Reparations advocates are insisting that the federal government provide direct cash payments to Black descendants of American slavery, warning that broadening the eligibility scope risks diluting the movement amid growing resistance from conservatives and the Trump administration.
"Cash payments — that’s just a little solution to it, but it’s a big solution because without cash payments, there’s no reparations," Rev. Phyllis Coachman, a supporter of the U.S. Freedmen Project, told Fox News Digital.
"[Slavery] ended in 1865, but so many other things happened after that," Coachman added. "After slavery, the collapse of Reconstruction, we had Jim Crow, we had legal segregation, disenfranchisement, we had lynching, we had racial terror, destruction of Black property and communities, housing discrimination, redlining, discriminatory lending, barriers to wealth building …. the war on drugs, and mass incarceration."
The U.S. Freedmen Project, an organization representing self-identified "foundational Black Americans," works to educate the public on the distinctions between Black Americans who are direct descendants of enslaved persons in the U.S. and those who immigrated to the country voluntarily.
According to its official website, the group is a nonpartisan organization seeking to fulfill the abandoned missions of the 19th-century Freedmen’s Bureau and the Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company. Supporters argue that broader reparations bills risk violating constitutional principles, contending instead that state and federal officials must base eligibility criteria strictly on lineage.
The debate comes as several state and local governments explore reparations initiatives intended to compensate Black residents for historic racial injustice. Evanston, Illinois — a Chicago suburb — became the first U.S. city to offer direct remedies, providing up to $25,000 in homeownership grants and cash payments to eligible Black residents to address legacy housing discrimination.
Reparations advocate Annette Wilcox pushed back against critics who frame direct monetary payouts as government handouts, arguing the term is used selectively to delegitimize Black claims.
"My thoughts about people who say cash payments are handouts is this is a government that has given trillions of dollars to all sorts of people as reparations," Wilcox told Fox News Digital. "We have reparations for 9/11. We've had — even things that aren't reparations after the crash and the Depression, there was an estimated $5 trillion in programs, money and remedies given to people— 90% went to White people at that time — so handouts are you know, just a frankly an insult that people give to Black people."
"The government has a responsibility for what it did to the citizens — the Black people who were enslaved in this country — and it needs to own up to it just like it owned up to what it did to the Native Americans, the Japanese and many other groups that it has given reparations to," Wilcox added.
SOME BLACK NEW YORKERS DEMAND CASH PAYMENTS AS ONLY 'TRUE' FORM OF JUSTICE
Fox News Digital previously attended a public hearing hosted by the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies at Hempstead High School on Long Island. During the hearing, residents warned panel officials that expanding the definition of reparations to include recent immigrants or other marginalized groups risks co-opting the movement.
The New York commission was established after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation in December 2023 creating a state panel to examine the legacy of slavery in New York and evaluate potential remedies.
Among those who testified in Long Island, U.S. Freedmen movement supporter Aubrey Muhammad called for an explicit payout amount of $800,000 per eligible individual.
"We need $800,000 for each foundational Black American. That's simple," Muhammad told Fox News Digital. "In New York, that's about the cost of living that'll get you a home, a small business, or help you recover from financial duress."
However, Devine Prince, president of the U.S. Freedmen Project, noted that such figures reflect broader efforts to address the national wealth gap rather than standard baseline figures. Still, Prince maintained that direct compensation remains non-negotiable.
"If you count yourself as a true American, then there should be no pushback and no rebuttals for direct monetary compensation for the harm that was done," Prince said. "That needs to be repaired through direct monetary compensation to American freedmen."