Moran: Continuing to push for slave reparations counterproductive
http://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/moran-continuing-to-push-for-slave-reparations-counterproductive/article_1ce7b26e-a8c0-11e3-9c26-0019bb2963f4.html
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran has changed his mind on the issue of reparations for the descendants of slaves.
Moran (D-8th) in earlier years had been a cosponsor of legislation to set up a commission to study the issue and report back to Congress with concrete proposals. But in more recent times, he has come to believe that the effort is counterproductive.
“I don’t think that’s the constructive approach,” Moran told a breakfast meeting of Arlington Democrats on March 8.
Not only is the proposal “going nowhere” in Congress, it creates resentment among those of all races who see it as a distraction from bigger issues, Moran said.
“Reparations isn’t going to work. Our ultimate objective is a cohesive society,” Moran said in response to two different questions on the subject. “This is not going to be solved by reparations – it’s going to be solved by investing in everyone. The answer is to invest in the earliest years, to treasure the life of every child born in this country.”
In 1989, U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) first introduced legislation to establish a commission to consider whether financial or other support should be granted to the descendants of more than 4 million people who were enslaved in the British colonies and United States from 1619 to 1865. Moran on several occasions was one of about 50 members of Congress who signed on as cosponsors of the bill.
Conyers, who turns 85 in May, has served in the House of Representatives since 1965. On his congressional Web site, he acknowledged the uphill battle for a reparations commission, but noted that it took him 15 years to secure passage of legislation providing a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The idea of offering financial reparations for past injustice is not entirely foreign to the federal government, which in the 1990s paid out $20,000 apiece to more than 82,000 Japanese-Americans who were interned in military camps during World War II, or their heirs.
Moran, who was first elected to Congress in 1990, announced in January he would not seek re-election in November. Democrats in June will select a nominee to succeed him in the heavily Democratic 8th District.
http://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/moran-continuing-to-push-for-slave-reparations-counterproductive/article_1ce7b26e-a8c0-11e3-9c26-0019bb2963f4.html
U.S. Rep. Jim Moran has changed his mind on the issue of reparations for the descendants of slaves.
Moran (D-8th) in earlier years had been a cosponsor of legislation to set up a commission to study the issue and report back to Congress with concrete proposals. But in more recent times, he has come to believe that the effort is counterproductive.
“I don’t think that’s the constructive approach,” Moran told a breakfast meeting of Arlington Democrats on March 8.
Not only is the proposal “going nowhere” in Congress, it creates resentment among those of all races who see it as a distraction from bigger issues, Moran said.
“Reparations isn’t going to work. Our ultimate objective is a cohesive society,” Moran said in response to two different questions on the subject. “This is not going to be solved by reparations – it’s going to be solved by investing in everyone. The answer is to invest in the earliest years, to treasure the life of every child born in this country.”
In 1989, U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) first introduced legislation to establish a commission to consider whether financial or other support should be granted to the descendants of more than 4 million people who were enslaved in the British colonies and United States from 1619 to 1865. Moran on several occasions was one of about 50 members of Congress who signed on as cosponsors of the bill.
Conyers, who turns 85 in May, has served in the House of Representatives since 1965. On his congressional Web site, he acknowledged the uphill battle for a reparations commission, but noted that it took him 15 years to secure passage of legislation providing a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The idea of offering financial reparations for past injustice is not entirely foreign to the federal government, which in the 1990s paid out $20,000 apiece to more than 82,000 Japanese-Americans who were interned in military camps during World War II, or their heirs.
Moran, who was first elected to Congress in 1990, announced in January he would not seek re-election in November. Democrats in June will select a nominee to succeed him in the heavily Democratic 8th District.