Bloomberg proposes multi-billion-dollar initiative to provide economic justice for black Americans in Tulsa speech
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
January 21, 2020 From NYdailynews
Mike Bloomberg took to the site of historic race riots in Tulsa, Okla., on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend to propose sweeping plans to redress the economic legacy of generations of discrimination against African Americans.
In an initiative similar to calls for reparations for slavery, the Democratic presidential candidate proposed $70 billion in investment in the country’s “100 most disadvantaged neighborhoods,” along with steps to create 1 million new black homeowners and 100,000 new black-owned businesses.
Sunday’s speech came as Bloomberg has sought to stem criticism of his handling of “stop-and-frisk,” the police tactic that disproportionately targeted people of color while he was mayor of New York City and an issue that remains one of his biggest liabilities among democratic voters.
“The exploitation worked exactly as it was designed to — slavery, sharecropping, Jim Crow, segregation and redlining,” Bloomberg said at the Vernon Chapel AME Church. “For hundreds of years, America systematically stole black lives, black freedom and black labor.
“Well, it’s past time to say enough — and to damn well do something about it.”
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