Larry Elder, a conservative Black politician in California, took the conversation on reparations to a new level when he said he believes the descendants of slave owners deserve compensation, too—not just Black people whose ancestors were captured and enslaved against their will.
Elder appeared on The Candace Owens Show in July, but a clip from his interview with the conservative talk show
host has resurfaced and is circulating on the web. On the “PragerU” podcast, he told Owens that slave owners should have received reparations after slavery ended because they lost legal “property,” Yahoo! reported.“When people talk about reparations, do they really want to have that conversation? Because, like it or not, slavery was legal,” Elder said. “Their legal property was taken away from
them after the Civil War, so you could make an argument that the people that are owed reparations are not only just Black people but also the people whose ‘property’ was taken away after the end of the Civil War.”Elder justified his argument by referencing how British slave owners were compensated after slavery ended with the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.
“Did you know that slave owners were compensated?” Elder told Owens. “After they lost their quote-unquote ‘property,’ the government compensated slave owners.”
Elder’s misguided analysis erupted in a wave of criticism on Twitter.
One tweeter said, “I guess it doesn’t matter to him that the so-called property were people, our ancestors.”
“Are the butter biscuits really that good,” the tweeter asked.
Comedian and radio host DL Hughley
compared Elder to R. Kelly.“#LarryElder saying the families of former slave owners should get reparations for losing their property! Is like saying #RKelly deserves compensation for babysitting,” Hughley wrote.
Amid the controversy, Elder is currently running a campaign to take the seat of California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the upcoming recall election.