Capitalism is slavery: new Dem rep.

Rep.-elect Jamaal Bowman calls capitalism “slavery by another name.”

Bowman (right), who ousted longtime Rep. Eliot Engel in a bruising Democratic primary battle in the 16th Congressional District, which covers parts of The Bronx and Westchester, made the remark on Monday to The Root.

“[W]e have to ask ourselves, ‘Is this current system of capitalism working for the majority of American people?’ ” Bowman said. “I believe our current system of capitalism is slavery by another name. We’ve moved from physical chattel enslavement and physical racial segregation to a plantation economic system. One that keeps the majority of Americans unemployed, or underemployed and struggling just to survive, while the power elite continues to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few, and allows large corporations to pretty much run the world.”

Bowman maintained his argument is reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has revealed it,” he said. “With almost 300,000 dead from the pandemic, disproportionately black and brown, and Jeff Bezos is the first $200 billionaire. In the next six years, he might become the first trillionaire. That’s slavery by anotherother name. It’s a system that’s not working,king, so we need a new system.”

Bowman, who has criticized former President Barack Obama,bama, also said, “I don’t think Obama iss the standard we should be striving towards.wards. I think the Squad is more of a standard we should be striving towardsowards because I think the Squadquad is more responsive to what’s happening todayday in our streets.”