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A Blueprint for Reparations
- Thread starter VAiz4hustlaz
- Start date
Calling on white Americans: Reparations for slavery are due - The Boston Globe
The legacy of slavery is far from resolved. It persists every day and everywhere.
www.bostonglobe.com
Anyone read this one yet?
Calling on white Americans: Reparations for slavery are due - The Boston Globe
The legacy of slavery is far from resolved. It persists every day and everywhere.
Anyone read this one yet?
This article or the book or reparations plan cited in the article?
The article.
Going to read it now myself.
Basically written by white people who are pro-reparations. Kinda suspect.
It’s alive.
Economist proposes slavery reparations of up to $12TRILLION - equivalent to $800,000 per black household or half of American GDP
www.dailymail.co.uk
THE DARITY REPORT:
A prominent economist has laid out the case for reparations for the black descendants of slaves in the U.S., estimating payments of up to $12 trillion would be needed to atone for the historical injustice.
Duke University professor William Darity Jr and his wife Kirsten Mullen co-authored the report for the Roosevelt Institute arguing that the U.S. government should pay 'systemic reparations' for slavery.
It comes amid fresh calls for reparations, with 142 members of Congress backing a bill to study and put forward reparations proposals, and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden voicing support for the idea.
In his report, Darity argues that reparations should be designed to eliminate the gap in mean net worth between black and white households, arriving at a figure of about $800,000 per black household as sufficient.
Duke University professor William Darity Jr and his wife Kirsten Mullen co-authored the report arguing that the U.S. government should pay 'systemic reparations' for slavery
The bold proposal is not without its skeptics, however, as fiscal conservatives question whether the federal government could shoulder the cost, which amounts to roughly half of annual U.S. gross domestic product.
In fiscal 2019, the government spent $4.4 trillion, amounting to 21 percent of the nation's $21 trillion GDP, with about $1 trillion of that federal spending adding to the national debt.
'Our national debt is already now up to around $26-27 trillion given the money we're spending on Covid,' Michael Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, told CNBC.
'And we're losing more money because we're not picking up the revenue because economic growth is so slow right now. This hardly seems the time to burden the economy with more debt, more taxes. Essentially what you want to do is stimulate economic growth for all our benefits,' he added of reparations proposals.
Darity, however, argues that reparations for slavery are not only feasible, but necessary.
The Samuel DuBois Cook distinguished professor of public policy at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, Darity has devoted much of his career to studying the rationale and design of reparations.
In his new report, adapted from his book From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, he argues that only financial payments made by the government to the descendants of slaves can provide acknowledgement, redress and closure for the crime of slavery.
Darity argues that the average gap between black and white household wealth should be the basis for reparations, rather that the lower and more commonly discussed median figure
Though he does not provide a specific timeline for the payments, Darity argues any reparations program should be accomplished within a decade of commencing.
Darity writes that eligibility for payments should be restricted to living descendants of people who were enslaved in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, who identified as black or African American on government documents for at least 12 years prior to the reparations program.
'This community's claim for restitution anchors on the US government's failure to deliver the promised 40-acre land grants to their newly emancipated ancestors in the aftermath of the Civil War,' he writes.
'That failure laid the foundation for the enormous contemporary gap in wealth between black and white people in the US,' he continues.
Darity argues that it is key to prioritize the average wealth gap between black and white households, rather that the gap between median figures that is more typically discussed.
The median figures more typically represent the average household, while the average number is heavily skewed by the ultra-wealthy.
For instance, the median white household net worth is $171,000, while the average white household net worth, skewed by billionaires, is $929,800.
The average black household net worth is $138,000, and Darity estimates that payments of $800,000 would eliminate the 'the black-white (pre-tax) wealth differential.'
'We estimate that this will require an allocation between $10 and $12 trillion to eligible black Americans. That allocation should serve as the baseline for black reparations in the twenty-first century,' he writes.
The idea of reparations for slavery remains politically unpopular -- though Darity argues that prior programs of reparations have been accomplished despite being opposed by the majority of voters.
In June, an ABC News/Ipsos poll found 73 percent of people think the federal government should not 'pay money to black Americans whose ancestors were slaves as compensations for that slavery'.
Only about one in eight white Americans support reparations compared to three-quarters of African Americans.
Democrats are split on reparations, with 54 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. The vast majority of Republicans oppose the move at 94 percent, and 82 percent of Independents were also opposed.
- Duke University economist William Darity Jr made the proposal in a report
- Co-authored a paper with wife Kristen Muller calling for slavery reparations
- Proposes $10 to $12 trillion in payments to black descendants of slaves
- Argues that this is the amount needed to close the black-white wealth gap
Economist proposes slavery reparations up to $12 TRILLION
Duke University professor William Darity Jr and his wife Kirsten Mullen co-authored the report for the Roosevelt Institute arguing that the U.S. government should pay 'systemic reparations' for slavery.
THE DARITY REPORT:
A prominent economist has laid out the case for reparations for the black descendants of slaves in the U.S., estimating payments of up to $12 trillion would be needed to atone for the historical injustice.
