Professor and co-author of reparations book demand government pay $14 TRILLION to black Americans

The authors of a book advocating reparations for slavery have demanded that the federal government shell out $14 billion for the cause.

Duke University professor William A. Darity and writer A. Kirsten Mullen called for the gigantic reparations payment, arguing that the federal government is “guilty of slavery.”

The duo, authors of the book ‘From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century’, added that the government should put up the huge sum because it is ‘also the only entity that has the capacity to repay the debt’.

His bold suggestion comes as California’s repair task force has proposed giving every black resident in the state $223,000.

Speaking in an interview with CNBCMullen said the federal government should pick up the tab for the wave of reparations it owes people for their history of slavery.

“The federal government must pay this debt, this is the entity that gave itself the right and the authority to enslave black Americans,” he said.

Mullen also argued that the reparations are not only due to slavery, but also to past history of racial segregation and voter suppression.

She said: ‘When we talk about segregation, we’re not just talking about keeping blacks apart from whites, we’re also talking about nearly a century of white terrorist attacks against black communities.

‘These focused on two things: suppressing the black vote and also turning a blind eye to the destruction of black property.

“In some cases, the federal government was part of those destructions.”

Making their case for the government to spend trillions to pay off the descendants of slavery, the authors said the spending spree could stretch for 10 years in an attempt to avoid adding to runaway inflation.

Another option, Darity argued, is that the repairs could be delivered as assets rather than a direct cash delivery.

He said: ‘This could include giving them reparations in the form of an annuity, a trust account, or some kind of endowment where there are limitations on the amount that can be spent at any one time.

“The key is that ultimately the discretion for the use of the funds should reside with the recipient.”

Despite arguing that the government should hand out the titanic $14 trillion reparations, the Duke University professor added that finding the funds should not fall to the taxpayer.

“You don’t necessarily have to raise taxes to undertake these massive spending projects,” he said.

However, this view is not shared by the California Reparations Task Force, which is proposing to give every black resident in the state $223,000.

The chair of the repair panel, Kamilah V. Moore, tweeted over the weekend that the panel is considering introducing new taxes to foot the bill for the billions in repairs.

His tweet came after the panel heard from US tax law experts, who testified that because whites are more likely to be wealthy, any proposal to redistribute wealth would directly benefit black people.

Moore has previously stated that he plans to be as “radical as possible” when it comes to his work.

At its hearing on Friday, the committee heard suggestions ranging from introducing new estate taxes, incentivizing people to finance repairs through tax breaks, or giving a tax credit to all residents below a median wealth line.

The task force has grappled with ideas on how to pay for the billions it would cost to make reparation payments.

The tax expert’s suggestions came before an activist responded to the panel’s plans, as he felt almost a quarter of a million dollars each was “not enough.”

The Rev. Tony Pierce also criticized the idea that California reparations should be limited to state residents.

There should be no residency requirements for California! We have to encourage our people to come back to California! What better way to encourage our people to come back to California if we don’t have requirements?’ Pierce asked.

At a previous meeting, an attendee also argued that the amount was not high enough, asking for payments of $350,000 per person.

Marcus Champion of the California Civil Justice Association at the time called for “direct cash payments, tax-exempt status, free college education, homeownership grants, business grants, access to funds and business capital under or null”.

In 2022, the task force released a 500-page document outlining why African-Americans who are descendants of 19th-century slaves were owed “comprehensive reparations.”

While many in the Golden State have publicly supported the repair plans, some have criticized the idea and have called for more limitations on who would receive balloon payments.

Josiah Williams, a member of the American Redress Coalition of California’s Bay Area, spoke at the meeting Friday, calling for targeted repairs to be focused.

He said: ‘I wanted to add that if there is someone else who has their own claim, you can definitely write it down, get someone to defend it and I would support you in that effort. “But this is for a specific group of people.”

Fox News contributor and attorney Leo Terrell and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder have also spoken out against the plans, calling the scheme “outrageous, unconstitutional and illegal.”

In an interview on Fox News’ Hannity, the duo demanded details about how the massive payment would be funded, even criticizing the proposals as “racist.”

“Reparations are the extraction of money from people who never owned slaves to people who were never slaves,” Elder said.

One problem facing reparation payments and one that opponents often point to is California’s history with slavery, having only been admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as a free state.

If the $223,000 payment were paid to California’s 2.5 million black residents, the total estimated financial impact would be about $569 billion.