(VitalNews.org) – As the saying goes, what starts in California travels around the nation, and talk of “reparations” is being taken up by Democratic lawmakers in Washington.
Golden State Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation creating the California Reparations Task Force (CTRF) to determine how much the state should pay black residents for historical discrimination.
Last week, the CTRF recommended paying black California residents up to $1.2 million each. At a press conference on May 17th, progressive Democrat Cori Bush (D-MO) introduced a resolution called Reparations Now. The resolution declares that the U.S. has a “moral and legal obligation” to pay current black Americans for the harms done by the enslavement of blacks in the past.
Bush suggested that it would take $14 trillion to make current black Americans whole, which is the amount she claims comprises a “wealth gap” between blacks and whites. That figure is nearly half the nation’s current outstanding debt, and nearly half the entire gross domestic product (total economic activity) in 2022.
The term “reparations” usually means making payments – from taxpayer dollars – to black Americans based on the claim that slavery and other historical racist practices have financially hobbled people of color.
Bush was joined by other members of what has come to be known as “The Squad” of House lawmakers. It includes hard-left progressives such as Rashida Talib of Michigan, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York, among others.
The group of politicians favors redistributing money (in the form of taxpayer dollars) to black Americans and others considered “people of color” to achieve what it calls “equity.”
During the unveiling of her resolution on May 17th, Bush urged Congress to act on H.R. 40, a resolution from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). H.R. 40 would create a federal task force, similar to California’s, that would come up with a dollar figure for national reparations.
Bush said “Black people in our country cannot wait any longer” for the federal government to enact reparations.
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