U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., feels there are “creative ways” that the government can meet its “moral” obligation of paying $ 14 trillion in reparations for slavery.
The New York Democrat and member of the leftist “Squad” is pushing the measure first introduced in 2023 that would pay out the reparations to descendants of enslaved black people and people of African descent.
The bill, H.R. 414, is sponsored by nine lawmakers including Bowman, and claims the U.S. has “a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people in the United States.”
It calls for the government to recognize “the responsibility of the Federal Government to provide reparations, in all necessary forms, including financial compensation, to rectify ongoing harms resulting from violations, by the Federal Government, of Black people’s human right to self-determination and freedom from discrimination, including with respect to housing, health, education, life, security of person, water and sanitation, and a healthy environment;”
‘Who says the $14 trillion needs to be paid out in one shot?’ Bowman told The Journal News.
“It might be possible for it to be paid out over five or 10 or 20 years. You could take that $333,000 and break it up into monthly checks over X amount of time. There are creative ways to do the right thing and do what needs to be done,” he added.
“To put the price-tag in perspective, the federal government spent about $7 trillion in 2020, about 28% of the nation’s $25 trillion economy,” the Journal News noted.
Bowman argued that the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of one way to implement the measure.
“When COVID was destroying us, we invested in the American people in a way that kept the economy afloat,” he said. “The government can invest the same way in reparations without raising taxes on anyone.”
“Where did the money come from?” the Democrat continued. “We spent it into existence.”
The lawmaker, who was censured by Congress for pulling a fire alarm during a House session, noted that there should also be an increase in the amount to account for inflation.
“Let’s say the investment of $16 trillion will yield $100 trillion on the back end,” Bowman said. “It’s just like when you invest in child care. Every dollar you invest in child care yields $14 on the back end.”
The government, according to the bill, “acknowledges and apologizes for the state-sanctioned institution of chattel slavery, and encourages the reintroduction and enactment of resolutions apologizing for slavery, without any limiting clauses;”
It also includes estimates that there were over 222 trillion hours of forced labor between 1619 and1865, “which would be valued at $97,000,000,000,000 today.”
“There were 246 years of free labor that produced trillions or hundreds of trillions of dollars for the U.S. economy,” Bowman said. “The economy wouldn’t exist in the way it does today if slavery hadn’t built it.”
We can take it from all the bank accounts and Pak money that prop up the Socialist Democrats. She is also talking about the Irish, English and germens who were here before the African kings started sell their people right?