Tennessee set to prevent local governments from studying and disbursing reparations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Tennessee General Assembly is nearing passage of a bill preventing local governments from disbursing money for – or even just studying – reparations to descendants of slaves.

It’s been up several weeks in a row and has drawn a rash of protesters each time.

“It’s a horrible bill, but there’s a lot of emotions involved,” Rep. Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville) said. “I think people really started to really hear what this bill is about.”

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The bill defines reparations as ‘money or benefits provided to an individual who is the descendant of persons who were enslaved as compensation for the enslavement of the individual’s ancestors.’

Democrats filed several amendments to try and alter the bill, including kicking the question to local governments. But Republicans beat those back with minimal debate.

“Mr. Speaker, I view the amendment as hostile and I move it to the table,” Rep. John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge), the bill’s sponsor, said.

Democrats also pointed out that Tennessee has a poor history of slavery. The state only recently took slavery out of the state Constitution in 2022 and removed the bust of KKK Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest from the State Capitol in 2021.

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This latest move is the most recent in a string of bills from Ragan going after minorities, whether it be race- or gender-related.

“He’s just continuing to put these nasty, mean-spirited bills before us,” McKenzie said. “Now, I think people are hearing it, I think people are saying, ‘You know, we don’t have to do this.’”

But Republicans have pushed forward anyway, arguing the bill is not racist.

“I don’t think the bill is racist at all. I think people have intent on both sides, but I don’t think their intent is racist,” Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said. “I think there’s an awareness of what happened in the past, but I also think that there’s other ideas as you move forward about how you handle that and what you can and cannot do.”

In fact, Ragan argued during session last week that he couldn’t be racist. In a response to a question from Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) on a separate bill, he pushed back on allegations of racism by arguing he had Black friends.

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“As a matter of fact, members of my wedding party were of your race,” Ragan said. “They were my groomsmen.”

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