Democratic New York Congressman-elect Jamaal Bowman said that capitalism is the new form slavery in an interview with The Root.
“I believe our current system of capitalism is slavery by another name,” Bowman said in an interview with The Root. “We’ve moved from physical chattel enslavement and physical racial segregation to a plantation economic system. One that keeps the majority of Americans unemployed, or underemployed and struggling just to survive, while the power elite continues to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few, and allow large corporations to pretty much run the world as multinational corporations.”
We’ve moved from physical chattel enslavement to physical racial segregation to our current economic system of plantation capitalism.https://t.co/vNXf7bFSQs
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) December 21, 2020
“Jeff Bezos is the first $200 billionaire. In the next six years, he might become the first trillionaire. That’s slavery by another name. it’s a system that’s not working, so we need a new system.”
Bowman ran on a platform that included a “reconstruction agenda” which supports taxing the rich and creating “baby bonds” that would create an account for all newborn children with an initial deposit of $1,000 and every year until the child turns 18 an additional $2,000 would be deposited.
Bowman has aligned himself with members of the “squad” which includes fellow New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Bowman tweeted Dec. 16 that he was proud to “fight with my sisters for the American people.” (RELATED: Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Others Blast Obama For Coming Out Against ‘Defund The Police’ Slogan)
I’m so proud to be entering congress to fight with my sisters for the American people. Their leadership is why I’m here. They organize, strategize, mobilize and fight for us every second of every day. Looking forward to the 117th Congress. It’s about to be on! https://t.co/bQyboHiQp2
— Jamaal Bowman (@JamaalBowmanNY) December 17, 2020
While speaking to The Root, Bowman said that former President Barack Obama was not radical enough.
“I think the Squad is more of a standard we should be striving towards because I think the Squad is more responsive to what’s happening in our streets,” he said. Bowman also said that mainstream Democrats are afraid of socialism but should instead embrace some socialist policies.