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Kamala Harris

Democrat Kamala Harris, U.S. senator from California, spoke Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019, at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair. Des Moines Register

Kamala Harris on reparations for slavery: ‘It can’t just be, ‘Hey … write some checks’

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

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…

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Bill de Blasio

De Blasio unsure on reparations, but restates support for commission

By News & Current Affairs, Reparations

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…

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U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey is among the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who've traveled to the South to talk about voting rights. In this 2016 photo, Booker is seen discussing voting rights at the U.S. Capitol with Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Georgia.

2020 presidential candidates go South to push for voting reforms

By Commentaries/Opinions

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…

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Kamala Harris

What Do 2020 Candidates Mean When They Say ‘Reparations’?

By Commentaries/Opinions, Reparations

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…

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