Golden State Today

While running for U.S. President in 2019, then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said she supported reparations for black Americans.

"I think there has to be some form of reparations," said Harris in an interview with black online news site, The Root.

When the interviewer asked Harris if, as president, she "would be willing to lead a conversation on what reparations for Black people would look like," Harris replied, "yeah."

This was just one of numerous times Harris has backed reparations for black people.

“I’m serious about taking an approach that would change policies and structures and make real investments in black communities," she told the New York Times in February of 2019. 

During her time as a U.S. Sen. for California, Harris co-sponsored a bill with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker introduced in April 2019. This legislation aimed to create a commission to study impacts of slavery and "ongoing discrimination against African-Americans," as well as make "recommendations on reparation proposals for the descendants of slaves." 

A potential goal outlined in the bill was to create a "national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery and its continuing racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans."

Harris also told the Des Moines Register in 2019 that reparations would not be as simple as "writing a check," and that research needed to be done in order to come up with solutions to address "the systemic issues that are present and will continue to exist."

Harris was elected as the first female Vice President in 2020 alongside President Joe Biden. She was recently slated as the new Democrat candidate for the upcoming presidential election when Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed her in a July 21 post on X. Before being elected as Vice President, Harris served as the District Attorney of San Francisco, the Attorney General of California, and as a U.S. Senator from California.