(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Whoopi Goldberg got in a heated yelling match with one of her fellow co-hosts of The View, Sunny Hostin, over reparations for descendants of slaves.
Goldberg kicked off the conversation with the announcement that black people should get reparations, to which Hostin responded by referencing Special Field Order 15, signed on Jan. 12, 1865, which issued freed slaves each a 40-acre plot of land.
“You all got 40 acres and a mule, because we didn’t get none,” Hostin said, according to the Daily Caller.
Goldberg shot back, claiming that black people in America had a much more difficult time than Hispanic Americans.
“Well, you didn’t do what my people did,” Goldberg said, not acknowledging that she also did not do what her ancestors did. “They weren’t really looking for you, but they were looking for my folks and my folks got it and that’s because that’s what was promised.”
She concluded the segment by claiming the government currently pays reparations to several different groups, and argued that pretending “we don’t owe some folks something is ridiculous.”
Twitter users fought Goldberg’s take, claiming that no freed slaves received 40 acres and a mule.
“Whoopi Goldberg literally just said on TV that black people got reparations because her family got some land, which is categorically untrue for most black people,” user Eluard Gabriel posited. “How many times will she stick her foot in her mouth before she’s severely reprimanded?”
@TheView #WhoopiGoldberg
Her family did gey land in Florida but it was not from the plan of 40 acres & mule they discussed this on #FindingYourRoots with #DrLouisGates. It was a homestead act. That’s not reparations. Also it was not good land. They usualy gave us the worst plots— James Johnson (@AbbyseniaJames) February 16, 2023
The panel discussed reparations in a Columbus Day segment last year, where Goldberg and Hostin agreed that both of their families received restitution.
“[Racism is] really a power dynamic, it’s not just about the color of your skin,” Hostin explained. “And I think when you talk about those who committed crimes owe reparations, those are the people the atrocities of slavery, who stole land, who killed indigenous people. Today is Indigenous People’s Day.”
