2020 Democratic Hopefuls Embrace New Meaning of Reparations

Several Democratic presidential candidates are embracing reparations for the descendants of slaves — but not in the traditional sense.

{snip} But instead of backing the direct compensation of African-Americans for the legacy of slavery, the Democratic candidates are talking about using tax credits and other subsidies.

Long defined as some type of direct payment to former slaves and their descendants, the shifting definition of reparations comes as White House hopefuls seek to solidify their ties with African-Americans whose support will be crucial to winning the Democratic nomination. But it risks prompting both withering criticism from Republicans and a shrug from black voters and activists if the proposals are seen as an empty gesture that simply renames existing policy ideas as reparations.

“Universal programs are not specific to the injustices that have been inflicted on African-Americans,” said Duke University economist William Darity, a veteran advocate of reparations. “I want to be sure that whatever is proposed and potentially enacted as a reparations program really is a substantive and dramatic intervention in the patterns of racial wealth inequality in the United States — not something superficial or minor that is labeled as reparations and then politicians say the national responsibility has been met.”

Montague Simmons of the Movement for Black Lives, which has pushed for reparations, said the debate is “not just cash payments.”

But “unless we’re talking about something that has to be systemic and transfers power to the community, it’s not likely going to be what we would consider reparations,” she said.

For now, that’s not how most Democratic presidential contenders are talking about reparations.

Harris has proposed monthly payments to qualified citizens of any race in the form of a tax credit. Warren has called for universal child care that would guarantee the benefit from birth until a child enters school. {snip}

Those benefits would likely have a disproportionate impact on African-Americans. But except for longshot candidate Marianne Williamson, no Democratic White House hopeful has called for financial remuneration for blacks.

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Castro told The Root, a black online news site, that America “would be better off” if the government addressed the issue of reparations, which he said he would explore if elected.

And in New Hampshire on Friday, Warren said the U.S. needs to confront its “ugly history of racism” and “talk about the right way to address it.” Asked whether she would support reparations for Native Americans, she responded: “It’s an important part of the conversation.”

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In terms of a direct payment, reparations could be a tough political sell. In a Point Taken-Marist poll conducted in 2016, 68 percent of Americans said the country should not pay cash reparations to African-American descendants of slaves. About 8 in 10 white Americans said they were opposed to reparations, while about 6 in 10 black Americans said they were in favor.

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Even if Democrats are rethinking the definition of reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates, who sparked a national debate over the issue with a 2014 essay in The Atlantic, said the recent chatter is promising. He noted that a Dave Chappelle comedy skit mocked the idea in 2003.

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If presidential candidates want to prove they’re serious about reparations, some proponents say they should back H.R. 40, the Reparations Study Act first introduced by former Michigan Rep. John Conyers in 1989. He reintroduced the bill every session until his resignation in 2017.

Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee took up the legislation after Conyers’ departure and reintroduced the bill in 2018, but it has not been introduced in the current Congress.

“It’s not wrong to say we need to cure cancer — which is what I take the support of reparations to actually be — but we don’t have a full diagnosis yet,” Coates said. {snip}