House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest ranking African-American member of Congress, derided the idea of government reparations to African-Americans over inequities resulting from past policies on slavery.

"I think pure reparations would be impossible to implement," said Clyburn, according to the Post and Courier.

"But we can deal with the issue (of racial inequality) if we just admit, first of all, that it exists and then come up with some straightforward ways to deal with it," he explained.

The criticism should undermine several politicians who hope to capture the Democratic presidential nomination and have already endorsed racial reparations as part of their campaigns.

Clyburn opined that rather than hand out monetary restitution via race that the government should instead provide better help for those in regions that are suffering from poverty.

But he also shot down the competing Republican idea of "opportunity zones" championed by Sen. Tim Scott (D-S.C.).

Clyburn more fully addressed the issue of reparations for slavery in an appearance on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" in 2009.



"I think that people when they use that term 'reparation' they immediately start thinking about checks or money going out," he said. "And that's what causes the problem here."

"Yeah that's true," agreed Matthews.

Here's the latest on Democratic support for reparations: