Obama Backs Reparations For Black Americans: ‘The Wealth Of This Country Was Built On The Backs Of Slaves’
In the second episode of Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen’s podcast Renegades: “Born in the USA,” the former President backed the reparation of Black Americans, calling it “justified.”
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The two were on the topic of “race relations in the US” when they dug into the bill regarding reparations, which would study racial reparations for compensating Black Americans descended from slavery and victims of systemic racism. “If you ask me theoretically ‘are reparations justified?’ the answer is yes,” Obama said.
He went on to explain, “There’s not much question that the wealth of this country, the power of this country was built in significant part, not exclusively, maybe not even the majority of it, but a large portion of it was built on the backs of slaves,” he said. Obama went on to say that the descendants of those who suffered “terrible, cruel, often arbitrary injustices” not only deserve compensation but recognition.
During their conversation, while speaking about the reason for not being able to push it during his presidency, he said it would have been met with “the politics of white resistance” and “white resentment”.
“What I saw during my presidency was the politics of white resistance and resentment. The talk of ‘welfare queens’ and the talk of the ‘undeserving’ poor. And the backlash against affirmative action,” Mr Obama said. He noted on the podcast that he understands why “white folks” might oppose the practice of reparations.
“It’s perfectly understandable why working-class white folks, middle-class white folks, folks who are having trouble paying the bills or dealing with student loans, or don’t have healthcare where they feel government has let them down wouldn’t be too thrilled with a massive program that is meant to deal with the past but isn’t speaking to their future.’
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