Malik Shabazz representing Black Lawyers for Justice, second from left, leads a rally May 20 in Annapolis demanding the Maryland General Assembly override a veto by Gov. Wes Moore (D) of the Reparations Commission bill. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
Gov. Wes Moore’s veto of the Maryland Reparations Commission bill came as a shock to lawmakers here, but they are confident they can override the veto, making it little more than a temporary setback for the initiative.
“We’re not done in getting this bill into a law. That is the ultimately goal, no matter what hurdles are in front of us,” said Del. Aletheia McCaskill (D-Baltimore County), who sponsored a House version of the measure and helped pass Senate Bill 587, sponsored by Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George’s).
For advocates around the country, however, the shock is still being felt. They worry about what the bill’s troubles in Maryland — a state with a Black governor, a Black attorney general, a Black House Speaker, a Democratic super-majority and a powerful Legislative Black Caucus — portend for efforts in their own states.
“Gov. Moore needs to realize that he’s not only impacting Maryland, but he’s impacting South Carolina and many other states with the veto,” said South Carolina state Rep. John King, a Democrat from the Rock Hill area of the state.
The Maryland bill called for the creation of a commission that would assess specific federal, state and local policies from 1877 to 1965, the post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, that “led to economic disparities based on race, including housing, segregation and discrimination, redlining, restrictive covenants, and tax policies.”
The all-volunteer commission would also have examined how public and private institutions may have benefited from those policies, and would then recommend appropriate reparations, which could include statements of apology, monetary compensation, social service assistance, business incentives or child care costs. Unlike previous years, when reparations bills had price tags of $1 million or more, the bill passed this year drew heavily on volunteers and existing resources, and was expected to cost $54,500 in its first year.
In his veto letter, Moore praised the work and the intentions of those behind the bill, but said “now is not the time for another study. Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.” He cited a number of studies over the past 25 years on the legacy of slavery, and promised that his legislative agenda next year would include a package of proposals to “address the barriers that have walled off Black families in Maryland from work, wages and wealth for generations.”
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Those justifications appeared to be lost on many advocates, however, who called the veto everything from shocking to a betrayal.
King expressed his disappointment on his Facebook page Monday, when he called on his state’s Democratic Party to rescind an invitation to Moore, who is scheduled to be the featured speaker at the party’s annual Blue Palmetto Dinner on May 30 in South Carolina. Tickets start at $150 for the dinner, which has featured potential presidential candidates in the past, like U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who headlined last year’s dinner with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
“I will still support [the] governor, if he decided to run for president,” said King, who spent summers in Maryland where his mother grew up in the Baltimore area. But in light of the reparations veto, “I don’t think the timing is right for him to come to South Carolina,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
South Carolina Democratic Party officials did not respond to requests for comment, but as recently as Wednesday the party was sending out email appeals urging people to buy tickets for the dinner and the chance to “hear from Maryland Governor Wes Moore.”
King’s colleague, Rep. Annie McDaniel, a Democrat from Fairfield, said she also disagrees with Moore’s veto.
“I’m not saying whether the governor’s right or wrong. I’m just saying that the way he chose to handle this is not good,” McDaniel said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s not good for the plight that African Americans are on now in this state.”
But McDaniel, who chairs the state’s Legislative Black Caucus, also said Moore should attend the Blue Palmetto Dinner and explain himself. She said she would also like to see an invitation extended to Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery), the chair of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus.
“I think that would be an awesome opportunity,” McDaniel said. “I don’t want the conversation to be one-sided. I believe in fairness. I just think that having her [Wilkins] in the room and having him [Moore] in the room at the same time will give us an opportunity to hear both sides.”
Wilkins declined to comment Tuesday. A spokesperson for the governor’s office also declined to comment.
‘Reparations now’
Moore’s veto Friday was announced hours after he spoke at commencement for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, one of the state’s four historically Black colleges and universities, and the day before an unrelated reparations rally in Washington, D.C.
The governor’s decision has sparked some conversation on online broadcasts and among civil rights organizations. David Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Collective, called the governor’s decision in a statement Tuesday “a betrayal of generational efforts to pursue truth, healing, and repair.”
“As the first Black governor of Maryland, Gov. Moore had an opportunity to lead with moral clarity, political courage, and historical awareness,” Johns said in a statement Tuesday. “Instead, his decision represents a dangerous step backward in the long and necessary march toward racial justice.”
Outside the State House on Tuesday, as the governor was inside for the last bill-signing of the year, a small group of protesters stood on Lawyers Mall, holding signs and chanting: “What do we want? Reparations! When do we want it? Now!” The rally was led by Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing Black Lawyers for Justice, who said the legislature should override Moore’s veto.
“Clearly, the governor’s not for reparations,” Shabazz said to reporters. “And clearly, he’s looking to cut off a study and calculation of an assessment of the damages of what has been done to the people and the constituents of his own state, and that’s unacceptable.”
But Linda Lee Tarver, with the Black conservative organization Project 21, said Wednesday that reparations aren’t the answer to help Black communities.
Tarver, who runs a political consulting business in Lansing, Michigan, agreed with Moore’s veto message that studies have been, and continue to be, done by other organizations. She referenced her own group’s policy recommendations, which include election integrity, reducing “harmful ‘environmental justice’ agenda,” making health care more market oriented and protecting science, technology, engineering and math instruction “from the poison of ‘equity’ activists.”
She said she was surprised at the apparent disconnect between Moore and the Legislative Black Caucus, which had endorsed the reparations bill.
“I believe that Gov. Wes Moore got caught in pretending to care for reparations, and then his pen was required, and he punted,” Tarver said. “It’s shameful. Just say up front you don’t believe in it.”
Disconnect or not, McCaskill said the debate is healthy — and the debate will continue as the commission moves forward, as she believes it will.
“I am excited to hear that it’s on folks’ minds, in opposition or proponents for it,” she said. “This commission is important to hear from all Marylanders because it will eventually affect every Marylander.”
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