Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams speaks during the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series in Atlanta on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)
There is a bill to study reparations in the Georgia Legislature and some have wondered if gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams would support it.
Georgia House Bill 541 was introduced in Feb. 2021 during the regular legislative session. According to Open States, six Democratic state representatives are the bill’s sponsors.
They are Reps. Roger Bruce, James Beverly, William Boddie, Derrick Jackson, Erica Thomas and Debra Bazemore.
The bill seeks to “create the Georgia Equity and Fairness Commission” for the purpose of “examining the impact of slavery on the descendants of slaves and recommending appropriate remedies.”
On its surface, the bill is similar to California’s AB-3121 Bill, which established the historic, first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force.
If passed, the commission would be comprised of 11 Georgia residents with a background in advocating for racial justice and equality that various state lawmakers would appoint.
There hasn’t seemed to be much movement on the bill since last year, but many Black Americans have been pressuring Abrams about her stance on the reparations and openly asked if she supports them for Black Americans.
Stacey Abrams is currently being accused of being anti-reparations by some users on social media. However, the Fair Fight founder said the accusations are false.
She notes she has been pro-reparations for years and addressed the matter in a Twitter thread on Oct. 16.
“Why I SAID “YES” to reparations, but how they HEARD “NO”…(a not so brief thread on reparations, my track record, and attempts to distract you from what really matters),” Abrams tweeted.
“I was recently asked about #reparations in Athens. The sound is obscured but I said Yes to reparations. I always have,” Abrams continued. “But I will never mislead Black people by pretending this is easy. I’ve had a whole convo about my position, as well as what needs to happen next.”
It is not the first time Abrams publicly voiced her support for reparations for Black Americans. She also did so in 2019 during an interview with “The Root.”
“I believe African Americans and Native Americans are entitled to reparations,” Abrams said after being asked her position on the matter. “We are the two communities who were legally disenfranchised from the inception of this country, and we are the two communities who had legal structures that were put in place for such a long period of time that our ability to achieve and access opportunity at a level that was commensurate with the rest of America was just not available.”
Abrams’ campaign had not responded to a request for comment about the bill specifically at the time of this article’s publication.
