(Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris dodged a question about whether she still supports reparations during a softball interview Tuesday with the National Association of Black Journalists, NBC News reported.
Politico writer Eugene Daniels, the NABJ moderator, noted that Harris had previously expressed support for a federal “commission,” modeled after those in blue states such as California, to consider a national reparations policy.
“Would you as president take different actions to create this commission, or do you believe it should happen in Congress?” Daniels asked Harris.
The vice president responded with a lengthy, vague non-answer.
“We need to speak truth about the generational impact of our history, in terms of the generational impact of slavery, the generational impact of redlining, of Jim Crow laws,” Harris began.
“I could go on and on and on,” she continued. “These are facts that have impact, and we need to speak truth about it. And we need to speak truth about it in a way that’s about deriving solutions.”
Harris added that she believed Congress, not the president, needed to take action on reparations.
“I’m not discounting the importance of any executive action, but ultimately Congress—because, if you’re going to talk about it in any substantial way, there will be hearings, there will be a level of public education and dialogue,” she said.
Harris was not asked whether she would encourage congressional Democrats to back a bill she co-sponsored while in the Senate, which would have created a federal committee to “study the history of U.S. slavery” and examine possible reparations payments to black Americans.
Harris’s refusal to commit to backing a reparations plan comes just one week after the New York City Council passed a bill to establish its own reparations commission.
The measure calls for the creation of a “truth, healing, and reconciliation” task force to study the effects of slavery in New York City and whether monetary reparations are necessary.
During her failed 2019 presidential primary campaign, Harris offered a far less ambiguous reply while speaking to black activist Al Sharpton during a visit to his National Action Network.
“When I am elected president, I will sign that bill,” she said.
When running for president in 2020, Kamala Harris told Al Sharpton that she would sign a reparations bill once elected:
Al Sharpton: "In the area of reparations of for descendants of Africans enslaved: If you're elected president would you sign that bill [Commission to Study and… pic.twitter.com/NuawfxhUQJ— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) September 1, 2024
Harris indicated in a recent sit-down interview with CNN’s Dana Bash that her values haven’t changed since her controversial 2019 run, despite countless flip-flops on policy.
