Vice President Kamala Harris’ previous stance on reparations could cause problems in her coalition as the November election approaches. Harris,
Vice President Kamala Harris’ previous stance on reparations could cause problems in her coalition as the November election approaches.
Harris, at multiple points in her 2020 campaign for president and during her time as a senator, appeared to endorse the idea of giving some sort of reparations to the descendants of slaves, though her campaign has not responded to recent requests on whether or not she still supports the idea. The issue puts Harris in a bind as a commanding majority of Americans oppose reparations, but African Americans, who make up a key part of the Democratic coalition, overwhelmingly support the idea.
“I think there has to be some form of reparations, and we can discuss what that is,” Harris told The Root, a black publication, in 2019. “We’re looking at more than 200 years of slavery. We’re looking at almost 100 years of Jim Crow. We’re looking at legalized segregation and, in fact, segregation on so many levels that exist today based on race. And there has not been any kind of intervention done understanding the harm and the damage that occurred to correct [the] course.”
Harris also told a radio host in 2019 that she supported reparations, and later reaffirmed her support for the policy in a statement to The New York Times that same year.
