Topics in the News: Reparations
Nikki Haley on Civil Rights
: Jan 18, 2024
America has stains about racism, but fix it along the way
Q: Do you really think, as a historical matter, that America has never been a racist country?HALEY: When you look at the Declaration of Independence, it was that "men are created equal," right? I think it's important that we tell all kids that, "Look,
America is not perfect. We have our stains. We know that. But our goal should always be to make today better than yesterday."
Q: Wasn't America founded institutionally on many racist precepts, including slavery?
HALEY: It said, "All men are created
equal;" the intent was to do the right thing. Now, did they have to go fix it along the way? Yes. But I don't think the intent was never that we were going to be a racist country. The intent was everybody was going to be created equally. And as we went
through time, they fixed the things that were not "All men are created equal." They made sure women became equal, too. But I refuse to believe that the premise of when they formed our country was that it was a racist country to start with.
Click for Nikki Haley on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall: interviews of 2024 presidential candidates
Nikki Haley on Civil Rights
: Jan 4, 2024
Everybody associates the Civil War with slavery
Q: You were asked to explain the cause of the Civil War. [Haley said, "I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run--the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do," NBC News, 12/28/23]. You obviously did not
mention slavery. And afterwards, you said that was the mistake. In fact, it should have been the first thing that you said.HALEY: If you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery. You grow up and you
have -- you know, I had Black friends growing up. It is a very talked-about thing. We have a big history in South Carolina when it comes to, you know, slavery, when it comes to all the things that happened with the Civil War, all that.
I was thinking past slavery and talking about the lesson that we would learn going forward. I shouldn't have done that. I should have said 'slavery.' But in my mind, that's a given, that everybody associates the Civil War with slavery.
Click for Nikki Haley on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2024 pre-Iowa caucus
Will Hurd on Education
: Jul 30, 2023
First Republican to say that slavery is not a jobs program
I was the first Republican to come out and say that slavery is not a jobs program, and anybody that is implying that there was an upside to slavery is insane. And what is even more shocking to me is that
Ron DeSantis' department of education doubled down on this. Ron DeSantis has doubled down on this multiple times and then he wants to blame the people that wrote this and say, "I wasn't the one that wrote this."
Click for Will Hurd on other issues.
Source: Meet the Press on 2023 Presidential primary hopefuls
Cornel West on Civil Rights
: Jul 7, 2023
Focusing on diversity is a very narrow criteria to use
Q: And how about the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action?WEST: This began with reparations--an attempt to repair some of the damage done
by the barbaric slavery and the vicious Jim and Jane Crow. It shifted to diversity, and that became a very narrow criteria to use. And now that's being called into question.
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Source: Politico.com on 2023 Presidential hopefuls
Joe Biden on Health Care
: Sep 17, 2020
Wearing a mask is a patriotic requirement, not slavery
Q: Barr said lockdowns were the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in U.S. history other than slavery.BIDEN: Wearing this mask is about making sure no one else gets sick.
It's not to protect you so much is to make sure you don't infect someone else. I call that a patriotic requirement.
Did you ever think you'd hear an Attorney General say that following the recommendations of the scientific community to save lives is equivalent to slavery.
You lost freedom because you didn't act. Freedom to go to that ball game, the freedom of your kid to go to school, the freedom to see your mom or dad in the hospital.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper
Donald Trump on Principles & Values
: Aug 28, 2020
Our country, blessed by God, has a special purpose
What united generations past was an unshakable confidence in America's destiny, and an unbreakable faith in the American People. They knew that our country is blessed by God, and has a special purpose in this world.
It is that conviction that inspired the formation of our union, our westward expansion, the abolition of slavery, the passage of civil rights, the space program, and the overthrow of fascism, tyranny and communism.
In the left's backward view, they do not see America as the most free, just, and exceptional nation on Earth. Instead, they see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins. Our opponents say that redemption for
YOU can only come from giving power to THEM. This is a tired anthem spoken by every repressive movement throughout history. In America, we don't turn to government to restore our souls -- we put our faith in Almighty God.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: Speech at 2020 Republican National Convention
Bernie Sanders on Principles & Values
: Feb 24, 2020
Confederate monuments belong in museums not town greens
I understand history, and you can't wipe out history, and I don't want to wipe out history. They should be placed in historical locations. But on town greens, we want kids to look up and say, wow, this was somebody who was a great leader for liberation.
