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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio announced an "unprecedented" racial justice commission to rethink the city's laws, including its charter, to address "the foundational sin of racism in this country."
"
We need to do something transformational at this point in our history,
something unprecedented, and that's why today I'm naming a racial justice commission. This is unlike any approach you've ever seen in the history of New York City or, honestly, in any major city in America, any state in America. We've never had a model for actually addressing structural racism... formally apologizing for it," de Blasio said at a press conference Tuesday.
The commission will be a "charter revision commission" and have the power to send proposals to the ballot for voters to decide on, de Blasio said.
"This commission ... will have the power to examine the
fundamental laws of New York City,
the very basis of the governance of this city, and determine if those very laws themselves are either exacerbating institutional racism or helping us to cure it," he said.
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