Spiritual guru and 2020 White House hopeful Marianne Williamson on Wednesday released her plan to pay between $200 billion to $500 billion in reparations to descendants of African slaves in the United States.
The proposal calls for the creation of a “Reparations Commission” to allocate funds to infrastructure and education initiatives in black neighborhoods. According to Williamson’s campaign, the commission would be run by 50 descendants of slaves with a “scholarly, cultural, or political connection to the issue of reparations.”
“The Reparations Plan will not erase the history of slavery in America, nor of its ugly aftermath. It is obviously only one part of a multi-dimensional healing process,” Williamson said in a statement. “But it will go far toward ending a painful, horrific chapter in American history, and will give future generations of Americans a chance to begin again on a ground of genuine reconciliation.”
Williamson’s proposal references the “40 acres and a mule” broken pledge made to slaves during the Reconstruction as the driving motive behind her reparations plan.
“We have not yet fully done all that it is morally incumbent upon us to do in order to heal this ugly wound,” the new age author said.
During the last 2020 Democratic debate, Williamson argued any proposal that is “less than $100 billion” is “an insult.”
“All that a country is is a collection of people,” she responded to a question on the topic from CNN moderator Don Lemon. “People heal when there is some ‘deep truth-telling.’ We need to recognize that the economic gap between blacks and whites in America; it does come from a great injustice that has never been dealt with,” she said. “That great injustice has had to do with the fact that there was 250 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of domestic terrorism.”
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