It has emerged that the former President of the US Barack Obama has claimed that reparations for black Americans are ‘justified’ but called it a ‘nonstarter’ during his presidency as a result of ‘white resistance’. These comments were made during a podcast chat with Bruce Springsteen. 

During his 2008 presidential campaign Obama publicly oppose reparations and said, ‘the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed’. 

During his chat with Springsteen Obama said: ‘If you ask me theoretically “Are reparations justified?’ the answer is yes’. Obama went on to say: ‘There’s not much question that the wealth of this country, the power of this country was built in significant part, not exclusively, maybe not even the majority of it, but a large portion of it was built on the backs of slaves’. 

He went on to say: ‘This brings us to, could you actually get that kind of justice? Could you get a country to agree and own that history? And my judgment was that as a practical matter that was unattainable. We can’t even get this country to provide decent schooling for inner city kids’. 

Mr Obama did say that he understands why ‘white folks’ may be opposed to the idea of reparations. He said, ‘It’s perfectly understandable why working class white folks, middle class white folks, folks who are having trouble paying the bills or dealing with student loans, or don’t have healthcare where they feel government has let them down wouldn’t be too thrilled with a massive program that is meant to deal with the past but isn’t speaking to their future’.

Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!

This content was sourced from Unity News Network.