A new presidential candidate is proposing $100 billion in reparations for slavery.
Democratic presidential candidate #MarianneWilliamson is calling for a “spiritual awakening” to happen in the United States. On Monday, Williamson kicked off her presidential 2020 campaign in Los Angeles, and the 66-year-old spoke with CNN’s “New Day” where she explained her proposal for the U.S. to pay $100 billion in reparations for slavery.
“We need a moral and spiritual awakening in the country,” Williamson said. “Nothing short of that is adequate to fundamentally change the patterns of our political dysfunction… I have had a 35-year career in naming and transforming those dynamics. That’s my qualification for the presidency.”
Williamson says her plan would be to have reparations paid out in $10 billion per year, and have the funds distributed over the span of one decade. She also highlighted her idea to have billions of dollars donated to educational and economic projects that would help the country. “I believe $100 billion given to a council to apply this money to economic projects and educational projects of renewal for that population is a debt to be paid,” she added.
In addition to gaining reparations, Williamson also wants to focus on free college tuition, universal background checks for gun owners and more. While Williamson has not served in a political position, she ran for Congress in California in 2014, and took 4th place in the primary. She currently is a best-selling author and spiritual counselor to #OprahWinfrey.
