IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 100 

Urging the establishment of a United States Commission on Truth, Racial 

Healing, and Transformation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2020 

Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MOORE, Mr. HASTINGS, 

Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, 

Ms. TLAIB, Ms. BASS, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 

OMAR, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. THOMPSON of 

Mississippi, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. MENG, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 

Mrs. HAYES, Mr. TRONE, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. 

HAALAND, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, 

Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. 

SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. 

RASKIN, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. PAYNE, 

Mr. RUSH, Mr. COX of California, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. 

COHEN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 

COOPER, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. 

BUTTERFIELD, Mr. RICHMOND, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. 

ENGEL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. EVANS, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. 

VELA, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. GALLEGO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 

CA ́RDENAS, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. SIRES, Mrs. 

LURIA, Mr. NEGUSE, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of 

New York, Mr. MCEACHIN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. LAMB, Mr. RYAN, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. 

WELCH, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. CRIST, Ms. 

LOFGREN, Mr. KEATING, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. 

CLAY, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. ESHOO, 

Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. 

JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. NEAL, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. POCAN, 

Mr. CICILLINE, and Mr. SUOZZI) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 


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•HCON 100 IH 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Urging the establishment of a United States Commission 

on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation. 

Whereas the first ship carrying enslaved Africans to what is 

now known as the United States of America arrived in 

1619; 

Whereas this event 400 years ago was significant not only because it ushered in the institution of chattel slavery of 

African Americans, but also because it facilitated the systematic oppression of all people of color that has been a 

devastating and insufficiently understood and acknowledged aspect of our history over these past 400 years, 

and that has left a legacy of this oppression that haunts 

us to this day; 

Whereas the institution of American chattel slavery subjugated African Americans for nearly 250 years, fractured our Nation, and made a mockery of its founding 

principle that ‘‘all men are created equal’’; 

Whereas our Constitution failed to end slavery and oppressions against African Americans and other people of 

color, thus embedding in our society the belief in the 

myth of a hierarchy of human value based on superficial 

physical characteristics such as skin color and facial features, and resulting in purposeful and persistent racial 

and gender inequities in education, health care, employment, Social Security and veteran benefits, land ownership, financial assistance, food security, wages, voting 

rights, and the justice system; 

Whereas these oppressions denied opportunity and mobility to 

African Americans and other people of color within the 

United States, resulting in stolen labor worth billions of 


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•HCON 100 IH 

dollars while ultimately forestalling landmark contributions that African Americans and other people of color 

would make in science, arts, commerce, and public service; 

Whereas Reconstruction represented a significant but constrained moment of advances for Black rights as epitomized by the Freedman’s Bureau, which negotiated labor 

contracts for ex-enslaved people but failed to secure them 

their own land; 

Whereas the brutal overthrow of Reconstruction failed all 

Americans by failing to ensure the safety and security of 

African Americans and by emboldening States and municipalities in both the North and South to enact numerous laws and policies to stymie the socioeconomic mobility 

and political voice of freed Blacks, thus maintaining their 

subservience to Whites; 

Whereas Reconstruction, the civil rights movement, and other 

efforts to redress the grievances of marginalized people 

were sabotaged, both intentionally and unintentionally, by 

those in power, thus rendering the accomplishments of 

these efforts transitory and unsustainable, and further 

embedding the racial hierarchy in our society; 

Whereas examples of government actions directed against 

populations of color include— 

(1) the creation of the Federal Housing Administration, which adopted specific policies designed to 

incentivize residential segregation; 

(2) the enactment of legislation creating the Social 

Security program, for which most African Americans 

were purposely rendered ineligible during its first two 

decades; 


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(3) the GI bill, which left administration of its programs to the States, thus enabling blatant discrimination 

against African American GIs; 

(4) the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which allowed labor unions to discriminate based on race; 

(5) subprime lending aimed purposefully at families 

of color; 

(6) disenfranchisement of Native Americans, who, 

until 1924, were denied citizenship on land they had occupied for millennia; 

(7) Federal Indian Boarding School policy during 

the 19th and 20th centuries, the purpose of which was 

to ‘‘civilize’’ Native children through methods intended to 

eradicate Native cultures, traditions, and languages; 

