Freedmen group says reparations should cover only descendants of enslaved people, not immigrants

Activists from the U.S. Freedmen Project told Fox News Digital that recent immigrants and non-foundational Black Americans should not be included in government reparations programs. 1 2 Spokesperson Annette Wilcox said policies cite slavery and Jim Crow but then direct resources to a wider group, which she called using "one group of people's history to then give remedies to a wider group". 1 The group describes itself as made up of self-identified "Foundational Black Americans" and says true reparations must be lineage-based, reserved for direct descendants of enslaved people in the United States. 1 2

Wilcox reacted to New Jersey's proposed Truth, Reconciliation, and Repair Act, sponsored by Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson and state Sen. Angela McKnight, which would set up a framework for state-level reparative policies. 2 1 Group president Devine Prince said the left is "conflating reparations with racial justice and social justice", and argued that a policy tied to lineage rather than race is more likely to survive legal challenges. 2 At a New York hearing on Long Island, supporter Aubrey Muhammad said politicians had directed resources away from historic Black communities, and claimed Democrats "imported 25 million immigrants", 70% of whom he said settled in poor Black neighborhoods; the articles do not test those figures. 1

The articles cite Census data showing Hempstead is now 43.2% Black and 45.3% Hispanic or Latino, against roughly 14% Hispanic in 1990. 2 Evanston, Illinois, which distributed government-funded reparations, faces a class-action lawsuit alleging its race-based eligibility violates the Equal Protection Clause; Fox names Judicial Watch as the plaintiff, while the Post adds the Trump administration. 1 2 The New Jersey lawmakers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 1 2