‘Now is the time to go big, short answers to long horrific questions about the stain of slavery are not going to solve the inequality problem,’ Johnson said on CNBC.

‘Wealth transfer is exactly what’s needed,’ Johnson said. ‘Think about this. Since 200-plus-years or so of slavery, labor taken with no compensation, is a wealth transfer. Denial of access to education, which is a primary driver of accumulation of income and wealth, is a wealth transfer.’

Johnson said he believes ‘wealth transfer’ would help to combat lingering inequalities.

‘Is $14 trillion too much to ask for the atonement of 200 plus years of brutal slavery, de facto and de jure government-sponsored social and economic discrimination and the permanent emotional trauma inflicted upon black Americans by being forced to believe in a hypocritical and unfulfilled pledge that ‘all men are created equal’?’ Johnson also wrote in a statement on Monday.