Duke University professor William Darity Jr and his wife Kirsten Mullen co-authored the report for the Roosevelt Institute arguing that the U.S. government should pay 'systemic reparations' for slavery.
It comes amid fresh calls for reparations, with 142 members of Congress backing a bill to study and put forward reparations proposals, and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden voicing support for the idea.
In his report, Darity argues that reparations should be designed to eliminate the gap in mean net worth between black and white households, arriving at a figure of about $800,000 per black household as sufficient.
Duke University professor William Darity Jr and his wife Kirsten Mullen co-authored the report arguing that the U.S. government should pay 'systemic reparations' for slavery
The bold proposal is not without its skeptics, however, as fiscal conservatives question whether the federal government could shoulder the cost, which amounts to roughly half of annual U.S. gross domestic product.
In fiscal 2019, the government spent $4.4 trillion, amounting to 21 percent of the nation's $21 trillion GDP, with about $1 trillion of that federal spending adding to the national debt.
'Our national debt is already now up to around $26-27 trillion given the money we're spending on Covid,' Michael Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, told CNBC.
'And we're losing more money because we're not picking up the revenue because economic growth is so slow right now. This hardly seems the time to burden the economy with more debt, more taxes. Essentially what you want to do is stimulate economic growth for all our benefits,' he added of reparations proposals.
Darity, however, argues that reparations for slavery are not only feasible, but necessary.
The Samuel DuBois Cook distinguished professor of public policy at Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy, Darity has devoted much of his career to studying the rationale and design of reparations.
In his new report, adapted from his book From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century, he argues that only financial payments made by the government to the descendants of slaves can provide acknowledgement, redress and closure for the crime of slavery.
Darity argues that the average gap between black and white household wealth should be the basis for reparations, rather that the lower and more commonly discussed median figure
Though he does not provide a specific timeline for the payments, Darity argues any reparations program should be accomplished within a decade of commencing.
Darity writes that eligibility for payments should be restricted to living descendants of people who were enslaved in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, who identified as black or African American on government documents for at least 12 years prior to the reparations program.
'This community's claim for restitution anchors on the US government's failure to deliver the promised 40-acre land grants to their newly emancipated ancestors in the aftermath of the Civil War,' he writes.
'That failure laid the foundation for the enormous contemporary gap in wealth between black and white people in the US,' he continues.
Darity argues that it is key to prioritize the average wealth gap between black and white households, rather that the gap between median figures that is more typically discussed.
The median figures more typically represent the average household, while the average number is heavily skewed by the ultra-wealthy.
For instance, the median white household net worth is $171,000, while the average white household net worth, skewed by billionaires, is $929,800.
The average black household net worth is $138,000, and Darity estimates that payments of $800,000 would eliminate the 'the black-white (pre-tax) wealth differential.'
'We estimate that this will require an allocation between $10 and $12 trillion to eligible black Americans. That allocation should serve as the baseline for black reparations in the twenty-first century,' he writes.
The idea of reparations for slavery remains politically unpopular -- though Darity argues that prior programs of reparations have been accomplished despite being opposed by the majority of voters.
In June, an ABC News/Ipsos poll found 73 percent of people think the federal government should not 'pay money to black Americans whose ancestors were slaves as compensations for that slavery'.
Only about one in eight white Americans support reparations compared to three-quarters of African Americans.
Democrats are split on reparations, with 54 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. The vast majority of Republicans oppose the move at 94 percent, and 82 percent of Independents were also opposed.
The Economic State of Black America in 2020
KEY POINTS
- Despite significant economic progress over the past decades, Black Americans experience far worse economic conditions than Whites or the population as a whole.
- Historically, the unemployment rate for Black Americans has been approximately twice the rate for Whites. That is the case today—6.0% for Black workers and 3.1% for Whites.
- The difference in the unemployment rates for Blacks and Whites shrinks for college graduates; however, even in the current strong economy the unemployment rate is 50% higher for Black Americans.
- During the majority of the past 50 years, Black Americans have experienced unemployment rates that, were they experienced by the entire population, would be seen as recessionary.
- Black workers have been disproportionally hurt by the overall decline in union membership and the decreasing power of unions.
- The typical Black households earns a fraction of White households—just 59 cents for every dollar. The gap between Black and White annual household incomes is about $29,000 per year.
- Black Americans are over twice as likely to live in poverty as White Americans.
- Black children are three times as likely to live in poverty as White children.
- The median wealth of Black families ($17,000)—is less than one-tenth that of White families ($171,000).
- The wealth gap between Black and White households increases with education.
- Much less than half (42%) of Black families own their homes, compared to almost three-quarters (73%) of White families.
- High school graduation rates for Black and White Americans have nearly converged.
- The share of Blacks who are college graduates has more than doubled since 1990, from 11% to 25%—but still lags far behind Whites.
- Persistent segregation leads to large disparities in the quality of secondary education, leading to worse economic outcomes.
- The incarceration rate for Black Americans is falling, but is still nearly six times the rate for White Americans.
- Non-Hispanic Black Americans have a life expectancy 3.6 years lower than nonHispanic White Americans.
