Missouri Representative Cori Bush faced significant backlash on Independence Day after tweeting a demand for reparations to be paid to black people in the United States. Bush claimed that the Declaration of Independence, written by enslavers, did not recognize Black people as human.

She tweeted, “Today is a great day to demand Reparations Now.”

The response to her tweet was overwhelmingly negative, with many hostile comments. Writer Ian Miles Cheong questioned whether the bloodshed during the Civil War was not payment enough.

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Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, remarked on the ratio of negative responses to her tweet. Others told her to “shut up” or referred to her as a “buffoonette” and called her words “rancid filth.”

While some defended the framers of the Declaration of Independence, emphasizing that some signers were abolitionists, Bush’s tweet ignited a heated debate on social media.

This was not the only instance of a representative demanding reparations and discussing America’s history of slavery on the Fourth of July. Representative Jamaal Bowman also tweeted about “stolen land” and slavery, urging a commitment to fighting for freedom and justice for all. Both Bowman and Bush are members of the progressive “Squad” and have been vocal about their support for reparations and other liberal policies such as the Green New Deal.

Bush recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for $14 trillion in slavery reparations, while Bowman has called for canceling student debt, providing free public college, and ending legacy admissions at universities.

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As the discussion around reparations continues to be a contentious and polarizing topic in American politics, the Fourth of July tweets from Bush and Bowman reignited the debate, highlighting the deep divisions and differing perspectives on issues of racial justice and historical accountability.