By Barbara Rodriguez, Des Moines Register — U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris says she supports studying reparations, but she’s not sure what any resultant program would look like. The senator from California and Democratic presidential hopeful said Sunday during a Des Moines Register editorial board meeting that the idea, which would grant compensation to individuals impacted by slavery and racial discrimination, is complex and deserves to be examined carefully. “This stuff…
By Madina Touré — Mayor Bill de Blasio won’t say if he supports reparations for black Americans affected by slavery, but he does support a commission to study the issue. As part of his longshot presidential campaign, the mayor this week attended the 2019 Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy Conference in Washington, D.C., and was asked about reparations for the descendants of black slaves — a long-debated concept that has…
The National African American Reparations Commission Praises Progress on Reparations Expresses Concern Over Attacks on Sen. Kamala Harris’s Identity New York, July 19, 2019 — The National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) applauds both the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates and the more than 100 elected representatives in both the US House and the Senate who are now on record in support of the HR-40 legislation being championed by Congresswoman Sheila…
By Benjamin Barber, Facing South — As Republican lawmakers in Southern states continue their efforts to undermine the influence of a diverse electorate, Democratic presidential candidates are calling for new reforms to combat discriminatory voting policies and practices. Since the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and ended federal preclearance of election-law changes in places with a history of voting discrimination, state…
By Julianne Malveaux — Twenty-four people are running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. From where I sit, at least half of them are only running for exposure, for the Vice-Presidential nod, for Cabinet secretary, to push a platform, or to simply be seen. Their ambitions have made the process turgid and impractical, often amusing and only sometimes illuminating. The candidates do best when they have…
By Valerie Russ — Most Americans overwhelmingly oppose reparations to African Americans descendants of enslaved persons. But a slight uptick in support especially among younger Americans in recent years may be a result of activism over police killings over past five years.
By Dr. Maulana Karenga — The recent hearing in the House of Representatives on reparations marks an important step on the long struggle for justice for Black people and accountability from the larger society for the horrendous and harrowing history of enslavement, Jim Crowism and racist oppression of varied kinds. However, in the spirit and speech of Amilcar Cabral, we know we must “mask no difficulties, tell no lies and…
Even highly informed commentators lack a shared understanding of what the word means. By Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic — Earlier this year, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and other Democratic presidential aspirants began speaking positively about reparations, in contrast to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who opposed the policy. Just 26 percent of voters favor reparations in polls. In the telling of The New York Times, this shift is due to the fact…
By Inimai M. Chettiar, Priya Raghavan, Michael Waldman, Adureh Onyekwere — The American public has decisively concluded that our approach to criminal justice isn’t working. Mass incarceration is the civil rights crisis of our time. The racial disparities pervasive in our justice system compound at every juncture: African Americans are more likely to be stopped by police, arrested, detained before trial, and given harsher sentences than whites. Worse, the disparities in…
By Jordain Carney, The Hill — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said on Monday that he will introduce legislation creating a commission to study the issue of granting reparations to African-Americans. “This bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country. It will bring together the best minds to study the issue and propose solutions that will finally begin to…
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