A Survivor And Descendants Of 1921 Tulsa Massacre Seek Reparations In Lawsuit
The suit demands redress for the destruction of the city’s once prosperous Black district in one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history.
m.huffpost.com
The suit demands redress for the destruction of the city’s once prosperous Black district in one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history.
Survivors And Descendants Of 1921 Tulsa Massacre Seek Reparations In Lawsuit
The suit demands redress for the destruction of the city's once prosperous Black district in one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history.
Tackling The Racial Wealth Gap: William Darity's Plan For Reparations
William Darity, professor of public policy, African and African American studies and economics and director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. Co-author of “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century." (@SandyDarity)
Carlous Hall, Rosewood Family Scholarship recipient. His grandmother Mary Hall Daniels was the oldest living Rosewood Massacre survivor, and died in May 2018.
From The Reading List
Brookings: "Black reparations and the racial wealth gap" — "... Data from the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (the most recent available) indicate that Black Americans possess 2.6 percent of the nation’s wealth while constituting 13 percent of the population."
Roosevelt Institute: "Resurrecting the Promise of 40 Acres: The Imperative of Reparations for Black Americans" — "Today’s black-white wealth gap originated with the unfulfilled promise of 40 acres in 1865."
The Economist: "The economics of reparations" — "In a survey last year 29% of Americans supported the idea that the government should make cash payments to black Americans who were descendants of slaves—twice the share that agreed in the early 2000s."
Washington Post: "After reparations" — "Ever since Morgan Carter was a little girl, her grandmother would tell her a story. It was about an old mill town, deep in the backwoods of north Florida — a place where black people did well for themselves."
Gainesville.com: "Longest-living Rosewood survivor: ‘I’m not angry’" — "For much of her life, Mary Hall Daniels was a spokesperson for a tragic event she could barely remember."
The Atlantic: "The Case for Reparations" — "Clyde Ross was born in 1923, the seventh of 13 children, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the home of the blues."
NPR: "'From Here to Equality' Author Makes A Case, And A Plan, For Reparations" — "When slavery ended, the disenfranchisement of African Americans did not. Discrimination continued in jobs, housing, education — barriers that have contributed to the staggering economic inequality that persists in the country today."
www.wbur.org
William Darity, professor of public policy, African and African American studies and economics and director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. Co-author of “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century." (@SandyDarity)
Carlous Hall, Rosewood Family Scholarship recipient. His grandmother Mary Hall Daniels was the oldest living Rosewood Massacre survivor, and died in May 2018.
From The Reading List
Brookings: "Black reparations and the racial wealth gap" — "... Data from the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (the most recent available) indicate that Black Americans possess 2.6 percent of the nation’s wealth while constituting 13 percent of the population."
Roosevelt Institute: "Resurrecting the Promise of 40 Acres: The Imperative of Reparations for Black Americans" — "Today’s black-white wealth gap originated with the unfulfilled promise of 40 acres in 1865."
The Economist: "The economics of reparations" — "In a survey last year 29% of Americans supported the idea that the government should make cash payments to black Americans who were descendants of slaves—twice the share that agreed in the early 2000s."
Washington Post: "After reparations" — "Ever since Morgan Carter was a little girl, her grandmother would tell her a story. It was about an old mill town, deep in the backwoods of north Florida — a place where black people did well for themselves."
Gainesville.com: "Longest-living Rosewood survivor: ‘I’m not angry’" — "For much of her life, Mary Hall Daniels was a spokesperson for a tragic event she could barely remember."
The Atlantic: "The Case for Reparations" — "Clyde Ross was born in 1923, the seventh of 13 children, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the home of the blues."
NPR: "'From Here to Equality' Author Makes A Case, And A Plan, For Reparations" — "When slavery ended, the disenfranchisement of African Americans did not. Discrimination continued in jobs, housing, education — barriers that have contributed to the staggering economic inequality that persists in the country today."
Tackling The Racial Wealth Gap: William Darity's Plan For Reparations
A newly energized push for reparations for descendants of enslaved people. We dig into specific proposals and examples of reparations already in place.
As Newsom Weighs Reparations Bill, A Scholar Has A Word Of Caution For California
BY ORLANDO MAYORQUIN
Coming off the defeat of a series of police reform bills, racial justice advocates and Democratic lawmakers are hoping to get a more modest measure of socioeconomic change across the finish line, namely a reparations study for Black Californians.
Assembly Bill 3121 cleared the Legislature last month and if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would establish a nine-person task force to study reparations proposals for more than 2 million African Americans in California, many undergoing migratory shifts. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Shirely Weber, directs the task force to study California’s complicity in slavery and develop proposals for redressing generations of discriminatory policies and practices that followed.
Supporters say it’s yet another case of California leading by example. In acknowledging the sins of California’s forefathers, the state could begin to heal by starting with an apology. But as Newsom considers the legislation before him, one scholar has a word of caution not to detract from where change really needs to happen: Washington, D.C.
William Darity Jr., one of the country’s leading experts on slavery reparations and economics professor at Duke University, hopes the conversation around California’s reparations task force is properly framed with respect to the movement for federal reparations.
