Authors: Federal Government Owes '$14 Trillion' Reparations

* Duke University professor William A. Darity and writer A. Kirsten Mullen argued the federal government should pay trillions as it is 'culpable for slavery'

* The authors called for the massive payout as they claim the government is also responsible for voter suppression and racial segregation

* Their audacious suggestion comes as California's reparations task force has proposed handing each black resident in the state $223,000

The authors of a book arguing for slavery reparations have demanded that the federal government should fork out an eye-watering $14 TRILLION to the cause.

Duke University professor William A. Darity and writer A. Kirsten Mullen called for the mammoth reparations payout as they argued that the federal government is 'culpable for slavery.'

The duo, authors of the book 'From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century', added that the government should stump up the massive sum because it is 'also the only entity that has the capacity to pay the debt'.

Their audacious suggestion comes as California's reparations task force has proposed handing each black resident in the state $223,000.

Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Mullen said the federal government should foot the bill for the reparations spending spree as it owes the people from its history of slavery.

'The federal government must pay this debt, this is the entity that gave itself the right and the authority to enslave black Americans,' she said.

Mullen also argued that the reparations are not only owed because of slavery, but also due to past history of racial segregation and voter suppression.

She said: 'When we're talking about segregation, we're not only talking about keeping black people separate from white people - we're also talking about nearly a century of white terror attacks on black communities.

'These were focused on two things: suppressing the black vote, and also turning a blind eye to the destruction of black people's property.

'In some cases the federal government was party to those destructions.'

In making their case for the government to splash out trillions to repay the descendants of slavery, the authors said the spending spree could be rolled out over 10 years in an attempt to avoid adding to rampant inflation.

Another option, argued Darity, is that the reparations could instead be handed out as assets rather than a direct cash handout.

He said: 'This could include giving them reparations in the form of an annuity, or a trust account, or some type of an endowment where there are limitations on the amount that could be spent at each moment.

'The key thing is that ultimately the discretion for the use of the funds must reside with the recipient.'

Despite arguing that the government should hand out the titanic $14 trillion reparations, the Duke University professor added that finding the funding shouldn't fall on the taxpayer.

'You don't necessarily have to raise taxes to undertake these massive expenditure projects,' he said.

However, this point of view is not one shared by California's reparations task force, who are proposing giving each black resident in the state $223,000.

The chair of the reparations panel, Kamilah V. Moore, tweeted over the weekend that the panel is considering introducing new taxes to foot the bill for the billions in reparations.... (Read more)

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