Wes Moore, the Nation’s Lone Black Governor, Vetoes Bill to Study Reparations

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Friday vetoed a bill that would have required the state to define the economic harms to Black descendants of enslaved people and recommend remedies, dealing a blow to reparations supporters who counted on the only Black governor of a U.S. state to be an ally.

The veto of a reparations study was the highest profile of two dozen vetoes Moore issued late Friday, the most the governor and rising Democratic star has fought back against the Democratic-controlled legislature during his 2½ years in office.

Moore said, given the state’s economic problems, he was focused on laws that helped the state recover from the severe impacts of the Trump administration’s federal spending cuts.

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Even before his veto of the bill, Moore’s unwillingness to embrace a reparations study fostered a mix of betrayal and resignation from some leading Black supporters, who saw the state’s first Black governor — a candidate who campaigned on tackling the racial wealth gap — as a natural champion in the century-long fight to redress slavery’s generational harms.

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Immediately after the veto, the Black Caucus issued a statement noting the study had a veto-proof majority and “the legislature will have the final say.”

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Moore campaigned on tackling systemic racism and the lingering impacts of discrimination, including racist home-lending practices and disparities in health and education.

In office, he has funneled millions to Maryland’s historically Black colleges and universities, which a court determined had been underfunded for decades, and often points out in speeches that “we don’t have an 8-to-1 racial wealth gap because one group is working eight times harder.”

In the interview, Moore passionately defended his record of advocating for Black families and equality, and he said he rejects any suggestion that he vetoed the reparations study because it would be a political liability to a presidential bid — which he has said he is not launching.

“I never find it to be a political liability to be able to address the racial wealth gap,” he said.

He pointed to his focus on steering more state contracts to Black-owned businesses, issuing a mass pardon on marijuana convictions that disproportionately affect Black residents, and putting cash into a child care subsidy that also helps lower-income Black residents more than any other group.

“I am fully committed to being able to make sure we are creating a culture repair in the state of Maryland,” he said.

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