This was somebody who believed in racial justice, somebody who fought for working people, somebody who believed in women's rights. Those are the people we want our kids to learn from and to respect, not people who believed and defended slavery.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall on eve of 2020 South Carolina primary
Marianne Williamson on Corporations
: Nov 19, 2019
Make it illegal for CEOs to be paid with stock options
Williamson supports a wealth tax and a return to a 70 percent top-bracket income tax. She said she wants to "make it illegal for CEOs to be paid with stock options," considers herself "the
first presidential candidate to advocate for reparations" for slavery and believes "strong unions make America strong by reducing wealth inequality."
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: The Nation magazine on 2019 Democratic primary
Marianne Williamson on Civil Rights
: Jul 30, 2019
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
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (first night in Detroit)
Howie Hawkins on Civil Rights
: May 19, 2019
Reparations for African-Americans slavery
Ending racial oppression requires both race-specific remedies and universal economic rights that are guaranteed by government in a race-conscious way. We must strengthen and enforce antidiscrimination laws in the political, employment,
education, housing, immigration, and criminal justice systems. We must take affirmative action to reverse the growing race and class resegregation of housing and schools.
We must enact HR 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, to consider appropriate remedies for the impact of slavery and subsequent racial discrimination on living African Americans.
We must empower racially oppressed communities to practice self-determination through collective community ownership and control of public housing, schools, police, and businesses.
Click for Howie Hawkins on other issues.
Source: 2020 Presidential Campaign website HowieHawkins.us
Howie Hawkins on Energy & Oil
: Apr 19, 2019
Green New Deal can close racial income gap
The Green New Deal can close racial income and wealth gaps by empowering racially-oppressed communities through community control of Green New Deal programs so these communities are no longer subject to discrimination and exploitation by outside
employers, landlords, real estate agents, and other gatekeepers.
In addition, HR 40 for a Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans should be enacted to find the best way to create
individual and collective wealth to compensate for hundreds of years of unpaid and underpaid labor.
Click for Howie Hawkins on other issues.
Source: Truthout.org on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Howie Hawkins on Welfare & Poverty
: Apr 19, 2019
Reparations and Green New Deal to close racial income gap
The income gap between the rich and everyone else has been growing markedly.
The Green New Deal can close racial income and wealth gaps by empowering racially-oppressed communities through community control of
Green New Deal programs so these communities are no longer subject to discrimination and exploitation by outside employers, landlords, real estate agents, and other gatekeepers. In addition, HR 40 for a Commission to Study and Develop Reparation
Proposals for African-Americans should be enacted to find the best way to create individual and collective wealth to compensate for hundreds of years of unpaid and underpaid labor.
Click for Howie Hawkins on other issues.
Source: Truthout, "Popular Resistance" on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Marianne Williamson on Civil Rights
: 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.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Marianne Williamson on Civil Rights
: Apr 14, 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.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Marianne Williamson on Civil Rights
: 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.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website Marianne2020.com
Kamala Harris on Civil Rights
: Apr 5, 2019
Supports commission investigating reparations for slavery
At Al Sharpton's National Action Network convention in New York City, most of the 2020 contenders affirmed their support for a bill that would create a commission to study reparations for
African-Americans. "When I am elected president, I will sign that bill." Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told Sharpton.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: CNBC: 2019 National Action Network & 2020 Democratic primary
Bernie Sanders on Civil Rights
: Apr 5, 2019
Supports commission investigating reparations for slavery
At Al Sharpton's NAN convention, asked about a [slavery reparations] bill, Sanders told Sharpton that "if the House and Senate passed that bill, of course I would sign it."Sanders had been less committed to the idea of reparations in the form of
payment when asked about it on ABC's "The View." "I think that right now, our job is to address the crises facing the American people and our communities, and I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check," he said at the time.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: CNBC: 2019 National Action Network & 2020 Democratic primary
Bernie Sanders on Welfare & Poverty
: Mar 18, 2019
Sanders supports economic help for blacks, not reparations
Sanders said he supports reparations, but the specific policy he describes here doesn't fit what experts say is the definition of such a policy. The point of reparations is to address the wrongs of discriminatory policies, including slavery,
Jim Crow laws and redlining. "Something that is economically inclusive but has a racial bent to it--those may or may not be good policies," Ohio State University professor Darrick Hamilton told NPR, "but let's be clear: It's not reparations."
