Today was a long but good day. I had the honor of giving testimony before the Maryland Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and Environment on MD SB469 – the Harriet Tubman Community Investment Act (Maryland Reparations Study for Black Descendants of Enslaved Individuals). We were required to submit our testimony in advance, and I thought I was being slick by submitting mine as “written testimony” instead of “oral and written testimony'“; My plan was to have my testimony on the record and then sit back and watch the activities unfold.
But no... Cousin Joanne Braxton let Senator Benson know I was actually in attendance. Of course, Senator Benson asked me to give my testimony before the full committee – and I have to say, that was a great move. I could tell my testimony made an impact. It was so effective that MPT was waiting for me when I came out. Eventually, I’ll have photos of me testifying – I believe a representative from the Braxton Institute took plenty as did someone from Senator Benson’s staff.
And yes! This bill needs your support. I will be contacting some of you.
From Angela Wilson’s testimony at the Maryland State Senate:
I wholeheartedly support SB469 Harriet Tubman Community Investment Act (Maryland Reparations Study for Black Descendants of Enslaved Individuals.
Disparities in education, criminal justice, and economic opportunities between whites and the descendants of the enslaved are deeply rooted in this country’s history of slavery, segregation, and systemic racism. These disparities have been shaped by centuries of discriminatory policies and practices that continue to affect individuals and communities today…
When I examine the Certificates of Freedom issued by the Registrar of Wills for Saint Mary’s County, I am sickened by the descriptions of the scars, burns, broken bones, and injuries my ancestors endured—wounds that told the story of their abuse. These certificates are just records, but they are not just history—they are the echo of violence, of a people who built this state and this nation through unimaginable suffering. Their bodies were scarred, their spirits tested, yet they endured.
We will never know, nor will we ever fully comprehend, the depth of the suffering they bore. The labor they performed, the wealth they generated, and the empire they helped build—none of it benefited them or their descendants. They endured unspeakable torture to a create a country from which they, and their progeny would never truly be free.
It is well beyond time for the State of Maryland to establish a Reparations Commission to develop and administer a program for the provision of compensatory benefits for the descendants of those enslaved in Maryland.
