Beto Cites History of Slavery in America to Say He Will Pass Reparations Bill: ‘We Have a White Supremacist in the White House’

2020 presidential contender Beto O’Rourke shouted out the New York Times‘ 1619 Project in Thursday night’s debate while pledging to pass a reparations law if elected.

The former Texas congressman was asked about how he would address the racial divide in America today.

“We can mark the creation of this country not at the fourth of July 1776, but August 20th, 1619, when the first kidnapped African was brought to this country against his will, and built the greatness and the success and the wealth that neither he nor his descendants would be able to fully participate in and enjoy,” O’Rourke responded.

“We have to answer this challenge, and it is found in our education system, where in Texas, a 5-year-old child in kindergarten is five times as likely to be disciplined or suspended or expelled based on the color of their skin. In our health care system, where there’s a maternal mortality crisis, three times as deadly for women of color, or the fact that there’s ten times the wealth in white America than there is in black America,” he continued.

O’Rourke then endorsed passing a reparations bill before turning his attention to President Donald Trump.

“I’m going to follow Sheila Jackson Lee’s lead and sign a reparations bill that will allow us to address this at its foundation,” he said. “But we will also call out the fact that we have a white supremacist in the White House and he poses a mortal threat to people of color all across this country.”

Watch above, via ABC News.