More of an atonement
Darity Jr. has reservations about the use of the term “reparations” in the bill. He believes it should only be used to describe a full accounting of the damage dealt to African Americans by hundreds of years of enslavement and discriminatory policies — something he says can only be accomplished through the federal government.
“I have a sense of proprietariness about the use of the term reparations, because I think people should not be given the impression that the kinds of steps that are taken at the state or local level actually constitute a comprehensive or true reparations plan,” Darity Jr. said in an interview. “Whatever California does perhaps could be called atonement, or it could be called a correction for past actions.”
The economist is critical of what he calls a piecemeal approach to reparations; where a collection of local and state initiatives form the thrust of slavery reparations in the United States. While AB 3121 is clear about not being a substitute for a national reparations program, Darity Jr. is still worried that the conversation around the project in California might suggest a vision of slavery reparations independent of the federal government.
But Darity Jr. believes the creation of a reparations study team would lock California in as a powerful advocate for federal reparations.
Task force aims to educate public
California lawmakers have already begun to position the state in support of federal reparations. Last year, state lawmakers proposed a joint resolution to support H.R. 40, a congressional bill introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson of Texas to create a federal reparations study commission. Jackson’s bill has yet to pick up any real steam. One of the California task force’s duties is to put forth a plan to educate the public on its findings.
For Weber, it’s a movement. She views educating state residents integral to winning popular support for future reparations proposals — and curbing animosity toward reparation recipients.
“I’m hoping, being an educator, that a lot of this information is shared so that people don’t develop a bad attitude toward African Americans,” said Weber, a professor emeritus of Africana Studies at San Diego State University. “That the information will be so clear of what has taken place that there would not be this antagonism toward individuals.”
So what does California have to atone for?
The state of California was a “free state” when it became part of the union, but a fugitive slave law meant that slaves who came to California looking for freedom were denied it.
The task force will also examine state policies and practices following the abolition of slavery that contribute to the inequities facing African Americans in California today. This includes segregation practices like redlining that suppressed Black homeownership and gerrymandering voting districts in such a way that disenfranchises Black and voters of color.
Reparation could look different
Weber and the co-authoring Legislative Black Caucus did not specify the form of compensation a reparations proposal would have to take. That’s up to the experts on the committee to help decide.
Direct payments to African Americans are usually top of mind in conversations about reparations, but Weber wanted to leave room for other forms of redress — pointing to areas like education where direct payments are a less obvious solution.
“Are we going to have better programs that allow students admission to the university as we do with the DREAM Act?” said Weber. “I’m looking at housing. I’m looking at education. I’m looking at business — economic development in communities so that there’s adequate investment.”
Five members of the task force would be appointed by the governor while the Assembly and Senate leaders would appoint two each. No more than five of the appointees can be members of the Legislature and Newsom would be required to appoint three civil rights and reparations experts. The task force would have one year to complete its work with the first meeting held by June 2021.
There was no formal opposition to the bill, but 15 Republicans voted no on the final version.
Republicans oppose adding cost
GOP Assemblymember James Gallagher, who voted against the bill, said he is open to the commission’s suggestions for closing education and economic disparities, but thinks that a study commission needlessly prolongs the policy process and shuts out Republican voices.
“It’s like almost assuredly designed to be people from one party and probably from more of one perspective than the legislative process, which would include everybody,” Gallagher said.
The Yuba City lawmaker agrees with Darity Jr., the reparations scholar, that conversations should happen at the federal level. But they differ on direct payments. Gallagher said he doesn’t believe cash is the best way to address issues facing the Black community.
“I think there might be a majority of people who might be supportive of that concept, but I think they would have a very hard time figuring out how they’re going to pay for it, especially when the state of California is looking at, at a minimum, a $40 billion deficit next year,” Gallagher said.
Weber is aware of the headwinds given the defeat of Black Lives Matter proposals intended to hold officers accountable for misconduct. “I don’t live with any illusion that George Floyd has changed the world,” Weber said. “He has raised some eyebrows and opened some eyes, but I think we saw in the last session that people may be, as the kids say, ‘woke,’ but they’re not moving.”
www.capradio.org
BY ORLANDO MAYORQUIN
Coming off the defeat of a series of police reform bills, racial justice advocates and Democratic lawmakers are hoping to get a more modest measure of socioeconomic change across the finish line, namely a reparations study for Black Californians.
Assembly Bill 3121 cleared the Legislature last month and if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would establish a nine-person task force to study reparations proposals for more than 2 million African Americans in California, many undergoing migratory shifts. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Shirely Weber, directs the task force to study California’s complicity in slavery and develop proposals for redressing generations of discriminatory policies and practices that followed.
Supporters say it’s yet another case of California leading by example. In acknowledging the sins of California’s forefathers, the state could begin to heal by starting with an apology. But as Newsom considers the legislation before him, one scholar has a word of caution not to detract from where change really needs to happen: Washington, D.C.
William Darity Jr., one of the country’s leading experts on slavery reparations and economics professor at Duke University, hopes the conversation around California’s reparations task force is properly framed with respect to the movement for federal reparations.
More of an atonement
Darity Jr. has reservations about the use of the term “reparations” in the bill. He believes it should only be used to describe a full accounting of the damage dealt to African Americans by hundreds of years of enslavement and discriminatory policies — something he says can only be accomplished through the federal government.
