Rachel Accurso, widely recognized as Ms. Rachel from her popular online children's educational content, expressed her support for reparations on Instagram this past Monday. This statement continues a recent trend of the internet educator engaging in political discussions.
Accurso featured an excerpt from Ta-Nehisi Coates' influential 2014 essay, "The Case for Reparations," on her personal account. The chosen passage emphasizes the necessity for the United States to confront its extensive history of slavery and racial discrimination.
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
Coates' essay is renowned for its argument that "American prosperity was ill-gotten," asserting that the nation must reconcile with its past through more than just financial compensation.
What I’m talking about is more than recompense for past injustices — more than a handout, a payoff, hush money, or a reluctant bribe. What I’m talking about is a national reckoning that would lead to spiritual renewal. Reparations would mean the end of scarfing hot dogs on the Fourth of July while denying the facts of our heritage. Reparations would mean the end of yelling 'patriotism' while waving a Confederate flag. Reparations would mean a revolution of the American consciousness, a reconciling of our self-image as the great democratizer with the facts of our history.
Growing Political Engagement
This Instagram post is the latest in a series of publicly political actions by Accurso, who has increasingly leveraged her platform as a children's entertainer to advocate for progressive causes.
In the preceding month, she publicly endorsed a dozen Democratic candidates in anticipation of significant primary elections. Among those she supported were former Representative Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, and Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Previous Controversial Statements
A few days prior to those endorsements, Accurso implied that racial bias played a role in the investigation surrounding the unexplained death of Nolan Wells.
We know the investigation and everything that followed would have been different if Nolan Wells were White and his friends were Black. Nolan and his family deserve justice.
At that time, Dave Aronberg, the former State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, criticized Accurso for commenting on an ongoing investigation. Aronberg also expressed concern that she was "injecting division" through previous remarks she made regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
