“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin renewed her call for reparations Wednesday while claiming that the Trump administration’s approach to American history is designed to avoid confronting the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination.

The discussion focused on disputes involving the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Hostin argued that efforts to change how public institutions discuss slavery and race are intended to prevent the country from fully acknowledging its history.

She said confronting that history is a necessary step toward reconciliation and financial compensation for descendants of enslaved Americans.

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WATCH:

Sunny Hostin today: “America still owes me reparations for slavery”

Her ancestors were big slave owners pic.twitter.com/RHPyhfws66

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 22, 2026

Family History Revealed Ties to Slavery

Hostin has repeatedly advocated reparations for black Americans, maintaining that the United States has not adequately addressed the lasting consequences of slavery and racial discrimination.

Her position has drawn renewed criticism since a PBS genealogy program revealed that members of her own family were connected to the slave trade.

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During an appearance on “Finding Your Roots,” Hostin learned that her maternal ancestry traced back to Spain and that one branch of her family later moved to Puerto Rico.

Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. told Hostin that one of her ancestors was likely involved in the slave trade and owned at least one enslaved person.

Hostin appeared visibly emotional and said she was “deeply disappointed” by the discovery.

WATCH:

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The View host Sunny Hostin is a staunch proponent of slavery reparations.

She went on PBS to explore her ancestry.

Turns out, she is the descendant of slave-owners from Spain who owned Africans.

This was her reaction when she found out: pic.twitter.com/yFBgjMOSGc

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 8, 2024

She later addressed the revelation on “The View” and said the findings had not changed her support for reparations.

“I still believe in reparations, by the way,” Hostin said.

She added that critics had sent her messages arguing that her ancestry deprived her of standing to support the policy, but she rejected that position and maintained that the country still has significant work to do on racial justice.

Hostin Says Discovery Reinforced Her Position

Hostin said she previously believed that her mother’s family had worked as printers and journalists before learning about its connection to slavery.

She described the discovery as painful and said her mother was similarly devastated.

According to Hostin, her mother cried after learning about the family’s history and suggested that her lifelong connection to black culture may have represented “an atonement” for the actions of their ancestors.

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Hostin has argued that the revelation reinforced the importance of confronting uncomfortable history rather than diminishing her support for reparations.

Critics, however, have accused the television host of hypocrisy for demanding compensation connected to slavery despite descending from a family that participated in it.

The genealogy program also revealed that Hostin had several previously unknown relatives on her father’s side and that actor Anthony Ramos is her cousin.

Hostin described those discoveries as a positive element of an otherwise emotionally difficult examination of her family’s past.

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