In an effort to correct the ongoing and state-sanctioned harms of slavery, support for H.R. 40—a bill that would create a slavery reparations commission—has been mounting in both the House and Senate.

The overarching thought is that if there is ever an apology for slavery, it will be followed by a form of payment to correct the wrong. Some experts have argued that given the nation’s current national debt, reparations to the descendants of the enslaved could have negative impacts on the U.S. economy. But as RFK Human Rights’ SVP Wade McMullen told theGrio, “compensation is absolutely part and parcel of what it means to repair and remedy harms that are caused by a government.”

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