PRESIDENT Joe Biden is aiming to “push for reparations in first term” for black Americans, in a bid to tackle racial inequality in the US. According to his Senior Advisor Cedric Richmond it’s “doable” for President Biden to make progress in the first term while Congress studies reparations for slavery. Speaking to Axios on HBO, […]
PRESIDENT Joe Biden is aiming to “push for reparations in first term” for black Americans, in a bid to tackle racial inequality in the US.
According to his Senior Advisor Cedric Richmond it’s “doable” for President Biden to make progress in the first term while Congress studies reparations for slavery.
Speaking to Axios on HBO, Mr Richmond said “We have to start breaking down systemic racism and barriers that have held people of color back and especially African-Americans.
“We have to do stuff now.”
He pointed on Biden’s action “breaking down barriers in housing, making sure that African-Americans can pass down wealth through homeownership, that their homes are not valued less than homes in different communities just because of the neighborhood it’s in.”
“We don’t want to wait on a study,” he added.
“We’re going to start acting now.”
Last month the White House announced that Biden supported studying if paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people is an appropriate remedy.
Biden “continues to demonstrate his commitment to take comprehensive action to address the systemic racism that persists today,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Meanwhile a bill to fund the study of “slavery and discrimination in the colonies of the United States from 1619 to the present and recommend appropriate remedies,” has been reintroduced in Congress.
The move is supported by Barack Obama who said reparations for all black Americans are “justified” because the “wealth of this country was built on the backs of slaves”.
Obama made those comments during an interview with Bruce Springsteen for an episode of his podcast series Renegades: Born in the USA with Bruce Springsteen.
When asked about reparations Obama said: “If you ask me theoretically ‘Are reparations justified?’ the answer is yes.
“There’s not much question that the wealth of this country, the power of this country was built in significant part, not exclusively, maybe not even the majority of it, but a large portion of it was built on the backs of slaves.”
