Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) argued many Black Americans will “tap out” and stop voting if they believe reparations will never be paid for slavery.
Lee made the claim during an appearance on the Native Land podcast on June 7. She said many of her fellow Democrats— and certainly Republican lawmakers — are backed by donors who do not want reparations to be paid, but she is not one of them.
“We fight for reparations because it’s owed us. It is owed us,” Lee said. “So we’re not going to back down on that, one way or another.”
That came a moment after Lee said the powers that be don’t want Black Americans to get reparations; she said many would rather give some dough to “insurrectionists” — seemingly referring to the $1.8 billion weaponization fund that President Donald Trump is pushing for.
“They’re trying to disenfranchise you, because if you believe that you’re never gonna get reparations from this system, then you tap out,” Lee said. “And you don’t just tap out of the conversation —you tap out of the system. You don’t want to vote anymore. You don’t participate anymore.”
She added, “and they know that — that’s how they don’t just control Congress, that’s how they can get your school boards, your board of supervisors. They want us that far out of the system.”
Reparations have been a key focus for Lee, who was elected to Congress in 2022.
She said it is a “moral and legal obligation” for the U.S. government to pay back Black Americans for slavery, and introduced a resolution last month that aimed to do just that.
Lee’s resolution called on the “federal government to provide reparations to the descendants of enslaved Black families. The resolution seeks to advance federal reparations, support existing reparatory justice efforts such as H.R. 40, and provide further momentum to reparations efforts at the state and local levels,” according to a press release.
She did not mention how much dough the government should shell out. Lee’s resolution has been supported by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), among other liberal politicians.
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