Beto O’Rourke Confronted by Black Voter on Opposition to Reparations

Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke was confronted by a black voter for his opposition to “traditional reparations” for slavery.

“Why should I, as a black man, vote for you when you oppose reparations?” O’Rourke was asked at a campaign event at USC on Friday, which was posted online Wednesday, according to Mediaite.

A day after O’Rourke announced he was running in the Democratic primaries earlier this month, the Associated Press reported he was not in favor of compensatory payment to descendents of slaves.

O’Rourke did not deny the reports of his stance, and gave a lengthy response that skirted the issue of reparations in favor of other remedies, like talking about systematic racism, racist voter ID laws, and the economic divide between white Americans and black Americans.

“That is the path that I would pursue, after listening to and reflecting on those who are much smarter, and frankly, as a white man, much more experienced in the injustice and the indignities that I just described,” O’Rourke concluded in his more than four-minute answer.

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