U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, (D-TN-09), reportedly wants Congressional hearings to discuss slavery reparations, according to The Memphis Commercial Appeal. No one in Cohen’s office returned The Tennessee Star’s request for comment Tuesday. Former Republican President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in most states in the country more than 156 years ago. ( A Constitutional amendment ended slavery in all states a few years later.) According to The Commercial Appeal, Cohen is working with U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, on the matter. “He said her bill calls for a study of reparations, not the actual reparations themselves, and that he’d like to invite writers such as Ta-Nahisi Coates, Jelani Cobb, and Michelle Alexander to give testimony,” according to the paper, quoting Cohen. “The concept of reparations has been around for decades. But hearings on the subject are far more possible now that last year’s midterm elections gave the Democrats control of Congress once again, Cohen told a small group of people at a ‘Congress on your corner’ event at the Randolph Branch Library near Summer Avenue on Friday.” Cohen has stayed busy ever since his party retook the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, As The Star reported this month,…
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