* A movement supporting reparations as a way to make amends for the atrocities of slavery and to reduce the persistent wealth gap is gaining momentum.
* One hundred and forty-two members of Congress support H.R. 40, the bill to study reparations.
* William Darity, professor of public policy at Duke University, estimates a concrete program could cost the U.S. government between $10 trillion and $12 trillion.
Reparations for slavery has been fiercely discussed in the United States since Union Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman promised 40 acres and a mule to 4 million freed slaves in 1865. While Americans don’t generally support a reparations program paid by taxpayers, this summer’s events have shifted the once overlooked topic into the national debate.
One hundred and forty-two members of Congress have co-sponsored H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, compared with only two in 2014. Even Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, has said he supports the study, representing a change on the issue.
William Darity, professor of public policy at Duke University, has studied the rationale and design of reparations for more than 30 years. He says, “the present moment seems to afford more of an opportunity to move forward than any moment I’ve experienced in my lifetime.”
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WNU Editor: I do not see non-blacks in the U.S. supporting such a program. And as for the cost of the program .... $10 to $12 trillion?!?!?! The money is not there.
