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Elizabeth Warren: ‘Time To Start A National, Full-Blown Conversation About Reparations’

Elizabeth Warren: ‘Time To Start A National, Full-Blown Conversation About Reparations’

reparations
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., during a town hall style gathering in Woburn, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren said it’s time for a “full-blown” discussion on reparations to redress the impacts of slavery that persist to this day along with centuries of discrimination against Black Americans.

During a CNN town hall meeting on Monday, Warren endorsed former Rep. John Conyers’ House Bill H.R. 40 which would establish a commission of experts to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations.

However, Warren says she would defer to others on what exactly reparations would look like, Boston.com reported.

Warren is setting the policy agenda for the Democratic primary, Andrea González-Ramírez wrote for Refinery29. “This belief that the system has allowed for inequality that is morally wrong has been at the core of Warren’s political history — and it’s the driving force behind her presidential bid.”

However, some feel Warren isn’t going far enough.

Warren described slavery as “a stain on America,” and told a
mostly Black audience Monday at Jackson State University that the racial wealth gap has persisted through generations of housing and employment discrimination.


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Warren did not provide details on how she would support reparations, though she suggested they could also apply to Native Americans. She circled back to the need for a public apology recognizing the racist U.S. economic foundation on which the U.S. is built.

“We have a lot of experts around the country, a lot of activists, who have a whole lot of different approaches to it,” she said. “And I think the best we can do right now — I love the idea of this congressional commission. Let’s bring people together, and let’s open that conversation as Americans. Let’s see what ideas people want to put on the table, and let’s talk them through, because I gotta tell you, ignoring the problem is not working.”

Warren first spoke in February in support of reparations, saying government-sanctioned discrimination had undermined the ability of Black families to build wealth for generations in the U.S.