Reparations for slavery in 2027? Mamdani won’t rule out the idea

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is entertaining the possibility of cash reparations for slavery, calling the city “very complicit” in the institution that was outlawed in the state nearly 200 years ago.
During a sit-down discussion with the Root released Tuesday, journalist Charles Blow questioned Mamdani, a democratic socialist, about the city’s reparations efforts, including the work of NYC CORE, the Commission on Racial Equity, which was established by local law in 2024 to study reparations in the city and develop a “truth, healing, and reconciliation process.”
'This is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.'
Blow asked Mamdani about a written statement about reparations the mayor submitted while running for mayor. The statement read in part, “New York City participated actively in the slave trade and furthered its legacy through racist institutions, policies, and laws. The city should reconcile and repair this legacy of slavery, stolen wealth, and discrimination.”
Further noting that Mamdani had said he was proud to support the new reparations commission examining Wall Street’s complicity in the slave trade, Blow then asked, “If a commission studying reparations in this city recommended cash reparations for people impacted in New York City, would you support that recommendation?”
"First, I want to say that I stand by what I submitted,” Mamdani responded.
“Here in New York City, we were very complicit.”
The mayor continued, “I can't give you an answer in advance of them, but I can tell you that this is critically important because this is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.”
For reference, New York state fully emancipated all enslaved persons within its borders on July 4, 1827, making it the first state in the country to pass a law for the total abolition of slavery.
NYC CORE is expected to release its final report on reparations in July 2027. The commission’s website states that its work will “offer New Yorkers ways to address the history of enslaved African labor in NYC and the killing of indigenous people, with the testimony of current and past harms suffered by communities due to racism.”
RELATED: Immigrant business owners revolt against Mamdani's 'Soviet'-style grocery plan

Linda Tigani, the chair and executive director of NYC CORE, told Fox News Digital in a statement, "We would like to thank the mayor for using his platform to acknowledge New York City's complicit history in chattel slavery. New York was home to the second-largest slaveholding population in America, after Charleston, South Carolina. The first commodities traded on Wall Street included the buying and selling of enslaved black people, and their brutal forced unpaid labor built one of the most powerful economic engines in the world."
"We must repay the longstanding debt owed and truly tackle the racial wealth gap in New York City, which is directly correlated to the stain of slavery in New York City,” the statement continued.
However, if New York City decides to move forward with a reparations program, the federal government could stand in its way.
This year, the Department of Justice has attempted to block a Chicago suburb's local housing reparations program designed for black residents who suffered from housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969 — a first of its kind. The DOJ argues that the program violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is entertaining the possibility of cash reparations for slavery, calling the city “very complicit” in the institution that was outlawed in the state nearly 200 years ago.
During a sit-down discussion with the Root released Tuesday, journalist Charles Blow questioned Mamdani, a democratic socialist, about the city’s reparations efforts, including the work of NYC CORE, the Commission on Racial Equity, which was established by local law in 2024 to study reparations in the city and develop a “truth, healing, and reconciliation process.”
'This is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.'
Blow asked Mamdani about a written statement about reparations the mayor submitted while running for mayor. The statement read in part, “New York City participated actively in the slave trade and furthered its legacy through racist institutions, policies, and laws. The city should reconcile and repair this legacy of slavery, stolen wealth, and discrimination.”
Further noting that Mamdani had said he was proud to support the new reparations commission examining Wall Street’s complicity in the slave trade, Blow then asked, “If a commission studying reparations in this city recommended cash reparations for people impacted in New York City, would you support that recommendation?”
"First, I want to say that I stand by what I submitted,” Mamdani responded.
“Here in New York City, we were very complicit.”
The mayor continued, “I can't give you an answer in advance of them, but I can tell you that this is critically important because this is also what it looks like to acknowledge what history truly was.”
For reference, New York state fully emancipated all enslaved persons within its borders on July 4, 1827, making it the first state in the country to pass a law for the total abolition of slavery.
NYC CORE is expected to release its final report on reparations in July 2027. The commission’s website states that its work will “offer New Yorkers ways to address the history of enslaved African labor in NYC and the killing of indigenous people, with the testimony of current and past harms suffered by communities due to racism.”
RELATED: Immigrant business owners revolt against Mamdani's 'Soviet'-style grocery plan

Linda Tigani, the chair and executive director of NYC CORE, told Fox News Digital in a statement, "We would like to thank the mayor for using his platform to acknowledge New York City's complicit history in chattel slavery. New York was home to the second-largest slaveholding population in America, after Charleston, South Carolina. The first commodities traded on Wall Street included the buying and selling of enslaved black people, and their brutal forced unpaid labor built one of the most powerful economic engines in the world."
"We must repay the longstanding debt owed and truly tackle the racial wealth gap in New York City, which is directly correlated to the stain of slavery in New York City,” the statement continued.
However, if New York City decides to move forward with a reparations program, the federal government could stand in its way.
This year, the Department of Justice has attempted to block a Chicago suburb's local housing reparations program designed for black residents who suffered from housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969 — a first of its kind. The DOJ argues that the program violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act.
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