Barack Obama has stated that reparations for Black Americans are "justified" because the wealth of the US was "built on the backs of slaves".
On his new podcast with Bruce Springsteen, Renegades: Born in the USA, Obama, who served as President of the United States between 2009 and 2017, spoke to the singer about everything from race, being a parent, being a husband, and about the US as a whole.
In an episode that was released this week, the former president, 59, talked about the contentious debate on paying reparations to Black Americans.
Reparations, in this context, would mean monetary compensation to descendants of slaves taken to the US from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.
While Obama had opposed the idea of reparations when he was in office, he now believes, in theory, that reparations for the Black American community are "justified".
Obama said, "If you ask me theoretically… are reparations justified? The answer is yes."
He continued: "There’s not much question that the wealth of this country, the power of this country was built in significant part, not exclusively, maybe not even the majority of it, but a large portion of it was built on the backs of slaves."
Although slavery was abolished in 1865 under Abraham Lincoln, Obama said that "the systematic oppression and discrimination of Black Americans" continued under the notorious Jim Crow laws.
"Black families [were] not able to build up wealth, not being able to compete, and that has generational effects," he added.
He continued: "So if you’re thinking of what’s just, you would look back and you would say the descendants of those who suffered those kinds of terrible cruel often arbitrary injustices deserve some sort of regress, some sort of compensation. A recognition."
When Springsteen asked if reparations were a feasible option for the government, Obama said, "My judgement was that as a practical matter that was unattainable… we can’t even get this country to provide decent schooling for inner-city kids."
In fact, back in 2008 when Obama was in the middle of his campaign for the presidency, he said, per the New York Post: "The best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed."
He continued in the podcast: "And what I saw during my presidency was the politics of white resistance and resentment. The talk of welfare queens and the talk of the undeserving poor. And the backlash against affirmative action."
Obama explained: "All that made the prospect of actually proposing any kind of coherent, meaningful reparations program struck me as, politically, not only a nonstarter but potentially counterproductive.
"It’s perfectly understandable why working-class white folks, middle-class white folks, folks who are having trouble paying the bills or dealing with student loans, or don’t have healthcare where they feel the government has let them down wouldn’t be too thrilled with a massive program that is meant to deal with the past but isn’t speaking to their future."
