An overwhelming 79% of Black Americans said racism is either the biggest problem or a problem in the United States, according to the USA TODAY/Suffolk University survey. The national discourse on reparations is "a consequence of renewed energy to see a 157-year-old justice claim and unpaid debt finally met," said William Darity, a Duke University economist who co-wrote the 2020 book "From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century." He said the federal government should pay at least $14 trillion in reparations to Black Americans "to equalize the average level of wealth between Black and white Americans."