Two public commenters press Albany County to study reparations
Summary
Public commenters Carol Waterman and Tom Ellis urged the Albany County Legislature to study reparations, citing state commission activity, historical discrimination, and policy questions about eligibility, form and funding.
Carol Waterman, whom the clerk had listed among the night’s commenters, urged the county to take leadership on reparations and cited New York State’s community commission on reparations remedies, telling the legislature that the commission’s final deadline moved from Jan. 17, 2027 to 2029. "We were the ones to take the lead in doing, and then other counties just started following our lead," she said, arguing Albany County should follow suit.
Tom Ellis, who identified himself and his city address, said the county legislature should authorize a study to determine whether reparations are due and to explore how any program would operate. Ellis outlined historical bases for such a study — lynchings, disenfranchisement, exclusion from federal programs and redlining that contributed to the present-day racial wealth gap — and asked legislators to consider who would receive reparations, in what form, for how long and who would pay.
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