Should the US pay reparations to the descendants of slaves? The issue has been debated for years and has now become a matter of discussion among the candidates vying for the Democratic party’s 2020 presidential nomination. Here’s where they stand on the matter, so far:

Photograph: imageSpace/Rex/Shutterstock

Kamala Harris, California senator

Position? Noncommittal.

What she has said: “I think that the word, the term reparations, it means different things to different people. But what I mean by it is that we need to study the effects of generations of discrimination and institutional racism and determine what can be done, in terms of intervention, to correct course.”

What she has proposed: The Lift Act, a bill introduced by Harris, would provide a universal tax credit to families with an annual income under $100,000 of up to $500 a month. Harris argues the policy would help lift “60% of black families across the nation” out of poverty.

Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts senator

Position? Tentative support.

What she has said: “We must confront the dark history of slavery and government-sanctioned discrimination in this country that has had many consequences, including undermining the ability of black families to build wealth in America for generations.”

What she has proposed: The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act is a bill introduced by Warren, in an effort to tackle America’s housing affordability crisis. The bill includes specific provisions to use federal funding from the housing department to assist first-time buyers in mostly minority neighbourhoods that were once redlined. Warren has also voiced support for a bill in the House of Representatives that seeks to establish a commission on reparations.

Photograph: Cj Gunther/EPA

Julián Castro, former San Antonio mayor

Position? Tentative support.

What he has said: “If under the constitution we compensate people because we take their property, why wouldn’t you compensate people who actually were property?”

What he has proposed: Castro has said that, if elected, he would create a taskforce or appoint a commissioner to examine the issue of monetary reparations to those who can trace their ancestry back to slavery.

Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Cory Booker, New Jersey senator

Position? Noncommittal.

What he has said: “A lot of the programs that built the middle class in this country, African Americans were excluded from … You had devaluations of American communities through mortgage lending and the like.”

What he has proposed: Booker has introduced the American Opportunity Accounts Act, a bill that seeks to address the wealth gap by creating a trust account for every baby born in America, irrespective of racial or class background. The trust would receive annual deposits related directly to family income. These so-called baby bonds would be withdrawable once the child reaches 18 and could only be spent on purchasing property or to pay for higher education or training.

Photograph: Steven Senne/AP

Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator

Position? Opposed.

What he has said: “I think that right now, our job is to address the crisis facing the American people and our communities, and I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check.”

What he has proposed: While he has explicitly ruled out reparations to the descendants of slaves, Sanders has backed numerous policies to address the wealth gap, including a federal jobs guarantee and significant tax reform.

Photograph: Justin Wan/AP

Beto O’Rourke, former Texas congressman

Position? Tentative support.

What he has said: “Until all Americans understand that civil rights are not just victories, but the injustices that have been visited and continue to be visited on people, we will never get the change we need to live up to the promise of this country.”

What he has proposed: O’Rourke has said that, if elected, he would sign a bill reintroduced in the House last month by a fellow Texan, the Democratic representative Sheila Jackson Lee, to establish a commission to research reparations.

Photograph: marianne.com

Marianne Williamson, self-help author

Position? In favour.

What she has said: “I propose a $200bn-$500bn plan of reparations for slavery, the money to be disbursed over a period of 20 years. An esteemed council of African American leaders would determine the educational and economic projects to which the money would be given.”

What she has proposed: The author and spiritualist is undoubtedly an outsider candidate and is the only one in the field to commit to a specific reparations program with defined financing. Experts say the amount is vastly below the figure that would be needed to repair the historic toll of slavery on black Americans.