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Marianne Williamson on Civil Rights
Author & Democratic Presidential Challenger
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Reparations is a debt that is owed, not financial assistance
Q: Many of your opponents support a commission to study the issue of reparations for slavery. But you are calling for up to $500 billion in financial assistance?WILLIAMSON: It's not $500 billion in financial assistance. It's $500 billion payment of
a debt that is owed. That is what reparations is. We need to recognize that when it comes to the economic gap between blacks and whites in America, it does come from a great injustice: 250 years of slavery followed by another hundred years
of domestic terrorism.
Q: What makes you qualified to determine the figure $500 billion?
WILLIAMSON: There were 4 million slaves at the end of the Civil War, and they were all promised 40 acres and a mule for every family of four. If you did the
math today, it would be trillions of dollars. Anything less than $100 billion is an insult. I believe that $200 billion to $500 billion is politically feasible today, because so many Americans realize there is an injustice that only reparations will heal
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
, Jul 30, 2019
Reparations are an appropriate response to country's history
I don't believe that the average American is a racist. I do believe that the average American is vastly undereducated about the history of race in the United States. Remember, that two-and-a-half centuries of slavery was followed by a hundred years of
what today we would call domestic terrorism. What do you call lynchings if not domestic terrorism? This country will not heal until we take a serious moral inventory. Racism is a character defect. Whatever it costs, it's time to do this.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
, Apr 14, 2019
Attacks on gay rights is attack on us all
I want you to know why I would support you as a LGBTQ person. I would support you because you're an American. I don't want to just talk to you as a lesbian or as an LGBTQ. I don't want to talk to somebody else because you're black, you're white, you're
gay, you're straight, you're a Jew, you're Christian, you're Muslim. I want to talk to you because you're an American. Martin Luther King said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. What you do to a lesbian, you do to me. Stop right there.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
, Apr 14, 2019
$100 billion over 10 years as reparations for slavery
Reparations: In an interview with CNN, Williamson called for $100 billion to be paid to
African Americans in reparations for slavery, with $10 billion per year distributed over 10 years.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
, Apr 14, 2019
Expand LGBTQ rights to end discrimination
Our Declaration of Independence holds that the inalienable rights of, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," are endowed to ALL humans by their creator at birth. In 2015, marriage equality became the law of the land, yet there is still no
federal law explicitly protecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities from discrimination. These communities, therefore, do not enjoy the full breadth of freedoms that this country espouses to guarantee to each
and every citizen.This is not only unacceptable; this is in direct violation of our founding principles.
Generation after generation, people have fought to rid our country of the "except for's." "Except for blacks," "except for women," and
so forth. Today, we are challenged by the ongoing prejudice that seeks to repudiate the fundamental American dedication to freedom and equality for all. "Except for them" is a stain on our national character.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website Marianne2020.com
, Apr 8, 2019
$200 billion for reparations for slavery
Just as Germany has paid $89 Billion in reparations to Jewish organizations since WW2, the US should pay reparations for slavery. A debt unpaid is still a debt unpaid, even if it's 150 years later. The legacy of that injustice lives on, with racist
policies infused into our systems even to this day. From employment and housing discrimination, to equal access to quality education in underserved communities, to police brutality/prejudice, to lack of fair lending practices, to lack of access to
quality healthcare, to insecure voting rights, America has not yet completed the task of healing our racial divide.For that reason, I propose a $200 billion-$500 billion plan of reparations for slavery, the money to be disbursed over a period of
20 years. An esteemed council of African-American leaders would determine the educational and economic projects to which the money would be given.
Racism is an American character defect, for which we must atone, make amends, and be willing to change.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website Marianne2020.com
, Apr 8, 2019
Reparations to be distributed over 10 years by black leaders
Her signature campaign promise is a call for $100 billion in reparations for black Americans.
This would be distributed over 10 years by a group of black leaders for selected "economic and education projects."
Source: Townhall.com: 2020 Democratic primary "Candidate profiles"
, Mar 5, 2019
You don't have to LIKE people to allow their equal rights
Our equality before the law, theoretically, is not up for discussion. It is the birthright of every American; it is a given.Martin Luther King Jr., used to say that he was not going to
Washington to ASK for rights for black Americans, but to demand the rights they had been given already.
The political question, for instance, should not be, "What do you think of LGBTQ people?" but rather, "Do we or do we not remain committed to the principle of equality for all, and how does that principle apply to the quest for LGBTQ rights?"
Whether someone in America LIKES someone else in America is irrelevant to what both of their rights should be before the law. The only way we can be vigilant on behalf of our children's freedom is if we are vigilant on behalf of EVERYONE'S freedom.
Source: Healing the Soul of America, by Marianne Williamson, p. 50-1
, Jul 24, 2018
Reparations is a sign of America's racial healing
When African Americans say the word "reparations," you'd think they had suggested something completely outrageous. But the general concept is legitimate.
Germany has paid $89 billion in reconstitution to Jews since World War II. The United States paid $20,000 to every Japanese American who had been sent to a concentration camp here in America during World War II.
Nothing short of a massive investment in America's African American poor--the true legacy of slavery--is a responsible sign of America's willingness to heal itself radically.
The most depressed communities in America, which are primarily African-American, cry out for help and we act like it's some major liberal coup every time we even throw them a crumb.
Source: Healing the Soul of America, by Marianne Williamson, p. 94
, Jul 24, 2018
Page last updated: Dec 16, 2019