Civil rights activist condemns Democrats' 'insulting' federal reparations bid: 'Insidious form of bigotry'

Left-wing House lawmakers led by 'Squad' member Rep. Cori Bush push resolution for Black Americans

Founder of the Woodson Center Bob Woodson called out progressive House lawmakers on "Fox & Friends" Thursday for "weaponizing race" with a resolution to give federal reparations to Americans of African descent, arguing the left-wing agenda is "antithetical to the interests of Black Americans."

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BOB WOODSON: I think that's a more insidious form of bigotry than the old-fashioned bigotry that was based on malice…. It's really insulting and demeaning for this. I'm not surprised that Cori Bush is one of the sponsors after all. She also voted against the celebration of fallen police officers. This is just another arrow in her quill against the values of this nation. It's really weaponizing race. She makes a false claim and others do that. This is necessary because the legacy of slavery and discrimination is resulted in the kind of out-of-wedlock births, and the violence and chaos you see in the city. This is patently untrue. I was born during the Depression 1937, and in my poor neighborhood there were holes in our shoes but not in our character and in our faith. Elderly people could walk safely. These families are fear of being mugged by their grandchildren. Babies were not shot. I've never heard of gunfire, babies were not shot in their cribs the way they are today. So it's ironic that these people, like Cori Bush, is pushing an agenda that is really antithetical to the interests of Black Americans.

A group of House progressives led by Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., held a press conference on Wednesday unveiling her Reparations Now resolution, which declares "that the United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its massive harm on the lives of millions." She suggested the total amount would be at least $14 trillion, which she described as the gap in wealth between Black and Whites.

She spoke alongside fellow "Squad" members Reps. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., as well as Senate candidate Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and freshman Rep. Summer Lee., D-Pa., and a host of activists from around the country.

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At the end of the press conference, Bush fielded a question from Fox News Digital about where federal funding for a federal reparations program would come from but did not give an answer.

"We're still having those kinds of conversations," the congresswoman said. "We're working with this administration, we're talking with other members of Congress… but I'll say this, if we can continue to fund these endless wars, or we can continue to put trillions of dollars into forever wars… we're talking about things that are happening now." 

Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

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