide listening tour.
The next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8 in Evanston.
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]