Kamala Harris Supports ‘Some Type of’ Slavery Reparations

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., confirmed her candidacy during an appearance on ABC's "Good
Tom Williams/UPI

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said in an interview Monday she supports “some type of” reparations to black Americans for slavery.

In an interview with the “Breakfast Club,” a radio show on New York City’s Power 105.1, host Charlamagne tha God asked Kamala Harris about reparations.

She gave a lengthy answer, then when pushed on it, agreed with Charlamagne that she would support “some type of” reparations.

“Where do you stand on some form of reparations for black people? Here you see Mayor De Blasio saying the marijuana economy could be a form of reparations. Marianne Williamson says black people should get a hundred billion in slave reparations–like, where do you stand on it?” Charlamagne asked.

Harris responded:

Well look, I think that we have got to address that again, it’s back to the inequities. There, through–look, America has a history of 200 years of slavery. We had Jim Crow. We had legal segregation in America for a very long time. The Voting Rights Act was only strong for 50 years and then they wiped it out with this United States Supreme Court in the Shelby decision, to the point that 22 states immediately thereafter put in place laws that one court found were crafted with surgical precision to have black people not be able to vote.”

So we’ve got to recognize, back to that earlier point, people aren’t starting out on the same base, in terms of their ability to succeed and so we have got to recognize that and give people a lift up. And, there are a number of ways to do it. Part of my initiative again around the ‘Lift Act’ is that same point–you lifting people up who are making less than a hundred thousand dollars a year. What I want to do about rent is the same thing. What we need to do around education and understanding disparities, what we need to do around HBCUs. But we have a history of racism in America.

Charlamagne asked again, “So you are for some type of reparations?”

“Yes I am, yes I am,” Harris responded.

Harris announced her 2020 campaign in January, kicking off the race by saying, “The American people deserve to have someone who is going to fight for them, who is going to see them, who will hear them, who will care about them and put them in front of self-interest.”

Last week, she expressed support for the socialist Green New Deal introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

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