William A. Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen, authors of “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century,” say that the federal government should be financially responsible for paying $14 trillion of reparations to Black Americans.
To help close the racial wealth gap, the U.S. government should pay $14 trillion in reparations to Black Americans, according to William A. Darity and A. Kirsten Mullen, authors of “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century.
In an interview with CNBC, Darity, a Duke University professor, and Mullen, a folklorist and writer, said the federal government is financially responsible because it was culpable for the enslavement of Black Americans and legal segregation in the United States. Mullen said “the federal government was party” to both the suppression of the Black vote and in some cases the destruction of Black people’s property.