House Democrats held a raucous hearing on Wednesday, where they hosted a radical leftist writer and other supposed luminaries to make the case for the federal government to pay African-Americans reparations as an apology for slavery. Despite the ridiculousness of having the people of today pay the price of something they had no hand in some 150 years ago, the liberal broadcast networks seemed all for it during their evening newscasts.
“In a packed hearing room, an emotional debate. Should the federal government pay billions of dollars in reparations to African-Americans who are descended from slaves as a way to make amends for the atrocity of American slavery,” ABC’s senior national correspondent, Terry Moran emoted during World News Tonight.
He and CBS politics correspondent Ed O’Keefe hyped the testimony from New Jersey Senator and 2020 Democratic candidate Cory Booker (Click “expand”):
SEN. CORY BOOKER: This is a very important hearing. It is historic. It is urgent.
ED O’KEEFE: New Jersey Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker spoke today in favor of paying reparations to the descendants of slaves.
BOOKER: We as a nation must address this persistent inequalities or we will never fully achieve the strength and the possibility.
O’KEEFE: Supporters packed the hearing room. Making their opinions known.
Speaking of bolstering the Democratic contenders. Reporter Geoff Bennett, on NBC Nightly News, pointed out that “many 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls now backing some form of reparations.” Then added: “Most Republicans reject the idea of taxpayer-funded reparations.”
All three of the networks elevated the rambling of far-left liberal radical Ta-Nehisi Coates, a former writer for The Atlantic. O’Keefe celebrated him as the “author of a groundbreaking story in support of reparations”. Bennett credited him as the guy who “reignited the debate”.
They loved how the Coates “shot back” at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after he denounced the idea of reparations by stating the reasonable position:
MCCONNELL: I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea. We've tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a Civil War, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We’ve elected an African-American president.
To his credit, O’Keefe was the only network reporter that evening to play a soundbite of the few in the hearing room that were against reparations. “Reparations, by definition, are only given to victims. So, the moment you give me reparations, you have made me into a victim without my consent,” explained Quillette columnist Coleman Hughes.
Of course, none of them cared to mentioned former NFL safety Burgess Owens who was against reparations. He boldly called out the Democratic Party’s deep racist roots and suggested that it was they who should be made to pay restitution if they felt so inclined to press it onto others.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
June 19, 2019
6:37:10 p.m. Eastern(…)
[Cuts to video]
TERRY MORAN: In a packed hearing room, an emotional debate. Should the federal government pay billions of dollars in reparations to African-Americans who are descended from slaves as a way to make amends for the atrocity of American slavery?
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE: Slavery is the original sin. Slavery has never received an apology.
MORAN: This hearing, the first on the issue in a decade, actor Danny Glover and Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker making the case for reparations. But even before this hearing began, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell weighing in, and sparking controversy.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL: I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea. We've tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We’ve elected an African-American president.
MORAN: That touched a nerve. Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates firing back.
TA-NEHISI COATES: For a century after the civil war, black people were subjected to a relentless campaign of terror. A campaign that extended well into the lifetime of Majority Leader McConnell.
(…)
CBS Evening News
June 19, 2019
6:33:03 p.m. EasternMAURICE DUBOIS: In other news, the debate was heated. At times spectators grew boisterous as a House subcommittee held a hearing today on whether to set up a commission to study paying reparations to the descendants of Americans who were enslaved. It was the first hearing on this issue in a dozen years, and it came on the anniversary of Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. Ed O’Keefe has more on this.
[Cuts to video]
SEN. CORY BOOKER: This is a very important hearing. It is historic. It is urgent.
ED O’KEEFE: New Jersey Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker spoke today in favor of paying reparations to the descendants of slaves.
BOOKER: We as a nation must address this persistent inequalities or we will never fully achieve the strength and the possibility.
O’KEEFE: Supporters packed the hearing room. Making their opinions known.
(…)
O’KEEFE: And they jammed the hallways outside.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I asked my boss for the day off to take care of family business, and I got on a plane in two days and flew to Washington, D.C. I'm quite excited.
O’KEEFE: The bill would not have the government start cutting checks to African-Americans. It would merely establish a commission to discuss the idea.
REP. STEVE COHEN: Why should the federal government bare responsibility for economic and social damages to the descendants of the enslaved?
TA-NEHISI COATES: Because the federal government is complicit in it.
O’KEEFE: The concept of paying reparations dates back to post-civil war when the government promised, but never delivered, 40 acres and a mule to former slaves. Supporters also cite a range of racial inequities that long outlasted slavery. Typical black families have one-tenth the wealth of white families. Black women die in childbirth at higher rates than white women. And black men are incarcerated at higher rates than whites.
But critics at the witness table including Coleman Hughes, a descendant of slaves, testified that reparations would not address concerns about inequality.
COLEMAN HUGHES: Reparations, by definition, are only given to victims. So, the moment you give me reparations, you have made me into a victim without my consent.
O’KEEFE: And most Republicans oppose reparations, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL: I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us living are responsible is a good idea.
O’KEEKE: Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of a groundbreaking story in support of reparations, shot back.
COATES: For a century after the Civil War black people were subjected to a relentless campaign of terror, a campaign that extended well into the lifetime of Majority Leader McConnell.
[Cuts back to live]
O’KEEFE: Some studies estimate that paying for reparations could cost up to $6 trillion over several years. There's no reliable data on what Americans think about reparations overall, but a Pew Research Center study earlier this year found that 63 percent of respondents believe slavery still affects the position of black people in American society. Maurice?
DUBOIS: Ed O’Keefe at the capitol tonight. Thank you.
NBC Nightly News
June 19, 2019
7:13:28 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: Dramatic moments today at a fiery hearing on a hot button issue, over whether the descendants of slaves should receive reparations. We get more on this from NBC’s Geoff Bennett.
[Cuts to video]
GEOFF BENNETT: Tonight, Congress is considering the controversial concept of reparations for African-Americans, payments or policies aimed at repairing the lingering effects of slavery and discrimination. House Democrats today calling for a bipartisan commission inviting the journalist who’s 2014 article reignited the debate.
REP. STEVE COHEN: Why should the federal government bear responsibility for economic and social damages to the descendants of the enslaved.
TA-NESHISI COATS: I think the most obvious reason is because the federal government is complicit in it.
BENNETT: Many 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls now backing some form of reparations. Most Republicans reject the idea of taxpayer-funded reparations.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: I just think we're so far removed from the event.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL: We've tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We’ve elected an African-American president.
BENNETT: A new chapter in a growing national debate. Geoff Bennett, NBC News, Washington.
