Reparations Activists Challenge Blue States Over Broader Eligibility
The U.S. Freedmen Project argues that state reparations programs in New Jersey, New York, and elsewhere are diluting lineage-based remedies by extending benefits to immigrants and other marginalized groups, as legislative efforts advance and legal challenges mount.
Grassroots reparations activists are accusing Democratic-led states of using the history of slavery to justify programs that direct resources far beyond the direct descendants of enslaved Americans, intensifying a debate over who should qualify for reparative policies as several states move forward with legislation.
The U.S. Freedmen Project, a group of self-identified Foundational Black Americans, told Fox News Digital that recent immigrants and non-foundational Black residents should not be included in government reparations programs. The organization argues that policies in blue states frequently invoke slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, and convict leasing — harms that fell on a specific group — but then distribute remedies to a much wider population.
«You don't give out remedies to people who haven't experienced the harm,» said Annette Wilcox, a spokesperson for the group. She pointed to city agencies such as the Commission on Racial Equity and the Mayor's Office on Equity and Justice, saying they constantly reference historical injustices but then extend resources to underserved communities, people of color, immigrants, and marginalized groups. «You're using one group of people's history to then give remedies to a wider group,» Wilcox said.
The dispute has come into sharp focus in New Jersey, where Democratic lawmakers are pushing the Truth, Reconciliation, and Repair Act. Spearheaded by Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson and state Sen. Angela McKnight, the bill aims to address wealth disparities stemming from historical slavery and systemic discrimination, informed by research from the New Jersey Reparations Council. Activists warn that the measure could include residents who are not direct descendants of enslaved people.
U.S. Freedmen Project president Devine Prince said lawmakers and some advocates are «conflating reparations with racial justice and social justice.» He argued that the three concepts are similar but not the same, and that broader social challenges deserve their own dedicated solutions rather than being packaged under the umbrella of reparations.
«What we're finding out coming from the left wing of the political spectrum is that they are conflating reparations with racial justice and social justice,» Prince said. «All three are similar, but they are far from the same.» He added that when people believe a rising tide lifts all boats, repair for the badges and incidents of slavery gets mixed with discrimination like not being able to catch a cab, or with the social justice of fair immigration policies.
Similar concerns surfaced in New York during a public hearing held by the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies at Hempstead High School on Long Island. Residents warned state officials that broadening the scope of reparations to include recent immigrants and other marginalized groups risks co-opting and diluting the movement.
One supporter, Aubrey Muhammad, delivered tense testimony accusing politicians of misallocating resources away from historic Black communities amid demographic shifts. «The Democrats, in a sick way, imported 25 million immigrants. And 70% of them came into poor Black neighborhoods,» Muhammad argued in a follow-up interview. «Hempstead, since the '90s, has been flooded with immigrants. That's taking the resources, putting them towards others.»
Census Bureau data reflect significant changes in the Village of Hempstead over the last three decades. The community of roughly 59,000 is now nearly evenly split between Black residents at 43.2% and Hispanic or Latino residents at 45.3%. In 1990, the Hispanic population made up roughly 14% of the village.
Wilcox said those demographic and economic pressures help explain why descendants of slavery in the United States find themselves «at the bottom of just about every socioeconomic parameter.» The U.S. Freedmen Project maintains that true reparations must be lineage-based, strictly reserved for direct descendants of enslaved human beings in the United States, and that any policy likely to survive legal challenges must be tied to lineage rather than race.
Prince argued that the Democratic Party tends to push all groups together to create «people of color» coalitions, and that these policies are largely being advanced in blue states where the underlying issues are most acute. «There is a responsibility for any political entity to address its constituents directly and, more importantly, specifically — because that's how true coalitions are built, not by cobbling people together and pretending they all have the same plight and political priorities,» he said.
New Jersey and New York are part of a broader wave of state and municipal governments exploring reparative frameworks. In Illinois, the Chicago suburb of Evanston made headlines as the first city to distribute government-funded reparations to Black residents to remedy historic housing discrimination. That program now faces a high-profile class-action lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch and the Trump administration, alleging its race-based eligibility criteria violate the Equal Protection Clause.
The legal challenge in Evanston underscores the stakes for lawmakers in New Jersey and New York as they weigh eligibility rules. Activists say the outcome could determine whether reparations remain narrowly focused on lineage or expand into broader equity programs that critics argue dilute the original purpose.
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