New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies Seeks Input
7.30.2026
The New York State Community Commission on Reparations and Remedies is seeking input on the impact that slavery and discrimination has had on New York, Timothy Hogues, a member of the commission, said at a recent discussion hosted by the New York State Bar Association.
Many New Yorkers were never taught the benefits that communities and economies in the northern states realized because of slavery, Hogues said. Corporations, banks and residents of New York all profited from the enslavement of Africans.
“Reparations and repair is so much more than just the dollars,” Hogues said. “A people have been targeted, discriminated against, intentionally held back, intentionally killed. [Slavery] erased bloodlines, families and entire business districts. We understand why this conversation is important. We understand that this conversation creates uneasiness and harm but it is a necessary conversation.”
In the three years since the commission was created, it has held 30 public meetings and collected over 200 hours of live testimony. Members of the public can email or call the commission at 518-473-3997 with their stories.
In addition to chronicling the impact of slavery on New York, the commission is researching the treatment of slaves, the destruction of culture, and the legacy of slavery.
How Attorneys Can Help
Hogues encouraged those attending to:
- Share legal, historical or professional perspectives during commission public hearings.
- Submit written comments including research and legal analysis to the commission.
- Support historical research.
- Promote public understanding of the commission’s work to clients, students and colleagues.
- Engage in professional dialogue on the issue through programs, CLEs or scholarly events.
- Follow the commission’s progress.
New York State History Uncovered
Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives Edwina Richardson spoke at the event to offer perspective on how her office and the courts engage in the work of reparation and repair. Her office touches many groups including child welfare in tribal nations, problem solving courts, and gender equality in the courts to name a few. Judge Richardson told the crowd how a recent program connected employers with formerly incarcerated people looking for work.
“We had 900 individuals at the Bronx criminal courthouse for a positive thing having nothing to do with crime,” she said. “It was a beautiful moment, and our justice coordinators thought it through and supported the judges who led that endeavor.”
Judge Richardson went on to detail a little known story of the lynching of a black man in the Adirondacks near Newcomb in 1932 and her office’s efforts to have the story recognized. The unidentified man was building a homestead in the woods when he was spotted by local white men. A posse was formed, which chased the man and shot him dead. The story made national news with sensationalized media reports of the takedown of a “dangerous lunatic” in the woods, comparing the man to Big Foot.
“His personhood was denied to him in those final terror-filled days. Like countless other victims that we have heard of, of racial terror throughout our ugly parts of our American history. He was lost through history, only known through scattered records and fragments,” Judge Richardson said.
Recently, the Office of Justice Initiatives, in partnership with the Adirondack Experience Museum, collected news accounts and other documents about the crime. A group hiked the one mile into the woods to the former campsite and held a memorial for the still-unidentified man. Judge Richardson is now working to install a permanent historic marker on the site that will share the man’s story.
“Thinking about the past, examining it, sometimes with a brutal eye – a clear eye in order to make sure we have a future that our children and their children deserve,” she said. “The experience was heavy, it was humbling, it was transcendent. And to me, it was repair. We will learn from our past, so the tragedies that we acknowledge fully will never be repeated.”
How To Contact the Commission:
Phone: 518-473-3997
Email: ReparationsCommission@reparations.ny.gov.
Website: https://www.ny.gov/programs/new-york-state-community-commission-reparations-remedies
