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Warren backs congressional plan for reparations study

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is embracing a congressional proposal to study a framework for reparations to African Americans hurt by the legacy of slavery as the best way to begin a "national, full-blown conversation."

From left: Greenville, Miss., Mayor Errick Simmons, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mable Starks, former CEO of Mississippi Action for Community Education, tour Central Avenue from Poplar Street in Greenville, Miss., Monday March 18, 2019. The group discussed dilapidated and affordable housing in the rural communities. (Bill Johnson / The Democrat-Times via AP)
From left: Greenville, Miss., Mayor Errick Simmons, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mable Starks, former CEO of Mississippi Action for Community Education, tour Central Avenue from Poplar Street in Greenville, Miss., Monday March 18, 2019. The group discussed dilapidated and affordable housing in the rural communities. (Bill Johnson / The Democrat-Times via AP)Read moreBill Johnson / AP
    by The Associated Press, The Associated Press
    Published 

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is embracing a congressional proposal to study a framework for reparations to African Americans hurt by the legacy of slavery as the best way to begin a “national, full-blown conversation” on the issue.

Warren first voiced support for reparations last month, becoming one of three 2020 Democratic candidates to do so. But her comments about a study on reparations, made Monday night during a CNN town hall broadcast from Mississippi, mark a keener focus from the Massachusetts senator on her preferred route to tackle the thorny question of how best to deal with systemic racial inequality.

The Democratic field’s ongoing debate over reparations comes as African American voters are poised to exert significant influence over the selection of the party’s nominee to take on President Donald Trump.