Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his support Tuesday for establishing a commission to study reparations for the black descendants of African slaves, claiming that racism is “in the American bones.”
“Racism is the poison in America, it’s in the American bones, unfortunately,” Schumer said, voicing support for H.R 40, a bill championed by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee that would create a commission to study the issue of reparations. “The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow is still with us,” Schumer added.
Earlier this year, Sen. Cory Booker had introduced a version of Jackson Lee’s measure to the Senate, stating “The stain of slavery was not just inked in bloodshed, but in policies that have disadvantaged African Americans for generations.”