“I have a sense of proprietariness about the use of the term reparations, because I think people should not be given the impression that the kinds of steps that are taken at the state or local level actually constitute a comprehensive or true reparations plan,” Darity Jr. said in an interview. “Whatever California does perhaps could be called atonement, or it could be called a correction for past actions.”
The economist is critical of what he calls a piecemeal approach to reparations; where a collection of local and state initiatives form the thrust of slavery reparations in the United States. While AB 3121 is clear about not being a substitute for a national reparations program, Darity Jr. is still worried that the conversation around the project in California might suggest a vision of slavery reparations independent of the federal government.
But Darity Jr. believes the creation of a reparations study team would lock California in as a powerful advocate for federal reparations.
Task force aims to educate public
California lawmakers have already begun to position the state in support of federal reparations. Last year, state lawmakers proposed a joint resolution to support H.R. 40, a congressional bill introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson of Texas to create a federal reparations study commission. Jackson’s bill has yet to pick up any real steam. One of the California task force’s duties is to put forth a plan to educate the public on its findings.
For Weber, it’s a movement. She views educating state residents integral to winning popular support for future reparations proposals — and curbing animosity toward reparation recipients.
“I’m hoping, being an educator, that a lot of this information is shared so that people don’t develop a bad attitude toward African Americans,” said Weber, a professor emeritus of Africana Studies at San Diego State University. “That the information will be so clear of what has taken place that there would not be this antagonism toward individuals.”
So what does California have to atone for?
The state of California was a “free state” when it became part of the union, but a fugitive slave law meant that slaves who came to California looking for freedom were denied it.
The task force will also examine state policies and practices following the abolition of slavery that contribute to the inequities facing African Americans in California today. This includes segregation practices like redlining that suppressed Black homeownership and gerrymandering voting districts in such a way that disenfranchises Black and voters of color.
Reparation could look different
Weber and the co-authoring Legislative Black Caucus did not specify the form of compensation a reparations proposal would have to take. That’s up to the experts on the committee to help decide.
Direct payments to African Americans are usually top of mind in conversations about reparations, but Weber wanted to leave room for other forms of redress — pointing to areas like education where direct payments are a less obvious solution.
“Are we going to have better programs that allow students admission to the university as we do with the DREAM Act?” said Weber. “I’m looking at housing. I’m looking at education. I’m looking at business — economic development in communities so that there’s adequate investment.”
Five members of the task force would be appointed by the governor while the Assembly and Senate leaders would appoint two each. No more than five of the appointees can be members of the Legislature and Newsom would be required to appoint three civil rights and reparations experts. The task force would have one year to complete its work with the first meeting held by June 2021.
There was no formal opposition to the bill, but 15 Republicans voted no on the final version.
Republicans oppose adding cost
GOP Assemblymember James Gallagher, who voted against the bill, said he is open to the commission’s suggestions for closing education and economic disparities, but thinks that a study commission needlessly prolongs the policy process and shuts out Republican voices.
“It’s like almost assuredly designed to be people from one party and probably from more of one perspective than the legislative process, which would include everybody,” Gallagher said.
The Yuba City lawmaker agrees with Darity Jr., the reparations scholar, that conversations should happen at the federal level. But they differ on direct payments. Gallagher said he doesn’t believe cash is the best way to address issues facing the Black community.
“I think there might be a majority of people who might be supportive of that concept, but I think they would have a very hard time figuring out how they’re going to pay for it, especially when the state of California is looking at, at a minimum, a $40 billion deficit next year,” Gallagher said.
Weber is aware of the headwinds given the defeat of Black Lives Matter proposals intended to hold officers accountable for misconduct. “I don’t live with any illusion that George Floyd has changed the world,” Weber said. “He has raised some eyebrows and opened some eyes, but I think we saw in the last session that people may be, as the kids say, ‘woke,’ but they’re not moving.”
As Newsom Weighs Reparations Bill, A Scholar Has A Word Of Caution For California
A bill on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk would authorize a reparations study for Black Californians. But a prominent scholar says he hopes California’s effort won’t detract from the national conversation on redressing slavery.
The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Racial Wealth Gap
This is a joint publication between the Center for American Progress and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. The column was co-authored with Darrick Hamilton of the Kirwan Institute.
Authors’ note: CAP uses “Black” and “African American” interchangeably throughout many of our products. We chose to capitalize “Black” in order to reflect that we are discussing a group of people and to be consistent with the capitalization of “African American.”
The new coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, continues to spread quickly, threatening the health and economy of the United States. Since January, more than 8,300 Americans in 50 states; Washington, D.C.; and three territories have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. And many more cases have undoubtedly not been discovered due to a lack of testing. The outbreak of this deadly respiratory illness is especially worrisome for Black, Latinx, and other vulnerable communities.
These communities are disproportionately uninsured or underinsured and have fewer financial resources and employment benefits with which to weather this major public health emergency. Nothing demonstrates this vulnerability more vividly than the dramatic and persistent intergenerational racial wealth gap. The COVID-19 pandemic is another stark reminder that the next administration must address wealth inequality and make asset security a top priority.
