According to two authors, it is the U.S. government's responsibility to right its wrongs with slavery by paying out $14 trillion dollars to Black Americans in order to mitigate the racial wealth gap.
Authors of "From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century,' William A. Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen, suggested the government should issue the massive reparations payout because of its "culpable role in slavery."
The pair appeared on CNBC's "Changing the Narrative" to discuss their demands, explaining that the federal government is not only guilty as it pertains to slavery, but also in terms of racial segregation and the destruction of Black Americans' property.
"When we're talking about segregation, we're not only talking about keeping black people separate from White people – we're also talking about nearly a century of White terror attacks on black communities," Mullen told CNBC's Cheyenne DeVon.
"These were focused on two things: suppressing the Black vote, and also turning a blind eye to the destruction of Black people's property," she continued. "In some cases the federal government was party to those destructions."
They noted the government is the "only entity" that can afford the massive pay-out.
Darity, who is also a professor at Duke University, mentioned the government can issue the compensation over the course of 10 years, in the form of assets, in order to reduce the risk of inflation.
"You don't necessarily have to raise taxes to undertake these massive expenditure projects," Darity mentioned, pointing specifically to the government's allocation of funding to combat the pandemic.
DEMOCRATS PRESSURE BANKS TO ATONE FOR SLAVERY-ERA ACTIVITIES TO 'REDRESS PAST WRONGS’
The pair's demands come as the California Reparations Task Force weighs payments to Black residents to compensate them for the evils of slavery, but even as officials have weighed as much as $223,000 per individual, many critics warn the state cannot afford the steep price tag.
While other critics have suggested the steep price tag isn't enough.
San Francisco reportedly contemplated a one-time payment of $5 million to eligible recipients, but city officials have warned other taxpayer-funded expenditures would suffer if the proposal moved forward.
The California task force faces a July 1, 2023, deadline to give the state its reparations recommendations.
