A number of House Democrats led by Rep. Cori Bush introduced a resolution stating that the U.S. has a ‘legal and moral’ obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of black people and calls for $14 trillion to be paid. The entire U.S. GDP was $25 trillion in 2022.
The $14 trillion figure is in line with the findings of Duke University professor and economist William ‘Sandy’ Darity, who estimates the wealth gap is in excess of $300,000 per person and there are roughly 40 million black people whose ancestors were enslaved in the U.S.
Bush was flanked by activists and a number of other House Democrats – Summer Lee, D-Pa., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who is running for Senate.