State Rep. John Ragan, presents a bill to vacate the entire Tennessee State University board of trustees during a House session on March 28, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. Tennessee’s House elected to table legislation that would have banned local governments from paying to study or dispense money for reparations for slavery. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Nearly 30 Republicans joined House Democrats in tabling the bill, including Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton.
Ahead of the vote, Ragan maintained his bill was needed, arguing that reparations advocates want to "take money from our grandchildren's pockets as a judgement for someone else's great-great-grandfather's actions."
"Is it right to say that the faults of a small percentage of long-past generations must be borne by all of today’s Americans? No. It’s never right to punish an innocent person for an act committed by another," Ragan said Wednesday.
Under House rules, no other lawmakers were allowed to speak during the vote.
"We decided move on, go accomplish some other stuff," Sexton later told reporters. "You can always come back."
Tennessee lawmakers began seriously considering banning the consideration of reparations only after the state’s most populated county, which encompasses Memphis, announced it would spend $5 million to study the feasibility of reparations for the descendants of slaves and find "actionable items."
The decision by Shelby County leaders was prompted by the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by officers in January 2023.
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Yet the idea to ban reparations has been floated in other states.
A Florida Republican lawmaker proposed a constitutional amendment this year that would have banned state or local governments from paying reparations, but the measure didn't pass. A Missouri Republican introduced a bill that would ban any state or local government entity from spending on reparations based on race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation or economic class. It hasn't advanced to date.
Meanwhile, other states have willingly moved to study reparations, including California, New Jersey and Vermont.
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