Several left-wing members of Congress criticized the United States, including calling for reparations in a series of tweets on July 4. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) posted on social media referencing the nation’s perceived faults.
“This July 4th, we must remember that we stand on stolen land toiled by enslaved Africans and recommit ourselves to the fight for freedom, equality, & justice so that these ideals are accessible to everyone, not just a privileged few,” Bowman wrote on Twitter.
“We are not free until everyone is truly free,” he said.
Bush wrote on Twitter that the “The Declaration of Independence was written by enslavers and didn’t recognize Black people as human.”
“Today is a great day to demand Reparations Now,” she wrote.
MLK Jr., civil rights leader:
“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.”Cori Bush, 🤡🌎 ambassador: https://t.co/BoqUDAqlNz
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) July 4, 2023
Bush’s post came as the California Reparations Task Force are discussing possible plans to compensate the descendants of slaves.
Included in the task force’s final report, its members said that interest charged on back child support harmed Black Californians.
“The Task Force recommends that the Legislature enact legislation to terminate all interest accrued on back child support, requiring only the payment of the principal owed,” the report said. “At a minimum, the proposal recommends that the Legislature eliminate the prospective accrual of interest on child support debt for low-income parents.”
The committee’s nearly 1,100-page report recommends a possible $1 million in reparations.
The report recommends a formal state apology for discrimination. California was never a slave state. According to the task force, the reparations would compensate Black residents for mass incarceration, housing discrimination and health disparities.
Overall, these and other factors were calculated to total about $967,000.
In particular, the committee estimated that the state’s policies regarding drug enforcement and mass incarceration were worth about $115,000 over a lifetime. Furthermore, the state stated that differences in homeownership rates could be addressed with more than $100,000 in payments.
The task force forwarded the report to the state legislature for consideration, including whether or not to accept the recommendation of cash payments.
