Bernie Sanders refuses reparations for slavery

The Democratic primary early in 2020 has been recently occupied by a surprisingly polarizing question: Should the US offer restitution to slave descendants in the form of reparations? Already, several candidates – including the Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) – said yes.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is not so sure.

"I think we need to pay attention to communities in distress: black communities, Latin American communities and white communities, and as president, I pledge to do so," Sanders told the question asked by ABC View Friday.

ViewSunny Hostin continued to squeeze him further and asked him if he would explicitly accept any repairs, in the form of money.

"I think for the moment, our job is to solve the crises facing the American people and our communities, and I think there are better ways to do it than just sending a check," he said. he declared.

This is not the first time Sanders has avoided making repairs. At a CNN public meeting earlier this week, Sanders said he was backing a law from the representative of Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who spends federal resources on communities hard hit by the poverty.

The full exchange deserves to be watched.

Several 2020 candidates support the repairs, but we do not know immediately what that means.

For the moment, the definition of reparations in the context of 2020 is unclear. At the moment, repairs seem to be a policy that a candidate is willing to call for repairs. Astead W. Herndon recently published an article in the New York Times that Warren, Harris and Booker had adopted a "policy based on racial awareness." Jeff Stein of the Washington Post then asked the candidates directly whether they were in favor of "redress". These three answers were followed by a yes, although it is not clear what the policy might look like.

As Errin Haines Whack of the Associated Press writes, reparations are "long defined as a type of direct payment to former slaves and their descendants," but it is clear that this definition has become more amorphous for candidates.

Harris, for example, told the Grio newspaper that she saw the LIFT law, a law she proposed to offer middle-class families a massive expansion of tax credit. earned income, as legislation that "raises 60% of blacks". poor families.

"When you look at the reality of the beneficiaries of certain policies (…), it will directly benefit black children, black families and black homeowners, because disparities are so important," she said.

A representative of Booker suggested that his proposal of baby bonds, which would guarantee all newborns' savings accounts in order to reduce the racial wealth gap, could constitute a "form of of repair". Warren also highlighted legislation "that would help minorities pay a down payment on a house," reports Reuters.

Sanders said on Friday he did not pay direct payments to slave descendants, but it is increasingly unclear whether the "reparations" definition of other 2020 candidates explicitly includes this principle.