If elected president, Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke said he would sign a House bill establishing a commission of experts to study a national apology to African Americans and a proposal for slavery reparations.
The former congressman spoke Wednesday before a mostly Black audience of civil rights activists and advocates at the National Action Network convention hosted annually by the Rev. Al Sharpton. He was cheered and applauded by the standing-room-only crowd throughout the speech Newsday reported.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 51: Bärí A. Williams Jamarlin talks to tech attorney and diversity strategist Bärí Williams about her experience working at Facebook and whether Trump could be talking about Sen. Cory Booker when he claims he could blackmail a U.S. Senator. They also discuss some criticism of Sen. Kamala Harris that is “out of pocket.”
HR 40 was originally introduced in 1989 by former Rep. John Conyers and sponsored in January 2019 by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas).
O’Rourke’s comments are his most detailed so far on reparations for black Americans for centuries of slavery and legal discrimination, Associated Press reported.
Other Democratic candidates who support the legislation include
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