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: NPR Morning Edition: Election 2020 Special Series
Kamala Harris on Civil Rights
: Mar 14, 2019
Reparations raise a public health issue
If we start to examine what have been the outcomes of the history of slavery and legal segregation and discrimination, when people have experienced trauma, and it has been undiagnosed and untreated, you will see certain public health outcomes.
And so if you recognize the trauma that existed, and we want to end what are avoidable health outcomes, you need to put resources--and direct resources, extra resources--into those communities that have experienced that trauma."
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: NPR Morning Edition, "Election 2020: Opening Arguments"
Marianne Williamson on Civil Rights
: Mar 5, 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."
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: Townhall.com: 2020 Democratic primary "Candidate profiles"
Mike Pence on Principles & Values
: Mar 1, 2019
Freedom, not socialism, made America great
Speaking in front of a packed house at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Pence said that "freedom"--an apparent stand-in for capitalism--was the reason for the major global and American victories of the past two centuries. "It
was freedom, not socialism, that ended slavery, won two world wars, and stands today as the beacon of hope for all the world," Pence declared.
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Source: Common Dreams e-zine on 2019 CPAC, "Freedom ended Slavery"
Kamala Harris on Civil Rights
: Feb 23, 2019
Reparations means real investments in black communities
Elizabeth Warren said that Native Americans should be "part of the conversation" on reparations for African-Americans. Her fellow 2020 hopefuls Kamala Harris and Julian Castro have come out in favor of reparations for African Americans but have
so far not gone as far as Warren in opening the door to reparations for Native Americans."We have to be honest that people in this country do not start from the same place or have access to the same opportunities,"
Harris said in the statement. "I'm serious about taking an approach that would change policies and structures and make real investments in black communities."
Since reparations are in response to
African-Americans impacted by slavery, presumably reparations for Native Americans would be to make amends for crimes and abuses committed on the Native population by the U.S. government over America's history.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: Fox News on 2020 Democratic primary hopefuls
Kamala Harris on Civil Rights
: Feb 11, 2019
Reparations for blacks should include HBCU and reforms
Harris touched on race and mass incarceration, leading to broader discussions of her agenda for African Americans. When asked, the senator said she is in favor of some form of reparations. "We have got to recognize [that] people aren't starting out
on the same base in terms of their ability to succeed," she said. "So we have got to recognize that and give people a lift up."
As she outlined her agenda--highlighting plans for historically black colleges and universities, tax proposals to address
poverty and criminal justice reforms--Harris defended President Barack Obama when asked about African Americans who say the former president didn't do enough for the black population.
"None of us can do enough. And we all know that,"
Harris said. "If you are a parent raising a child, you know we can never do enough. As leaders, we can never do enough. It's important to acknowledge that. But let's also give people credit for what they have accomplished."
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: Politico.com, "Legalization," on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Donald Trump on Families & Children
: Feb 5, 2019
Girls smuggled across border into modern-day slavery
Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate--it is cruel. One in three women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north. Smugglers use migrant children as human pawns to exploit our laws and gain access to our
country.Human traffickers and sex traffickers take advantage of the wide open areas between our ports of entry to smuggle thousands of young girls and women into the United States and to sell them into prostitution and modern-day slavery.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: 2019 State of the Union address to United States Congress
Howie Hawkins on Principles & Values
: Nov 1, 2018
Third parties force issues neglected by major parties
Hawkins argues that "We had half a million people vote for the progressive Democrats [in the primary], and I'm here to tell them that I'm Plan B when we get to the general election." Hawkins says, "The historic role of third parties has been
to force issues neglected by the major parties into public debate--issues like the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, the 8-hour day, Social Security, and ending segregation. The Green Party has increasingly been playing this role."
Click for Howie Hawkins on other issues.
Source: The Nation magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Marianne Williamson on Civil Rights
: 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.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: Healing the Soul of America, by Marianne Williamson, p. 94
Bernie Sanders on Immigration
: Mar 9, 2016
2007 immigration bill was a bad bill, opposed by many
With regard to that 2007 immigration bill, as you may know, LULAC, the major Hispanic organization in his country, also opposed that bill as did many other Latino organizations. You know, I think it's very hard to make the case that Ted Kennedy,
Barack Obama, me, La Raza, United Farmworkers, Dolores Huerta, leaders of the Latino community, would have supported a bill that actually promoted modern slavery. That was one of the many excuses used not to vote for the 2007 bill.
