Governor Wes Moore’s Veto of Reparations Bill Sparks National Outrage and Reflection on Slavery’s Legacy
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By Javar Juarez | CUBN | May 18, 2025
In a stunning decision that has reverberated across the country, Maryland Governor Wes Moore—America’s only sitting Black governor—vetoed a bill that would have established a commission to study and recommend reparations for the descendants of enslaved people in Maryland. The May 16 veto came as a deep disappointment to advocates for racial justice, including the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, which had championed the measure as a necessary step toward restorative justice.
The bill’s rejection arrives during a moment of intense cultural reflection, including the viral reaction to the recent fire at Louisiana’s Nottoway Plantation—the largest remaining antebellum mansion in the South. Once owned by a sugar baron who enslaved 155 people, the plantation’s destruction has been viewed by many Black Americans as symbolic—a literal burning away of the enduring symbols of racial oppression. In contrast, Moore’s decision to veto the reparations study bill has been interpreted by many as a metaphorical extinguishing of long-overdue justice.
Wes Moore Veto: From National Hero to Controversial Figure
Governor Moore had previously gained national praise, particularly in the Black community, for his sweeping cannabis pardon in 2024. That executive order, issued on June 17, granted clemency to over 175,000 people for misdemeanor cannabis possession and related paraphernalia convictions. This data-driven mass pardon spared individuals the bureaucratic process of applying for clemency, marking Maryland as the first state to pardon both possession and paraphernalia charges on such a scale.
This move was seen as a monumental act of racial equity. Black Marylanders had historically borne the brunt of disproportionate drug arrests, even after the state voted to legalize recreational cannabis. Moore’s executive order was viewed not just as symbolic, but as a tangible step toward dismantling systemic injustice.
Yet, just months later, his veto of the reparations bill has shocked the very community that once celebrated him.
A Bill Aimed at Truth and Healing
The vetoed bill would have created a state commission to identify Maryland residents descended from enslaved individuals and propose forms of redress—ranging from formal apologies and tuition waivers to homeownership assistance and monetary reparations. Similar bills have passed in states like California, Illinois, and New York, and were seen as part of a national movement reignited by the murder of George Floyd and the reckoning that followed.
Supporters saw Maryland’s bill as especially fitting, given its history as a slave state and the location of the nation’s earliest ports of enslavement. The Maryland State House itself stands less than a mile from the Annapolis City Dock, a hub for the domestic slave trade.
In their official response, the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland said Moore’s decision represents a failure to “boldly and courageously recognize our painful history and the urgent need to address it.” They signaled their intention to push for an override of the veto in the legislature.
Governor Moore’s Justification
Moore defended his decision as a matter of pragmatism, stating that “the scholarship on this topic is both vast in scope and robust in scale.” In his veto letter, he asserted, “Now is not the time for another study. Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.”
Instead of launching a reparations commission, Moore pledged to introduce new legislation aimed at addressing disparities in wealth, housing, education, and food security. He also pointed to fiscal challenges stemming from federal funding cuts and emphasized the need to focus on initiatives that yield immediate, measurable outcomes.
While his supporters have called this a reasoned approach, critics argue it is a deflection—sidestepping the opportunity to reckon with the foundational violence and generational theft of slavery.
Symbolism and Backlash
The timing of Moore’s veto—just two weeks before he is set to keynote the South Carolina Democratic Party’s Palmetto Blue Plate Dinner—has inflamed tensions. Some Democratic delegates, including myself, have announced they will not attend the dinner in protest. The contradiction is too stark: to honor a Black governor as a keynote speaker at a time when he has dismissed a reparations study is, for many, a bridge too far.
The emotional charge surrounding this issue is amplified by the news of the Nottoway Plantation fire. Built by enslaved labor in 1859, the property stood as a symbol of Southern wealth built on Black suffering. Its destruction was met with celebration by some in the Black community, not because of the loss of property, but because of the emotional liberation it represented. The plantation’s history—whitewashed for weddings and tourism—was finally, if accidentally, reduced to ashes.
A Legacy of Silence and Erasure
The conversation surrounding reparations is not just about payments. It is about truth, acknowledgement, and repair. Scholars like Hinton Rowan Helper—a rare white abolitionist in the antebellum South—argued that slavery not only subjugated Black people but degraded poor whites as well. In his 1857 work The Impending Crisis, Helper described poor whites as living under a “second degree of slavery,” deprived of land, opportunity, and dignity by a corrupt slaveholding elite.
Helper’s work was so incendiary that Southern planters banned it outright. His call for collective liberation, across racial and class lines, reminds us that justice delayed is not just justice denied—it is a reinforcement of the very systems that oppressed generations.
Moore’s decision may be calculated, but it is also revealing. It underscores how even progressive Black leadership can fall prey to the pressures of political expediency and the fear of backlash from a largely unsupportive public. According to a 2021 Pew Research poll, 68% of Americans oppose reparations, including majorities of white, Asian, and Hispanic respondents. Among Black Americans, however, 77% support the idea.
Moving Forward
Governor Moore says he is focused on action, not studies. But the veto of the reparations bill wasn’t just a rejection of another commission—it was a missed opportunity to lead a national conversation. To boldly affirm that truth matters. That history matters. That healing requires both acknowledgment and action.
As Maryland’s legislature now considers overriding the governor’s veto, the country watches. What we do in this moment—whether we study the past to repair the future or simply move forward without reckoning—will shape the moral landscape of our democracy for generations to come.
Fentress, Jasmine. “Maryland Governor Vetoes Reparations Bill.” The New York Times, 18 May 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/us/maryland-governor-vetoes-reparations-bill.html.
Cox, Erin. “Wes Moore, the Nation’s Lone Black Governor, Vetoes Bill to Study Reparations.” The Washington Post, 16 May 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/05/16/wes-moore-reparations-vetoe-maryland/.
Stowe, Stacey. “From Nottoway to Monticello: 15 Slave Plantations with Brutal Pasts.” The Root, 15 May 2025, https://www.theroot.com/from-nottoway-to-monticello-15-slave-plantations-with-1851781155/slides/2.
South Carolina Democratic Party. “2025 Dem Weekend.” SCDP.org, https://scdp.org/2025-dem-weekend/.
Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. Official Statement on Governor Wes Moore’s Veto of the Reparations Study Bill. Facebook, 16 May 2025, https://www.facebook.com/BlackCaucusMD.