Around New England

Deval Patrick Comes Out in Favor of Reparations

January 20, 2020

In his 2020 presidential run, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick supports reparations for the descendants of slaves, as Axios reports.

The Democrat, who was the first African-American governor of the Bay State, put out his “Equity Agenda for Black Americans” on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Patrick supports HR 40, a bill in Congress that would create a commission to study the issue of reparations. But Patrick is willing to go further, supporting federal reparations. That makes him the only candidate still seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to explicitly support reparations. (Several candidates who have since dropped out expressed support of some kind for reparations.)

Patrick is a long shot to earn the Democratic Party’s nomination, the proposal could help him earn support with black voters. Nearly three-fourths of them support cash reparations, according to a Gallup survey conducted last year. (The same poll found that 67 percent of Americans overall oppose cash payments to the descendants of slaves.)

In a statement, Patrick told Axios that this “atonement” is “an essential part of America’s unfinished business.”

“Black Americans should know that my determination to make the American Dream real for everyone, everywhere, comes from the lived experience of family, friends and neighbors from the South Side who, for generations and for reasons of intention or neglect, have had their dreams deferred,” he added.