Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the 2022 Juneteenth Holiday, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) issued the following statement from Chief Officer for Racial Justice and Equity Leslie Hinkson calling on President Biden to issue an executive order to create an H.R. 40-style commission on reparations:

“The best way for this country to celebrate Juneteenth would be to provide overdue reparations to African Americans. President Biden has the power to sign an executive order today that would create a federal commission to study reparations – a study he promised to support during the campaign. We call on the President to make history and establish a federal reparations commission now.

“Reparations are a necessary and long-overdue step toward the racial justice Black people are owed after generations of slavery, systemic racism, and the lasting harm we clearly continue to see through state-sanctioned violence, voter suppression, housing segregation and redlining, environmental injustices and exposure to toxic pollutants. Though we recognize that past harms cannot be fully undone, reparations would provide a measure of justice owed to Black Americans.”

* * *

Read more about LCV’s celebration of Juneteenth and our position on reparations in Chief Officer for Racial Justice and Equity Leslie Hinkson’s blog.

# # #