New Age motivational speaker Marianne Williamson surprised viewers at the July 2019 candidates’ debate and exceeded expectations for her unconventional approach on reparations. Few politicians had discussed the issue in detail. Williamson, who has since dropped out of the race, was questioned on her $500 billion price tag for reparations:
“Well, first of all, it’s not $500 billion in financial assistance, it’s $200-to-$500 billion payment of a debt that is owed,” Williamson said. “That is what reparations is. We need deep truth-telling. We don’t need another commission to look at evidence … It is time for us to simply realize that this country will not heal. All that a country is, is a collection of people. People heal when there’s some deep truth-telling. We need to recognize, when it comes to the economic gap between Blacks and whites in America, it does come from a great injustice that has never been dealt with. That great injustice has had to do with the fact that there was 250 years of slavery followed by another hundred years of domestic terrorism.”
