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Posts tagged as “Cori Bush”

U.S. Representative Cori Bush Introduces New Bill to Congress Calling for Reparations for Black Americans

U.S. Representative Cori Bush Introduces New Bill to Congress Calling for Reparations for Black Americans

By goodblacknews on May 18, 2023

According to npr.org, U.S. Rep. Cori Bush (D, Missouri) has introduced new legislation calling for $14 trillion in reparations for Black Americans, in an effort to see the federal government atone and attempt to compensate for the practice of chattel slavery for over 250 years and the generations of racist policies that have followed.

To quote from npr.org:

“The United States has a moral and legal obligation to provide reparations for the enslavement of Africans and its lasting harm on the lives of millions of Black people,” Bush said in a Wednesday news conference attended by Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., as well as other stakeholders.

“America must provide reparations if we desire a prosperous future for all,” Bush said.

Rep. Bush’s resolution is the latest in a long line of congressional efforts by Democrats to compensate Black Americans for centuries of racial inequity. Similar language about reparations has been introduced in every legislative session since 1989.

“We know that we continue to live under slavery’s vestiges. We know how slavery has perpetuated Jim Crow. We know how slavery’s impacts live on today,” Bush said, citing the racial wealth gap, voter suppression, infant mortality rates and other negative health outcomes for Black people.

U.S. Congressmember Cori Bush (D, Missouri)

“It’s unjust and it wouldn’t happen in a just and fair and equitable society,” Bush also remarked. “Those are not the natural consequences of human society… They are directly caused by our federal government’s role in the enslavement and exploitation of Africans and Black people throughout our history.”

California is currently exploring reparations on a state level, San Francisco is proposing reparations to bring Black people back to the city, while Evanston, Illinois started offering a form of reparations in 2019 through its Restorative Housing Reparations Program.

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What We Can Celebrate Today: Cori Bush Elected as Missouri’s 1st Black Woman in Congress

What We Can Celebrate Today: Cori Bush Elected as Missouri’s 1st Black Woman in Congress

By goodblacknews on November 4, 2020

Nurse and activist Cori Bush, garnered a commanding 84 percent of the vote in Missouri’s 1st District to become the state’s first Black woman representative in the United States Congress.

“This is definitely a night to remember,” Bush told supporters during her acceptance speech.“This has been a historic day from the beginning to the end.”

To quote the New York Post:

Bush had the backing of the Justice Democrats — who helped propel Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to her first upset victory over 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley.

In her August Democratic primary, Bush had her own upset victory, defeating longtime incumbent, Missouri Rep. William Lacy Clay.

Bush got involved with the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014, when Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson.

She joined the protests that erupted in the wake of the shooting and soon began leading the protests in her Missouri district.

Bush has remained engaged in protest work ever since, getting heavily involved in the recent protests surrounding the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

To read more: https://www.vox.com/2020/11/4/21538719/cori-bush-ritchie-torres-jamaal-bowman-election-results