Supporters are calling on Biden to set up a reparations commission in recent months

“(Sheila Jackson Lee) died. That was her legacy. John Conyers died. That was his legacy,” Hunter said. Of Biden, he said, “Are we interested in building a legacy that is anything other than lame ducking?”

Hunter notably helped draft a House resolution introduced by Rep. Lee that would establish a separate U.S. Commission on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation. The author of “Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation” said he left Monday’s White House meeting feeling hopeful, noting that it took several letters from members of Congress and activists to get meetings with Biden officials.

“I can’t help but be optimistic that the meetings themselves represent a window of opportunity,” he told theGrio.

Hunter said the meeting lasted longer than previous meetings and he “felt” that the Domestic Policy Council representatives “gave us more time.”

Although the White House supports the creation of a U.S. reparations commission, administration officials have repeatedly argued that it should be done through Congress through legislation. But after 35 years of HR 40 failing to get out of committee and into the House for a vote, activists called on Biden to take action at the executive level.

On Monday, activists tried to convince the White House otherwise, arguing that the reparations commission could be a useful tool.

“This is not something you want Congress to do for you. You want it to be an arsenal where you can bring together experts, scientists, lawyers, all of those things,” Hunter continued. “You can call them together and say: This is what we’re dealing with. Help us think this through.”

“This seemed to be a different representation than what they had received before,” he added. “We saw them writing down and taking notes, which wasn’t necessarily the case before.”

Heath, who also attended the meeting, described the conversation as “good” but expressed his frustration with the state of affairs.

“There may be opportunities to continue cooperation, but there are no concrete measures to move forward,” she told theGrio.

Heath expressed particular disheartenment over the fact that the group of the reparations movement’s biggest allies in Congress will be out of office next year. In addition to Jackson Lee’s death, Rep. Lee chose not to seek re-election to run in a Senate election she lost in March.

Her other two allies, Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.), were defeated in expensive primaries this election cycle in a battle with the pro-Israel group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The movement’s only other champion, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), remains in office.

“Congressional champions have been pushed out of their leadership positions in Congress. What is the White House going to do to step in and make this a reality?” Heath asked.

Hunter said the loss of Lee (the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee), Bowman and Bush was a “major blow” to the coalition, but he hopes their parliamentary portfolios will be taken up by other progressive Black members, such as Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and possibly Lateefah Simon, who is running to succeed Lee in California’s 12th Congressional District.

“If we want to move forward, we can at least assume that we have a group of about five young black women in Congress who have the passion and the perseverance to keep this going,” Hunter said.

Heath said Biden is “essentially unfettered” as the incumbent president and therefore able to use his executive powers to finally make good on his promise to provide reparations for the victims of black Americans.

Activists point to President Biden’s recent announcement of reforms to the U.S. Supreme Court as evidence that he has the political will to take executive action. Biden’s “bold plan,” as the White House described it, included proposals outlined in reports from a similar commission on court reform.

Activists believe there is more momentum at the state and local levels for policies of racial healing and reparations than for Supreme Court reforms.

“That’s more of an opinion of the New York intelligentsia. That’s not what people have been talking about. That’s not what 43 cities are doing. That’s not what three states are doing,” Hunter said, pointing to reparations commissions established in California, New York and Illinois.

When asked about Monday’s meeting, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told theGrio she would not “read private meetings” but reiterated the administration’s stance that “Congress has the authority to investigate reparations” and the “ongoing impacts” of slavery.

“President Biden is actively supporting the … black community,” added Jean-Pierre, pointing to the administration’s equality policies.

“Some communities have been left out, and we don’t want to see that,” she told theGrio. “And we’ve seen some historic wealth gains… for the black community. That’s thanks to the actions that this administration has taken.”

However, Heath challenged the government’s habit of pointing to its work on equality, which she praises but argues is “not the process of reparations that ultimately must lead not only to black people being compensated and resourcing… but also to changing the very fabric of this country.”

She added: “If these measures were sufficient, we would not be having these discussions now.”

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