How wealth affects people’s ability to respond to a pandemic
When unexpected emergencies occur, an individual’s or a family’s wealth can provide them with protection. Wealth, especially liquid wealth—resources that can be readily converted into cash—allows individuals and families to respond to life events and unexpected expenses, such as loss of income and virtually any expenses that may result from a pandemic. Unfortunately, and unjustly, wealth has been unequally distributed in America. The typical white family has 10 times the wealth of the typical Black family and seven times the wealth of the typical Latinx family. This stark and persistent racial wealth gap leaves Black, Latinx, and low-asset people vulnerable; they are less likely to afford several days—let alone weeks—without income. And Black and Latinx households have fewer resources in case of an emergency, such as COVID-19 or future pandemics. It’s important to note that these communities lack wealth not because of individual choices but instead due to 400 years of collective harms by federal, state, and local governments compounding over time.
The centerpiece of the public health response to COVID-19 is social distancing. The goal of social distancing is to prevent contagious people from coming into close contact with healthy people in order to slow down the spread of contagious diseases, which in turn helps prevent a spike in cases that overwhelms the health care system. To lessen the chances of catching the COVID-19 virus, experts recommend that people stay at least six feet away from each other. Examples of social distancing include telework and school closures.
While a smart public health policy, the ripple effect of social distancing will be particularly detrimental for Black and Latinx communities, especially if governments don’t take actions to minimize direct impacts on Americans’ pocketbooks. This is where the economic security that wealth provides comes in. Wealth is one’s assets minus their debts. Black and Latinx communities are less likely to own assets. For example, almost 30 percent of Black college-educated households, and 20 percent of Latinx college-educated households, would not be able to afford to pay all their bills after a $400 emergency expense. These figures increase to nearly 60 percent and 50 percent, respectively, for non-college-educated Black and Latinx households. With little to no liquid wealth and vulnerable job prospects, Black and Latinx families are more likely to face greater housing insecurity, including exposure to eviction and foreclosure, which in turn will exacerbate the racial homeownership gap.
America is on the brink of entering a recession that will have particularly negative effects for Black and Latinx communities, who are typically the first to feel the effects of economic downturns. They are also last to recover from economic swings. For example, when reviewing the median wealth of Black and white families following the Great Recession, Black families’ wealth in 2016 was about half of the median Black wealth recorded right before the Great Recession. In comparison, the median white wealth in 2016 had grown by almost 15 percent since the Great Recession. This highlights the larger impact that a recession can have on the racial wealth gap. In short, a recession only exacerbates the already existing vicious cycles of low wealth for Black and Latinx families.
Furthermore, both Black and Latinx employees are paid lower wages than their similarly situated white counterparts. For example, Black, Asian, and Latinx workers are overrepresented in the restaurant and hotel industry, two industries facing shutdowns in response to the coronavirus. Furthermore, Black workers often hold occupations that are less stable, such as jobs in retail and home health and jobs as nursing home aides. In addition to being more likely to hold low-paying jobs, Black and Latinx workers are more likely to hold jobs that are less likely to offer comprehensive benefits. Just 16 percent of Latinx workers and 20 percent of Black workers have the ability to work from home, compared with 30 percent of white workers. Black and Latinx workers also have less access to paid sick leave and paid leave for child care. When considering the intersection of race and gender, this inequality is particularly daunting for Black and Latinx women, who often have a greater share of caregiving responsibilities. They are also more likely to hold low-paying service jobs than their white counterparts. In addition, these jobs numbers do not include all the Black and Latinx men who are incarcerated and thus rendered “invisible” in labor market statistics.
This pandemic has brought to light the harm that a lack of wealth can inflict on American families. In the current situation, it is crucial to realize that wealth provides security to handle an unexpected health and financial emergency. And those families who are more likely to experience the fallout from this crisis are disproportionately nonwhite families with low levels of wealth.
Policy recommendations
A long-lasting American structure of racially segregated occupations and jobs has repeatedly relegated Black and Latinx people to jobs with low and volatile wages; few benefits, including lack of health insurance; and limited agency in achieving flexible working conditions, which restricts their ability to work from home or take paid time off. In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, policymakers should take the following steps:
Ensure access to affordable or no-cost medical care
Persistent financial barriers to health care coverage may prevent Black and Latinx people from accessing needed medical care—including the treatments they need if they are exposed to the COVID-19 virus. Any states that have failed to expand Medicaid should do so immediately. Anyone needing care should not face the financial stress or stigma that may deter them from seeking coverage and thereby put themselves and others at risk.
Ensure paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave are available to all workers
While Congress took a first step toward providing targeted protections for workers, it’s important to extend protections to ensure that workers across the country have access to paid sick days and paid family and medical leave to address their health and caregiving needs.
Send cash directly to households
As families and communities work to manage their expenses in this volatile time, it’s important that the government consider different options to provide relief to workers experiencing this economic shock.
Increase access to capital for minority businesses
Many businesses owned by Black and Latinx Americans have limited capital to survive over the short and long term. Therefore, it’s imperative that policymakers ensure that these businesses get access to capital.
