Video footage of Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg saying Black Americans had its generational wealth stolen was shared today.
When asked his stance on reparations, Buttigieg not only voiced his support for HR 40, but also said the wealth disparity between Blacks and whites is a result of “systemic racism in this country.”
“Now I support HR 40 … but I don’t
think we have to wait for that commission to do its work to do other things,” Buttigieg said. He added if generational wealth is “true for a dollar that’s been saved, that’s also true for a dollar that’s been stolen – and what has been stolen from Black Americans is generational opportunities to build up wealth.”The video was captured and shared by a Twitter user identified as Jameion B. Fowler, who identifies as an outspoken member of the American Descendants of Slavery (#ADOS) movement.
“So we shouldn’t be surprised that when slavery ended… less than two lifetimes ago, that we continue to see the consequences of that, in addition to things that are not from some distant far off point past but happened within living memory,” Buttigieg continued.
In a second clip shared by Fowler, Buttigieg added making policy changes without addressing past injustices would not work.
“What we’ve learned is you can’t just get to 2019, replace a lot of these racist policies with neutral policies and say okay now everything is going to take care of itself. It doesn’t work that way, or if it does it’ll take hundreds of years, so we’ve got to act now to address this,” Buttigieg continued.
There were mixed reactions to Buttigieg’s response from other #ADOS members. While one of his colleagues applauded Fowler for asking the “right questions,” another seemed exasperated and said Buttigieg didn’t even really answer the question.
This article was written by Isheka N. Harrison for Moguldom.com on December 12, 2019