Sunny Hostin Says Black vs. White Economic Equality Will Take '200 Years'

The View co-host Sunny Hostin has stated that it will take "200 years for economic equality" between America's Black and white communities.

On Monday's installment of her ABC talk show, Hostin and her fellow panelists marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day by reflecting on the legacy of the revered civil rights activist as the 60th anniversary of his "I Have A Dream" speech nears. King, who was assassinated by James Earl Ray in 1968, delivered the 17-minute speech in August 1963.

During their discussion, The View's co-hosts talked about the cherry-picking of certain parts of King's speech and overall legacy, prompting Hostin to state that one factor often overlooked is that the late Baptist minister was in favor of reparations for the descendants of slaves.

When The View's moderator Whoopi Goldberg asked the panel whether the nation was "closer to realizing the dream 60 years later," Hostin shared her belief that "we have a long way to go."

"I think there's been progress, certainly," she said. "I think the biggest problem with Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy is that people misinterpret his legacy. They misinterpret what he was asking for. He was the FBI's most hated person in America. And a 17,000-page FBI file was put together at the time of his death."

She went on to describe King as "a radical—he was deeply invested in economic equality, and he was deeply invested in making sure that Black people got reparations and that there was wealth distribution—redistribution. And that's the one area—when we talk about diversity and we talk about inclusion and we talk about equity.

"People are real comfortable lately with diversity, they're real comfortable with inclusion, but when you ask them about giving us some reparations because this country was built on the backs of Black people for free, no one wants to talk about that. And that was really a big part of his dream and his legacy.

"And so in that respect, I'm really disappointed that it's 60 years later and the disparity between a white household and a Black household—is going to take 200 years for economic equality."

Goldberg responded that while she agreed with Hostin's take, she felt that in order for things to change, "we have to then go on and fix the banking system, because the banking system was not set up for Black people, because Black people weren't people. We weren't considered people, so there's no laws that help us the way that we needed to help us. Finances are not there for us."

The Oscar-winning Ghost star compared the journey toward equity and equality for Black Americans to the game Whac-A-Mole, "because you make a stride, and then something pops up that you already took care of. We did this, and now we're doing it again.

"And so I feel like Dr. King's words were really important for all of us, because nowhere in that speech does it say 'lay back and give up.' It doesn't say that anywhere. It says it's not going to be easy. It is not going to be easy and stuff is going to pop up and you must continue to go forward because that's the only way we're going to get where we're going."

Goldberg concluded her statement on the matter by saying that women "are fighting every day just to be seen as human beings. But we have to remind each other, I have to remind myself, I have to remind my sisters that I'm here and we're all moving forward together because if we don't move forward together, we're screwed."

Fellow panelist Sara Haines shared her take on the discussion, saying: "I think in history there's a reverence for Dr. King in a way he deserves, but there's not enough focus put on what he was at the time, how he was treated at the time."

"History was erased in many respects," Hostin responded. "We hear all this 'pick yourself up by the bootstraps.' [King] made it very clear he rejected that notion, actually, and he said, 'It's alright to tell a man to lift himself up by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself up by his own bootstraps.'

"I grew up very poor. I didn't have boots to pull up on. And so when I hear people again quoting Dr. King's legacy and [saying] 'he wanted us all to get along,' he wanted equity, he wanted equality, and he especially wanted economic equity and equality."

The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said that King's speech is something that others should "live," rather than just listen to.

"The dangers of a beautiful speech like this is that you almost just once a year read it or listen to it and you're like, 'Oh, I feel good after listening to it,'" she said. "You have to live it. You have to be an active participant in the fight for equality and an ally.

"As white women, how can we be allies in the fight for justice, because we're not there. In some ways, I get so excited about the progress we've made... and then you feel like we're going backward at times.

"It's not something we should listen to once a year, we need to live it. Also, something that stands out to me is [King] recognized people's humanity and he wanted to understand different people's lived experiences. And that's something I think every person can internalize and learn from."