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Source: 2016 PBS Democratic primary debate in Miami
Bernie Sanders on Jobs
: Mar 9, 2016
I investigated undocumented farm workers in FL
Ted Kennedy was kind enough to allow me to hold a hearing in 2008 in Congress, dealing with the plight of undocumented tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida. I went there on my own.
Wasn't an issue really for the state of Vermont to expose the horrendous working conditions and the semi-slavery that those workers lived under. The result of that hearing was to significantly improve the wages and working conditions of those workers.
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Source: 2016 PBS Democratic primary debate in Miami
Bernie Sanders on Immigration
: Feb 11, 2016
2007: I voted against slavery-like guest worker programs
CLINTON: We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and are keeping economies going in many places. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. I was one of the original sponsors
of the DREAM Act. I voted for comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. Senator Sanders voted against it at that time.SANDERS: In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the
Southern Poverty Law Center said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their
rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. It wasn't just me who opposed it. It was LULAC, one of the large Latino organizations in this country. It was the AFL-CIO. It was some of the most progressive members of the United States Congress.
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Source: 2016 PBS Democratic debate in Wisconsin
Bernie Sanders on Immigration
: Oct 13, 2015
2007: No comprehensive reform: guest workers are semi-slaves
Q: In 2007, you voted against immigration reform. Why should Latino voters trust you now?A: I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery.
Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 2015 CNN Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas
Jill Stein on Government Reform
: Jul 6, 2015
Confederate flag should be removed from all public locations
OnTheIssues: What's your opinion of the Confederate flag controversy? Should it be taken down from state houses?Stein: The Confederate flag is a terrible symbol of white supremacy and slavery. It should be removed from all public locations.
But this is only a symbol. We need to go deeper to erase the institutional racism that lives on post-slavery--we've had lynchings and the Drug War and discrimination--we should address the incredible legacy of the criminal slave culture,
from the criminal institution of slavery. We need to take action beyond changing flags---we need to take action on [racial disparities in] employment and housing, and an end to healthcare disparity. When you add up the impacts of those disparities,
the average African American has 14 years taken off their lives. The average African American family had 10 cents on dollar wealth [compared to white families]--and under Obama that dropped to even lower.
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Source: Phone interview on 2016 presidential race by OnTheIssues.org
Jill Stein on Civil Rights
: Jun 25, 2015
Must follow up direct action with electoral politics
Q: How do social movements like the Occupy movement, which swept the nation in 2011, and now the Black Lives Matter movement, which emphasize direct action and civil disobedience tactics, complement a political and electoral strategy?A: When you look
at US history--the abolition of slavery, the women's movement, the labor movement--[those started with] direct action & very difficult struggles in the street, but those struggles then became political. In the words of Frederick Douglass, "power concedes
nothing without a demand," and that demand needs to happen in the street, in our communities, in our schools and in the voting booth. Because failing that, all the progress that we make in the street and in our communities will be rolled back if we
simply wave the white flag of surrender inside the voting booth. History says these movements didn't move forward inside the established parties at the time. They needed independent parties. These things [direct action and electoral politics] go together
Click for Jill Stein on other issues.
Source: Interview with Candice Bernd of Truthout.org
Joe Biden on Government Reform
: Jul 12, 2007
History of racism was keeping black Americans from voting
Q: What would you do to ensure that all Americans are able to cast a free and unfettered vote and that that vote be counted?A: The history of racism has been punctuated with an effort on the part of the powerful to keep black Americans from voting.
It used to be originally slavery, then all the laws relating to poll taxes and now we have not enough polling machines in black neighborhoods, not enough poll workers, old machines, deceptive practices, saying you can and cannot vote, intimidation.
It all comes down to a basic thing. It comes down to the effort to deny you, because of the racist attitudes of so many people, the right to be able to determine your own future. I've been deeply involved in the
Voting Rights Act, the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, but we've got to move beyond that now. There should be a federal standard and I'm glad to be able to agree with Mike Gravel on something.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: 2007 NAACP Presidential Primary Forum
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