Take comprehensive action on student loan debt
There are more than 40 million federal student loan borrowers who may struggle to make their payments during the outbreak. Black borrowers take on more debt and are less likely to get the same return on investment as their white counterparts; they are also more likely to default. Policymakers must ensure a robust package that at least stops the accumulation of additional interest and provides a moratorium on all student loan payments and collections activity.
Temporarily waive all late payments for credit card and auto loan payments
Black and Latinx households are less economically secure than white households. Black borrowers tend to have more costly debt and pay more for installment loans such as credit cards and auto loans. This is partially due to credit steering and credit market discrimination.
Place a moratorium on housing evictions and home foreclosures
State and local governments should strongly consider efforts across the country to place moratoriums on housing evictions and home foreclosures.
Conclusion
Following the crisis, it’s important to take on structural changes to U.S. economic policies to ensure that the necessary health and economic infrastructure is in place the next time the country faces a pandemic or looming disaster stemming from climate insecurity. Closing the unjust racial wealth gap should be a top priority to ensure more equitable, just, and resilient communities.
Danyelle Solomon is the vice president of Race and Ethnicity Policy at the Center for American Progress. Darrick Hamilton is the executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and professor of public affairs, economics, sociology, and African and African American studies at The Ohio State University.
www.americanprogress.org
This is a joint publication between the Center for American Progress and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. The column was co-authored with Darrick Hamilton of the Kirwan Institute.
Authors’ note: CAP uses “Black” and “African American” interchangeably throughout many of our products. We chose to capitalize “Black” in order to reflect that we are discussing a group of people and to be consistent with the capitalization of “African American.”
The new coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, continues to spread quickly, threatening the health and economy of the United States. Since January, more than 8,300 Americans in 50 states; Washington, D.C.; and three territories have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. And many more cases have undoubtedly not been discovered due to a lack of testing. The outbreak of this deadly respiratory illness is especially worrisome for Black, Latinx, and other vulnerable communities.
These communities are disproportionately uninsured or underinsured and have fewer financial resources and employment benefits with which to weather this major public health emergency. Nothing demonstrates this vulnerability more vividly than the dramatic and persistent intergenerational racial wealth gap. The COVID-19 pandemic is another stark reminder that the next administration must address wealth inequality and make asset security a top priority.
How wealth affects people’s ability to respond to a pandemic
When unexpected emergencies occur, an individual’s or a family’s wealth can provide them with protection. Wealth, especially liquid wealth—resources that can be readily converted into cash—allows individuals and families to respond to life events and unexpected expenses, such as loss of income and virtually any expenses that may result from a pandemic. Unfortunately, and unjustly, wealth has been unequally distributed in America. The typical white family has 10 times the wealth of the typical Black family and seven times the wealth of the typical Latinx family. This stark and persistent racial wealth gap leaves Black, Latinx, and low-asset people vulnerable; they are less likely to afford several days—let alone weeks—without income. And Black and Latinx households have fewer resources in case of an emergency, such as COVID-19 or future pandemics. It’s important to note that these communities lack wealth not because of individual choices but instead due to 400 years of collective harms by federal, state, and local governments compounding over time.
The centerpiece of the public health response to COVID-19 is social distancing. The goal of social distancing is to prevent contagious people from coming into close contact with healthy people in order to slow down the spread of contagious diseases, which in turn helps prevent a spike in cases that overwhelms the health care system. To lessen the chances of catching the COVID-19 virus, experts recommend that people stay at least six feet away from each other. Examples of social distancing include telework and school closures.
While a smart public health policy, the ripple effect of social distancing will be particularly detrimental for Black and Latinx communities, especially if governments don’t take actions to minimize direct impacts on Americans’ pocketbooks. This is where the economic security that wealth provides comes in. Wealth is one’s assets minus their debts. Black and Latinx communities are less likely to own assets. For example, almost 30 percent of Black college-educated households, and 20 percent of Latinx college-educated households, would not be able to afford to pay all their bills after a $400 emergency expense. These figures increase to nearly 60 percent and 50 percent, respectively, for non-college-educated Black and Latinx households. With little to no liquid wealth and vulnerable job prospects, Black and Latinx families are more likely to face greater housing insecurity, including exposure to eviction and foreclosure, which in turn will exacerbate the racial homeownership gap.
America is on the brink of entering a recession that will have particularly negative effects for Black and Latinx communities, who are typically the first to feel the effects of economic downturns. They are also last to recover from economic swings. For example, when reviewing the median wealth of Black and white families following the Great Recession, Black families’ wealth in 2016 was about half of the median Black wealth recorded right before the Great Recession. In comparison, the median white wealth in 2016 had grown by almost 15 percent since the Great Recession. This highlights the larger impact that a recession can have on the racial wealth gap. In short, a recession only exacerbates the already existing vicious cycles of low wealth for Black and Latinx families.
