In May 2025, Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland vetoed a bill that would have established a commission to study reparations for descendants of enslaved Africans in the state. The bill, modeled after similar initiatives nationwide, sought to create a structured, scholarly and community-informed pathway for understanding and repairing the historical and ongoing harms of slavery. Gov. Moore—Maryland’s first Black governor—justified his veto by arguing that the state does not need more study but rather immediate action.
While this stance may appear progressive on its surface, it ultimately undermines the complex and necessary groundwork required for sustainable and equitable reparative justice. By rejecting the creation of a reparations study commission, Gov. Moore missed a critical opportunity to deepen public understanding, build consensus and develop a robust, transparent implementation strategy for reparations in Maryland.
The limits of existing scholarship
While there is a growing body of literature on the moral and economic justifications for reparations, much of the scholarship stops short of articulating actionable implementation models at the state level. Foundational texts like “From Here to Equality” by William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen and the influential work of Ta-Nehisi Coates in “The Case for Reparations” offer historical context, economic rationale and moral arguments, but they are not substitutes for local policy infrastructure. They do not provide granular details on how Maryland, with its unique history of slavery, segregation and racialized disinvestment, should structure and distribute reparative resources.
Moreover, while these texts argue convincingly that reparations are owed, they are often conceptual rather than logistical. They are national in scope and not tailored to the specific needs and disparities in housing, health care, education and criminal justice found within Maryland’s Black communities. Without a Maryland-specific commission, the state is left without a framework to translate broad reparations principles into local policy solutions. Therefore, to assert that there is no need for further study ignores the gap between theory and practice—between scholarship and the scaffolding necessary for policy design.
The danger of acting without a plan
Reparations is not a one-size-fits-all initiative. It must account for intergenerational trauma, structural inequality and the lived experiences of Black Marylanders across regions, age groups and class lines. Gov. Moore’s call to “act now” implies that the moral clarity of reparations should immediately translate into policy…