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As he prepares to enter Congress in the new year, Rep.-elect Jamaal Bowman said in a new interview that he believes capitalism is “slavery by another name.”

Bowman (D-NY), who ousted longtime Rep. Eliot Engel in a bruising primary battle, made the remarks while speaking Monday to The Root, an African American-focused news organization.

The incoming congressman, whose future district includes parts of Yonkers and Scarsdale, began by making his case that the Democratic Party is ripe for a makeover.

“For me, we have to ask ourselves, ‘Is this current system of capitalism working for the majority of American people?’” Bowman explained, adding that he does not believe the answer is yes.

“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,” he continued. “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 allow large corporations to pretty much run the world as multinational corporations.”

The New York Democrat and future “Squad” member said his argument was only reinforced by the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted people of color.

“The pandemic has revealed it. 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.

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