Recognizing that the United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the crime of enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people in the United States.
H. Res. 414 is a nonbinding House resolution recognizing a federal moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the crime of enslaving Africans and the lasting harm to Black people in the United States. It defines reparations as a victim-centered process that can include financial compensation and other remedies, and it calls for descendants of enslaved Black people and people of African descent to receive compensation for the harms of slavery, segregation, and ongoing discrimination. The resolution advocates for a comprehensive, holistic reparations program—addressing wealth gaps, housing, education, health, environmental justice, and criminal-legal system harms—potentially totaling trillions of dollars. It also urges ongoing efforts to study and implement reparations (notably supporting H.R. 40 and the creation of a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation commission), requires formal apologies, and promotes related memorial and restorative initiatives. Importantly, as a resolution, it expresses a stance and policy direction rather than creating new law or direct funding.
Key Points
- 1The federal government is acknowledged as having a responsibility to provide reparations to descendants of enslaved Black people and people of African descent, to remedy harms tied to slavery, segregation, and ongoing discrimination, across housing, health, education, and more.
- 2Reparations are defined as a victim-centered process that can include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition, with a focus on both past harms and ongoing impacts.
- 3The resolution endorses and encourages the passage and implementation of H.R. 40 (the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act) and supports establishing a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation.
- 4It calls for a broad set of restorative actions, including formal apologies for slavery, markers at lynching sites and preservation of African burial grounds, restoration of property rights, voting rights restoration for incarcerated individuals, and addressing a wide range of systemic harms (economic, educational, health, environmental, and criminal justice related).
- 5The resolution cites an estimated minimum price tag for monetary reparations (at least $16 trillion) intended to close the Black-White racial wealth gap, while emphasizing that reparations should be holistic—addressing wealth, education, health, housing, and cultural restoration, as well as trauma-informed care and community infrastructure.