Reparations enter presidential election conversation as cause advances locally

WASHINGTON (TND) — The conversation around reparations for slavery has made its way into the presidential election.

Third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised Black farmers that if he wins the election, he’ll give them $5 billion worth of reparation payments.

That $5 million is not money that’s an entitlement, it's money that was a loan that Black farmers were entitled to way back when and was stolen from them," RFK Jr. said on his podcast.

Courts already ruled a similar attempt by the Biden Administration as unconstitutional.

This comes as state and local governments nationwide ramp up their reparation efforts.

The Boston People’s Reparations Commission is demanding the city pay $15 billion to Black residents. They also want $50 million from traditionally white churches in Boston.

Last week in California, state lawmakers issued an official apology for the state's role in supporting slavery.

Meanwhile, a group in New Jersey is preparing to publish a comprehensive analysis of what reparations should ideally look like. The final report is expected on Juneteenth.

Duke Economist and Reparations Advocate William Darity argues for a federal program rather than state and local programs. Darity told MarketWatch a federal reparations program would cost $16 trillion. For reference, the U.S. federal government’s annual budget was only $6.2 trillion in 2023.

Polling from YouGov shows nearly 70% of Black Americans support cash payouts. But overall support for reparations fell 9% in four years. Now just 30% of Americans are in favor of the idea.