(8) land policies toward Indian Tribes, such as the 

allotment policy, which caused the loss of over 90 million 

acres of Tribal lands, two-thirds of which were guaranteed to Tribes by treaties and other Federal laws, and 

similar unjustified land grabs from Tribes that occurred 

regionally throughout the late 1800s and into the Termination Era in the 1950s and 1960s; 

(9) the involuntary removal of Mexicans and United 

States citizens of Mexican descent through large-scale 

discriminatory deportation programs in the 1930s and 

1950s; 

(10) the United States annexation of Puerto Rico, 

which made Puerto Ricans citizens of the United States 

without affording them voting rights; 

(11) racial discrimination against Latino Americans, 

which has forced them to fight continuously for equal access to employment, housing, health, financial services, 

and education; 


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(12) the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which effectively halted immigration from China and barred Chinese 

immigrants from becoming citizens of the United States, 

and which was the first instance of xenophobic legislation 

signed into law specifically targeting a specific group of 

people based on ethnicity; 

(13) the treatment of Japanese Americans, despite 

no evidence of disloyalty, as suspect and traitorous in the 

very country they helped to build, leading most notably 

to the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans beginning in 1942; 

(14) the conspiracy to overthrow the Kingdom of 

Hawaii and annex the land of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 

without the consent of or compensation to the Native Hawaiian people of Hawaii; and 

(15) the United States history of colonialism in the 

Pacific, which has resulted in economic, health, and educational disparities among other inequities, for people in 

United States territories, as well as independent nations 

with which it has treaty obligations; 

Whereas these governmental actions, among other government policies that have had racially disparate impacts, 

have disproportionately barred African Americans and 

other people of color from building wealth, thus limiting 

potential capital and exacerbating the racial wealth gap; 

Whereas research has shown that this persistent wealth gap 

has had a significant negative impact on other racial disparities, such as the achievement gap, school dropout 

rates, income gaps, home ownership rates, health outcome disparities, and incarceration rates; 

Whereas American civic leaders and foundations have spearheaded critical efforts to advance racial healing, underVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:04 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC100.IH HC100

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standing, and transformation within the United States, 

recognizing that it is in our collective national interest to 

urgently address the unhealed, entrenched divisions that 

will severely undermine our democracy if they are allowed 

to continue to exist; 

Whereas many of the most far-reaching victories for racial 

healing in the United States have been greatly enhanced 

by the involvement, support, and dedication of individuals 

from any and all racial groups; 

Whereas at the same time, much of the progress toward racial healing and racial equity in the United States has 

been limited or reversed by our failure to address the 

root cause of racism, the belief in the myth of a hierarchy 

of human value based on superficial physical characteristics such as skin color and facial features; 

Whereas the American institution of slavery, as well as other 

examples enumerated in this resolution, represents intentional and blatant violations of every American’s most 

basic right to a free and decent life; 

Whereas the consequences of these oppressions have cascaded 

for centuries, across generations, beyond the era of active 

enslavement, imperiling for descendants of slaves and 

other targets of oppression what should have otherwise 

been every American’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; 

Whereas more than 40 countries have reckoned with historical injustice and its aftermath through forming Truth 

and Reconciliation Commissions to move toward restorative justice and to return dignity to its citizens; and 

Whereas contemporary social science, medical science, and 

the rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence and soVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:04 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC100.IH HC100

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cial media reveal the costs and potential threats to our 

democracy if we continue to allow unhealed, entrenched 

divisions to be ignored and exploited: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That the Congress— 

3 (1) affirms on the 400th anniversary of the ar4 rival of the first slave ship, the United States long5 overdue debt of remembrance to not only those who 

6 lived through the egregious injustices enumerated 

7 above, but also to their descendants; and 

8 (2) proposes a United States Commission on 

9 Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation to prop10 erly acknowledge, memorialize, and be a catalyst for 

11 progress toward jettisoning the belief in a hierarchy 

12 of human value, embracing our common humanity, 

13 and permanently eliminating persistent racial inequi14 ties. 

Æ 


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