Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) proposed a $14 trillion reparations plan Tuesday \u201cfor the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The progressive congressman called on the federal government to foot the bill, arguing that there\u2019s a way to pay for it \u201cwithout raising taxes on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen COVID was destroying us, we invested in the American people in a way that kept the economy afloat,\u201d Bowman told\u2002<\/a>the Journal News<\/em> in an interview published January 16. \u201cThe government can invest the same way in reparations without raising taxes on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhere did the money come from?\u201d he continued. \u201cWe spent it into existence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bowman is among nine sponsors in support of H.R. 414<\/a>, a resolution introduced by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in May 2023 to recognize that the U.S. \u201chas a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proposal stretches beyond slavery, to also cover restitution for more government policies the disenfranchised black Americans including \u201cbanking, consumer, housing, health, education, and employment discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n H.R. 414 also addresses the U.S.\u2019s failure to \u201ckeep Black people safe from or actively sanctioning White domestic terrorism and failing to prosecute it when it occurred,\u201d as well as \u201cthe impacts of government-imposed segregation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bill states that \u201cfinancial reparations must be paid by the Federal Government for an amount that respected economists have estimated totals, at minimum, $14,000,000,000,000 to eliminate the racial wealth gap that currently exists between Black and White Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The resolution also includes an estimate from \u201cscholars\u201d that found that the U.S. \u201cbenefited from 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and the end of slavery in 1865, which would be valued at $97,000,000,000,000 today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n