Nancy Pelosi once said, “We have to pass this bill so you can know what’s in it.” While Pelosi was talking about Obamacare, another group of liberal lawmakers made their own blunder Tuesday when passing a Juneteenth Resolution that included much more than most knew.
On Tuesday the Dallas County Commissioners Court approved a non-binding resolution unanimously that commemorated Juneteenth, but also declared that African-Americans should receive reparations for slavery.
Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is facing an ongoing FBI investigation, was the author of the Juneteenth Resolution. According to the Dallas Morning News, Price’s resolution included a list of items besides commemorating the day slaves in Texas learned of their freedom. “it included a long list of injustices endured by blacks, from slavery to Jim Crow to predatory lending practices. Then, in its final paragraph, it declared that the suffering of African-Americans should be ‘satisfied with monetary and substantial reparations.'” Price wrote the resolution after reading an article from The Atlantic that made a case for reparations.
Price even read the resolution in its entirety at the meeting, but other commissioners never heard the controversial language. Instead of anyone speaking up, the Dallas County Commissioners Court approved Price’s resolution.
An hour after the event commissioners complained that they had not seen the language of the resolution and the lone Republican on the commissioners court, Mike Cantrell, had changed his vote to an abstention according to the report above.
While other members of the Dallas County Commissioners Court would have liked to have read the resolution before voting on it, the decision was made to leave the vote and resolution as is.
Follow Chad Hasty on Twitter @ChadHastyRadio.