Source: Larry Busacca/PW / Getty On this wonderful Juneteenth, reparations is a major topic of discussion thanks to a hearing that took place in Congress. According to USA Today, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing today, June 19, around a bill that would study reparations and the generational effects of slavery. The bill, known as House Resolution 40, was originally sponsored by former Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan in 1989. He reintroduced the legislation every session until he retired in 2017. Then Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee re-introduced the bill earlier this year as the resolution’s new sponsor. If the legislation passes, more concrete moves can be made in distributing reparations to Black people, especially Black descendants of slaves in America. Folks like Danny Glover and “The Case for Reparations” author Ta-Nehisi Coates testified at the Juneteenth hearing, along with legal and economic specialists. Although reparations has become a hot political topic in recent months, the idea doesn’t just reside in the minds on Capitol Hill. Activists, artists and everyday Black people have been imagining the concept for years, and there have been a few wins. With more victories potentially on the horizon, a rallying song around the topic would be wonderful. Certain artists like 2Pac and A Tribe Called Quest have dropped the “reparations” word in their songs, but it’s some of the more subliminal tracks that could be used for a dope protest. Don’t act like Black people haven’t been using coded language in music since slavery times. Hit the flip for some songs lyrics that we don’t know for sure were about reparations… But we’re going to believe the artists were on the “pay me what you owe me” tip — whether it be from the government, big business, banks or anyone else who’s stripped wealth from slaves and their descendants.
