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Philadelphia committee holds hearing on Office of Freedmen Affairs; advocates call it a constitutional duty
Summary
The City Council Committee on Public Safety heard testimony supporting Resolution 250,781 to explore creating an Office of Freedmen Affairs. Witnesses argued the city should use administrative tools to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment's protections and address entrenched disparities; the committee did not take a vote.
Philadelphia’s Committee on Public Safety held a public hearing at City Hall to gather testimony on Resolution 250,781, which authorizes committee hearings to examine the potential establishment of an Office of Freedmen Affairs.
Advocates from the Philadelphia Reparations Coalition for American Freedmen and allied academics argued the office would be more than symbolic. "This is not a favor. This is not a symbolic gesture. The establishment of the Office of Freedmen Affairs is a constitutional obligation," said Obona Hagans, president of the Philadelphia Reparations Coalition for American Freedmen. Panelists said the office would coordinate enforcement, research and remedies tied to harms they described as the "badges and incidents of slavery."
Witnesses laid out legal and administrative rationales. Anthony Dickerson, chief compliance officer for the coalition, warned courts often treat harms rooted in racial history as ordinary misconduct under a…
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