Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called for reparations to black Americans for slavery.

The freshman Democrat is pushing the controversial policy that has gained traction among the field of candidates bidding to oust Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Ocasio-Cortez used her platform at an Al Sharpton-sponsored conference in New York on Friday to call for the 'examining and pursuing an agenda of reparations' - among a list of other left-leaning policies including support for free public colleges.

Ocasio-Cortez used her platform at an Al Sharpton-sponsored conference in New York on Friday to call for the 'examining and pursuing an agenda of reparations' - among a list of other left-leaning policies including support for free public colleges

Speaking about her cornerstone Green New Deal, which would entail a radical government-led overhaul of the economy, Ocasio-Cortez said she 'would not shy away' from bold decisions on health care, wages and prison reform.

'That is the moral political and economic underpinning of making bold investments and dignified jobs because that is the necessary plan to fix the pipes in Flint [Michigan] and clean the air in the South Bronx,' the rising political star said.

She went on to call for unionized energy jobs for transitioning workers in Appalachia and West Virginia, as well as single-payer health care and Medicare-for-all.

Adding: 'Tuition-free public colleges and universities to prepare our nation for the future, and for the end of mass incarceration, the war on drugs, examining and pursuing an agenda of reparations and fixing the opioid crisis too.'

Speaking about her cornerstone Green New Deal, which would entail a radical government-led overhaul of the economy and energy usage, Ocasio-Cortez said she 'would not shy away' from bold decisions on health care, wages and prison reform

Ocasio-Cortez said the policies she had in mind were generational rather than geared around a presidential cycle.

The recently sworn-in Congresswoman's support of progressive policies highlights a shift further left by the Democratic Party, whose leading figures in the past - including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders - all came out against it.

It remains unclear how the reparations would be delivered, however.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who introduced a bill on the subject in January, said that 'the impact of slavery and its vestiges continues to affect African Americans and indeed all Americans in communities throughout our nation.'

She said the measure, formally known as the 'Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act', would examine the 'institution of slavery in the colonies and the United States from 1619 to the present, and further recommend appropriate remedies.'