Warren calls for ‘full-blown conversation about reparations’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gave her most detailed answer to date on the question of reparations for black Americans as a means of addressing centuries of slavery and legal discrimination.

In a CNN town hall on Monday night in Jackson, Miss., Warren became the first 2020 presidential candidate serving in the Senate to endorse a House bill that would create a commission to study reparation proposals.

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“I love the idea of this congressional commission,” she said at Jackson State, a historically black university. “I believe it’s time to start the national, full-blown conversation about reparations.”

The bill, which former Rep. John Conyers first introduced in 1989, was re-introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) this past January. “The commission would also make recommendations concerning any form of apology and compensation to begin the long delayed process of atonement for slavery,” Jackson Lee said earlier this year.

Warren and most other 2020 candidates have cautiously approached the topic of reparations, wary of alienating voters by fully embracing the idea or being dismissive of it. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has endorsed the concept of reparations but has not provided details. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) have not endorsed the idea but have said that robust steps must be taken to combat systemic racism.

“I believe we have to invest in those communities that has been so hurt by racism. It doesn’t have to be a direct pay for each person,” Klobuchar told NBC’s “Meet The Press“ during the weekend.

Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro and New Age author Marianne Williamson have been the most unapologetic advocates for reparations.

Warren’s endorsement of the reparations commission bill was just one part of her broader pitch Monday night to voters of color, especially African Americans. She called for Mississippi to change its state flag to no longer include the Confederacy’s stars and bars, talked up her housing bill that would give special assistance to formerly redlined communities, and said that white supremacists are as great a national security threat as “any other terrorist group — like ISIS, like al-Qaida.”

Warren attempted to combine that appeal with her more familiar economic populism. She criticized oil companies, payday lenders, “giant financial institutions,” and called for the implementation of her “ultra-millionaires tax.”

She also received a positive reaction from the crowd when she discussed the role of faith in her life. Warren said she was raised Methodist and referenced the story of the Sheep and The Goats in the book of Matthew. She said a Bible school lesson on the story taught her that “there is God, there is value in every single human being” and that “we are called to action.”

Warren’s digital team also provided supporters with live-time text message updates during the CNN special, making special note of her comments on “racist redlining,” her support for “Medicare for All,” and her criticism of the National Rifle Association.

Her team signed off saying: “That town hall was . “