‘Squad’ member calls for $14 TRILLION in federal reparations for descendants of slaves

A number of House Democrats led by Rep. Cori Bush introduced a resolution on Thursday to revive a push for federal reparations, which would amount to more than half of US GDP.

The resolution states that the US has a “legal and moral” obligation to pay reparations for the enslavement of black people and calls for the payment of $14 trillion — “at least the amount of the black-white wealth gap,” Bush told DailyMail.com. during a press conference.

Total US GDP will reach $25 trillion by 2022. The US is already $31.4 trillion in debt and lawmakers are currently engaged in tough negotiations over where to cut the budget so they can raise the debt limit.

The $14 trillion figure is consistent with the findings of Duke University professor and economist William “Sandy” Darity, who estimates that the wealth gap is more than $300,000 per person and that there are about 40 million black people whose ancestors were enslaved in the US.

When asked about the source of funding for such a program, Bush suggested that the country reduce its spending abroad and on defense.

The resolution states that the US has a “legal and moral” obligation to pay reparations for the enslavement of black people and calls for the payment of $14 trillion — “at least the amount of the black-white wealth gap,” Bush told DailyMail.com. during a press conference

“We’re working with this administration, we’re talking to other members of Congress, but I’ll say this,” she said. “If we can continue to fund these endless wars, or we can continue to put trillions of dollars into these eternal wars, in the defense budget even more than they asked for, if we can send money abroad to help elsewhere, then we have to take care of it because we are talking about things that are happening now.’

The Pentagon has requested a budget of $824 billion for fiscal year 2024.

Biden, on the campaign trail, said he supported an investigation into the idea of ​​reparations.

“Inconvenient as it may be, our country is not founded on the principle that all men are created equal,” Bush said to raucous affirmations from the crowd behind her.

“It was founded at the cost of the life, liberty and well-being of black people, African people they stole, whose enslavement, exploitation and dehumanization. were written, written into the Constitution.’

“Trauma lives in the black body,” Representative Jamaal Bowman said

“The truth is that slavery and discrimination are not a small or insignificant part of our country’s development. They are integral.’

Bush was flanked by activists and a number of other House Democrats – Summer Lee, D-Pa., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Jamaal Bowman, DN.Y., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who is running for Senate.

Bush cited a litany of ways black people “continue to live under slavery,” citing the black-white wealth gap, voter suppression, segregation, red lining and health inequalities.

“Trauma lives in the black body,” Bowman said.

“Research shows that from generation to generation trauma lives in the body and lives in the blood vessels and lives in the DNA and the cells and the mind.”

He continued, “So when we talk about the disproportionate impact of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, et cetera, stress, when we talk about that, it’s directly tied to our historic oppression in this country.”

Bowman then compared black people fighting for “freedom” to other nations defending themselves.

“I watch with pride and support when I see the Irish fight for Ireland, and the Italians fight for Italy, and the Jews fight for Israel, and the Palestinians fight for Palestine. I love that. Black people fight for our sovereignty in the same way.”

Lee, a California State Senate candidate and current House member, praised her home state, where a reparations task force recommended the state formally apologize for slavery and the legislature is considering direct payments. “It’s been a long time since the federal government has caught up.”

The California Task Force was created to study the economic effects of slavery and discrimination in the state in September 2020, making California the first state to begin studying the possibility of reparations for black Americans – even though slavery had already been banned in California joined the union.

The group formally approved its final recommendations to the California legislature last weekend — some of which were deemed controversial.

The suggestions include payments of at least $360,000 for black Californians, though payments could be as high as $1.2 million.

Another recommendation would be to transfer control of local land use decisions to a government agency – which would approve plans based on whether they maintain or reduce segregation.

According to 2022 Pew Research, about three in ten American adults say descendants of slaves should be repaid in some way bearing.

“Our ancestors may not be here, but we are their descendants and we deserve compensation … for all they have lost,” Bush concluded.