The Awkward Truth About Democrats and Reparations

The top-tier 2020 candidates have all endorsed the concept in theory, but are still dodging the most radical implications.

Democrats have long dodged questions about reparations, but at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network conference in New York City this week, the once-radioactive issue was front and center. Beto O’Rourke, who is running for president on a vague but upbeat message of common-sense solutions, responded with an unequivocal “yes” when asked whether he would support a bill put forward by a fellow Texan, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, to study reparations. Other Democratic candidates were similarly forthright in endorsing some form of reparations (more on that later). Another Texan, former HUD secretary Julián Castro, was perhaps the most blunt: “There are many things that we need to do in this country that have been a long time in coming, and one of those is to move forward with reparations,” he said.

It goes without saying this is a major reversal for Democrats, even if many of them are allowing themselves plenty of wiggle room to define what “reparations” means. In many cases, they are simply pivoting to talk about pre-existing plans to close racial gaps in wealth or education.

When Jackson Lee introduced her bill proposing a commission to study the feasibility of reparations, she was supported by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. More important, Democratic candidates for president are getting on board. Senators Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (a co-sponsor of the bill) also back the legislation.

The likelihood that reparations would ever become official remains slim, with even prominent leaders in the black community calling the idea nearly impossible to implement. “You’ve got to satisfy two problems, one of which is the legality of it and the other is the practicality of it,” argued Majority Whip Jim Clyburn…

Of course, the top-tier 2020 candidates are mostly dodging the most radical implications.

It’s a difficult needle to thread, appeasing the progressive activist base without alienating the majority of Americans, whose votes Democrats still need to be elected president.

More From Vanity Fair: