Sec. 578. Task Force on Historical and Current Barriers to African American Participation and Equal Treatment in the Armed Services
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The Secretary of Defense shall establish within the Department of Defense a task force to be known as the Task Force on Historical and Current Barriers to African American Participation and Equal Treatment in the Armed Services (hereafter referred to as the Task Force ). The Task Force shall advise, consult with, report to, and make recommendations to the Secretary, as appropriate, on the development, refinement, and implementation of policies, programs, planning, and training which will provide redress for historical barriers to African American participation and equal treatment in the Armed Services.
As part of its duties, the Task Force shall identify, compile, examine, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation regarding the military or Armed Service’s involvement in the institution of slavery. The Task Force’s documentation and examination shall include facts related to— the capture and procurement of Africans; the transport of Africans to the United States and the colonies that became the United States for the purpose of enslavement, including their treatment during transport; the sale and acquisition of Africans and their descendants as chattel property in interstate and intrastate commerce; the treatment of African slaves and their descendants in the colonies and the United States, including the deprivation of their freedom, exploitation of their labor, and destruction of their culture, language, religion, and families; and the extensive denial of humanity, sexual abuse, and the chatellization of persons.
As part of its duties, the Task Force shall study and analyze the official policies or routine practices of the Armed Services with discriminatory intent or discriminatory effect on the formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Armed Services following the overdue recognition of such persons as United States citizens beginning in 1868. As part of its duties, the Task Force shall study and analyze the other forms of discrimination in the Armed Services against freed African slaves and their descendants who were belatedly accorded their rightful status as United States citizens from 1868 to the present.
As part of its duties, the Task Force shall study and analyze the lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery and the matters described in the preceding paragraphs on living African Americans and their participation in the Armed Services. Based on the results of the investigations and studies carried out under subsection (c), the Task Force shall recommend appropriate remedies to the Secretary. In recommending remedies under this subsection, the Task Force shall address the following:
How Federal laws and policies that continue to disproportionately and negatively affect African Americans as a group in the Armed Services, and those that perpetuate the lingering effects, materially and psycho-socially, can be eliminated. How the injuries resulting from the matters described in subsection
(c)can be reversed through appropriate policies, programs, and projects. How, in consideration of the Task Force’s findings, to calculate any form of repair for inequities to the descendants of enslaved Africans. The form of that repair which should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which the repair should be provided, and who should be eligible for the repair of such inequities. Not later than 90 days after the end of each year, the Task Force shall submit a report to the Secretary on its activities, findings, and recommendations during the preceding year. Not later than 180 days after the date on which the Secretary receives an annual report for a year under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall publish a public version of the report, and shall include such related matters as the Secretary finds would be informative to the public during that year. The Task Force shall be composed of such number of members as the Secretary may appoint from among individuals whom the Secretary finds are qualified to serve by virtue of their military service, education, training, activism or experience, particularly in the field of history, sociology, and African American studies. The Secretary shall post and regularly update on a public website of the Department of Defense the list of the members of the Task Force. The Task Force shall meet not less frequently than quarterly, and may convene additional meetings during a year as necessary. At least one of the meetings during each year shall be open to the public. The Secretary shall establish rules for the structure and governance of the Task Force. The Secretary shall complete the appointment of the members of the Task Force not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.