Black columnist Coleman Hughes was booed during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Wednesday when he expressed opposition to a bill that would provide reparations for slavery, The Daily Caller reports.
The hearing on "H.R. 40 and the Path to Restorative Justice" got so out of hand subcommittee chairman Steve Cohen had to bang his gavel and yell, "Chill, chill, chill, chill" for the crowd to quiet.
Coleman, a 23-year-old writer for Quillette, described reparations as divisive and said payments to the descendants of slaves would insult black Americans and make him and others "victims without their consent."
"Black people don't need another apology," Coleman argued. "We need safer neighborhoods and better schools. We need a less punitive criminal justice system. We need affordable healthcare. And none of these things can be achieved through reparations for slavery.
"Reparations by definition are only given to victims, so the moment you give me reparations, you've made me into a victim without my consent. Not just that, you've made 1/3 of black Americans who poll against reparations into victims without their consent, and black Americans have fought too long for the right to define themselves to be spoken for in such a condescending manner."
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