07/31/2026
Thank you The New York Times and Harlem World for shining a spotlight on the work of the NYC CORE and the historic mandate established through Local Laws 91 & 92.
As NYC CORE Chair and Executive Director Linda Tigani shared: “We thank the Mayor for using his platform to acknowledge New York City’s complicit history in chattel slavery. New York was home to the second-largest slaveholding population in America, and the buying and selling of enslaved Black people was among the first commodities traded on Wall Street. The wealth generated through their forced, unpaid labor helped build one of the world’s most powerful economic engines.
Recognizing this history is an important step toward understanding slavery’s enduring legacy and its lasting impact on our city and nation. We must address the longstanding debt owed and confront the racial wealth gap in New York City, which is directly tied to this history.
Since the passage of Local Laws 91 & 92, NYC CORE has engaged thousands of New Yorkers to develop recommendations that acknowledge this debt and advance permanent structural change to dismantle systemic racism in our city.”
We are grateful for the continued media attention highlighting this important work and the ongoing public conversation about truth, accountability, and building a more equitable New York City.
