Denver Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca says white-owned businesses should pay reparations

A Denver councilwoman induced a stir when she declared that white-owned companies ought to pay reparations.

Candi CdeBaca, a 37-year-old Democratic Socialist who’s going through a run-off election in June, informed a enterprise discussion board Thursday that white-owned companies ought to pay an extra race-based tax, which might be given in flip as reparations to minority-owned companies.

“Capitalism was constructed on stolen land, stolen labor, and stolen assets,” CdeBaca informed the Higher Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, 9 Information reported.

She mentioned enterprise enchancment districts may levy the racial tax.

‘You possibly can be gathering these further taxes from white-led companies everywhere in the metropolis and redistributing them to black and brown-owned companies,” she mentioned.

Critics clapped again, saying the plan is illegitimate underneath federal and state regulation.

After she posted a video of her feedback on TikTok, she was met with a web-based backlash that CdeBaca’s workplace characterised as being “focused by a white nationalist mob.”

“I cannot be silenced by the far-right playbook,” CdeBaca mentioned. “A nuanced dialogue about reparations is important, however that chance has been taken from us by the right-wing outrage machine. This type of dialogue will not be going to occur on this media panorama.”

CdeBaca claimed that the constitutionality of a race-based tax is ‘not an element’ as a result of the taxes from a enterprise enchancment district are ‘voluntary.’

A spokesman for Denver’s Division of Finance informed 9News that was unfaithful.