A New York lawmaker wants the federal government to push through a $14 trillion reparations measure.
The move was mentioned by members of the “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman, DN.Y., who wants the federal government to be held accountable for slavery and its consequences, according to the Journal News.
Bowman cited the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the “space race” effort as examples that would make such a move feasible.
“When COVID destroyed us, we invested in the American people in a way that kept the economy going,” Bowman said. “The government can invest the same way in compensation without raising taxes on anyone.”
“Where did the money come from?” Bowman said. “We spend it to exist.”
Bowman is among the nine sponsors of HR 414, which aims to ensure that the US has “a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm to the lives of millions of black people in the United States.”
The measure, introduced in 2023, would prompt the federal government to spend $14 trillion on reparations programs that would support descendants of enslaved black people and people of African descent.
Black people make up 12% of the population in the US, according to Census figures.
Reportedly, the bill comes three decades after another bill that sought to assemble a federal commission to study reparations.
Robert Miller
A measure to establish a federal commission on the effects of compensation was introduced again this year and Bowman was its sponsor.
The measure could address concerns about racial disparities seen in housing, mass incarceration, and educational outcomes, and, as the bill states, “eliminate the racial wealth gap that currently exists between Black and White Americans.”
Bowman added that “the incarcerated should be able to vote.”
“And I definitely think that when they come out, they will automatically get ownership,” he said.
“To put the price tag in perspective, the federal government spent about $7 trillion in 2020, about 28% of the $25 trillion national economy,” the Journal News reported.
Bowman said paying reparations could be like how countries paid for the “space race” in the 1960s. AP Bowman refers to the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic as “the money has been.” Getty Images
Bowman believes that $14 trillion can be spread over several decades.
“Who said $14 trillion had to be paid off in one fell swoop?,” Bowman said.
“Maybe it can be paid off in five or 10 or 20 years. You can take that $333,000 and split it into monthly checks over X period. There are creative ways to do the right thing and do what needs to be done.”
The bill cites scholarly estimates that the US benefited from over 222 trillion hours of forced labor between 1619 and the end of slavery in 1865, “which would be worth $97,000,000,000,000 today.”
“There were 246 years of free labor that generated trillions or hundreds of trillions of dollars for the US economy,” Bowman said. “The economy would not exist as it is today if slavery had not built it.”
Bowman-sponsored measures to establish a federal commission on the effects of remediation were reintroduced this year. CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
The bill does not have any sponsors in the Senate.
Bowman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is the latest attempt to push for damages at the federal level. Similar efforts are underway across the country in blue states, including San Francisco.
Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill for a “community commission to study the history of slavery in New York state” to examine “various forms of reparations.” AP
New York in December established a commission to explore the best method of providing reparations to descendants of slaves.
Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill for a “community commission to study the history of slavery in New York state” to examine “various forms of reparations.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
