Even though her family comes from slave owners, “The View” host Sunny Hostin declared, “I still believe in reparations!”
On Thursday’s episode of the ABC daytime talk show, Hostin discussed his recent appearance on the PBS documentary show “Finding Your Roots.” The show’s host, Henry Louis Gates Jr., revealed to Hostin that one of her ancestors on her maternal side was likely involved in the slave trade in colonial Spain and “owned at least one human being.”
Although he acknowledged the news before the panel, he insisted that he still “deserved” reparations.
“By the way, I still believe in reparations. So you can stop texting and emailing me and telling me I’m a white girl and don’t deserve reparations! Hostin said.
And he added: “I continue to believe in reparations. “I continue to believe that this country has a lot to do in terms of racial justice.”
Despite initially feeling “deeply disappointed” by the revelations, Hostin said she now feels “enriched” by learning her family’s story.
“It enriches me to know that my family has come so far from being slaves until my mother married my father in 1968,” Hostin said.
“You are not responsible for what they did,” Behar responded.
During the show, Hostin also described his mother’s reaction.
During the PBS documentary program “Finding Your Roots,” it was revealed that Hostin’s ancestors “possessed at least one human being.” Youtube
“She was deeply disappointed. In fact, she cried about it. And then she said maybe that’s why I’ve been so connected to black culture, because it’s an atonement in my spirit. And I received that. I found out too, and there were slaves on both sides of our family, mother’s and father’s. But we are seven percent indigenous Puerto Ricans!” Hostin said.
He added that his mother “actually identified as Puerto Rican” before the news, but Hostin now maintains that the findings showed that she was “white.”
“It’s deeply disappointing because my mother really identified as Puerto Rican. She was part of the civil rights movement and was deeply rooted in black culture and identified as black, but Hispanic by ethnicity…but her race is white. She is European. I know,” she said.
Joy Behard reminded Hostin that she is not responsible for the actions and beliefs of her ancestors. Youtube
“It’s weird because when you look at her, my mother is blonde and has light eyes and my whole family looks like that. So, I think inside I knew this was my story and that’s probably why I didn’t want to do it,” Hostin said.
Hostin also discovered that his third great-grandfather registered to vote in Georgia in 1867 despite being born as a slave in 1835.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn