Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) confirmed in a Thursday interview with the New York Times that she supports slavery reparations for American blacks.
The New York Times reported that Warren expressed her support for a policy that would pay money to black Americans who have been affected by slavery.
Warren’s campaign staff declined to elaborate on how she would support reparations, but the calls for reparations came after she said the federal government should provide financial assistance to residents in poor communities affected by “redlining,” a practice where lenders refuse mortgages to people in financially risky areas.
Warren is not the first 2020 presidential candidate to call for reparations. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) announced in a Monday radio interview with New York City’s Power 105.1’s “The Breakfast Club” that “some type of” reparations should be provided to black Americans impacted by slavery.
Harris confirmed her comments calling for reparation in the radio interview with the Times on Thursday.
“We have to be honest that people in this country do not start from the same place or have access to the same opportunities,” Harris said in the statement. “I’m serious about taking an approach that would change policies and structures and make real investments in black communities.”
Other Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), former 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, have not expressed support for this policy.
Warren has received a lot of pushback on the campaign trail for her exaggerated claims of Native American ancestry. One heckler at Warren’s campaign rally in Georgia on Saturday yelled, “Why did you lie?” and held up a “1/2020th” sign before being escorted out of the campaign event.
The Massachusetts Democrat released results of a 2018 DNA test which revealed that she had between 1/64th and 1/1,1024th Native American ancestry after President Donald Trump and other Republicans criticized her for falsely claiming Native American ancestry.
Trump has frequently called Warren “Pocahontas,” most recently using the term to refer to Warren after she launched her bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination this month.
The Massachusetts Democrat issued an apology in January to the Cherokee Nation for taking the DNA test shortly after the results of the DNA test went public because Cherokee leaders thought modern DNA tests undermined centuries-old laws and traditions defining tribal heritage.
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