Furthermore, both Black and Latinx employees are paid lower wages than their similarly situated white counterparts. For example, Black, Asian, and Latinx workers are overrepresented in the restaurant and hotel industry, two industries facing shutdowns in response to the coronavirus. Furthermore, Black workers often hold occupations that are less stable, such as jobs in retail and home health and jobs as nursing home aides. In addition to being more likely to hold low-paying jobs, Black and Latinx workers are more likely to hold jobs that are less likely to offer comprehensive benefits. Just 16 percent of Latinx workers and 20 percent of Black workers have the ability to work from home, compared with 30 percent of white workers. Black and Latinx workers also have less access to paid sick leave and paid leave for child care. When considering the intersection of race and gender, this inequality is particularly daunting for Black and Latinx women, who often have a greater share of caregiving responsibilities. They are also more likely to hold low-paying service jobs than their white counterparts. In addition, these jobs numbers do not include all the Black and Latinx men who are incarcerated and thus rendered “invisible” in labor market statistics.
This pandemic has brought to light the harm that a lack of wealth can inflict on American families. In the current situation, it is crucial to realize that wealth provides security to handle an unexpected health and financial emergency. And those families who are more likely to experience the fallout from this crisis are disproportionately nonwhite families with low levels of wealth.
Policy recommendations
A long-lasting American structure of racially segregated occupations and jobs has repeatedly relegated Black and Latinx people to jobs with low and volatile wages; few benefits, including lack of health insurance; and limited agency in achieving flexible working conditions, which restricts their ability to work from home or take paid time off. In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, policymakers should take the following steps:
Ensure access to affordable or no-cost medical care
Persistent financial barriers to health care coverage may prevent Black and Latinx people from accessing needed medical care—including the treatments they need if they are exposed to the COVID-19 virus. Any states that have failed to expand Medicaid should do so immediately. Anyone needing care should not face the financial stress or stigma that may deter them from seeking coverage and thereby put themselves and others at risk.
Ensure paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave are available to all workers
While Congress took a first step toward providing targeted protections for workers, it’s important to extend protections to ensure that workers across the country have access to paid sick days and paid family and medical leave to address their health and caregiving needs.
Send cash directly to households
As families and communities work to manage their expenses in this volatile time, it’s important that the government consider different options to provide relief to workers experiencing this economic shock.
Increase access to capital for minority businesses
Many businesses owned by Black and Latinx Americans have limited capital to survive over the short and long term. Therefore, it’s imperative that policymakers ensure that these businesses get access to capital.
Take comprehensive action on student loan debt
There are more than 40 million federal student loan borrowers who may struggle to make their payments during the outbreak. Black borrowers take on more debt and are less likely to get the same return on investment as their white counterparts; they are also more likely to default. Policymakers must ensure a robust package that at least stops the accumulation of additional interest and provides a moratorium on all student loan payments and collections activity.
Temporarily waive all late payments for credit card and auto loan payments
Black and Latinx households are less economically secure than white households. Black borrowers tend to have more costly debt and pay more for installment loans such as credit cards and auto loans. This is partially due to credit steering and credit market discrimination.
Place a moratorium on housing evictions and home foreclosures
State and local governments should strongly consider efforts across the country to place moratoriums on housing evictions and home foreclosures.
Conclusion
Following the crisis, it’s important to take on structural changes to U.S. economic policies to ensure that the necessary health and economic infrastructure is in place the next time the country faces a pandemic or looming disaster stemming from climate insecurity. Closing the unjust racial wealth gap should be a top priority to ensure more equitable, just, and resilient communities.
Danyelle Solomon is the vice president of Race and Ethnicity Policy at the Center for American Progress. Darrick Hamilton is the executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and professor of public affairs, economics, sociology, and African and African American studies at The Ohio State University.
The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Racial Wealth Gap
The unjust racial wealth gap leaves Black and Latinx communities especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus.
www.americanprogress.org
Opinion: The 2-cent solution to close the racial wealth gap: A call for U.S. companies to invest in Black communities
By supporting Black-owned businesses, corporations and banks would create jobs and boost the economy
If just 2 cents of every dollar earned by U.S. corporations was reinvested in Black communities, the racial wealth gap would close at a pace and scale never before seen in this country.
Referred to as “The 2% Solution,” this premise, championed by Vista Equity Partners founder Robert Smith is bold, yet simple. He proposes that corporations, which reap the benefits of America’s prosperity, take the lead in reversing centuries of structural economic racism by investing 2% of their net income over the next 10 years in Black businesses and financial institutions.
This proposal is good not just for direct beneficiaries of the investment, it is good for corporations and the entire nation. Analysis by McKinsey and Company found that closing the racial wealth gap would add between $1 to $1.5 trillion in economic activity over the next 10 years through job creation and income gains.
So how would this plan close the racial wealth gap? By investing in Black businesses and Black-owned financial institutions, which directly translates to jobs and economic growth in Black communities.
The evidence is clear. In a study of Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), the FDIC found that Black-owned banks locate and lend in Black communities at significantly higher rates than white-led financial institutions. Likewise, research by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity showed that while the Black/white wealth gap is 13:1; the wealth disparity shrinks to 3:1 when comparing white and Black business owners.
U.S. banks notoriously underinvest in Black people and communities.
Unfortunately, the resources available to close these gaps are far too scarce. U.S. banks notoriously underinvest in Black people and communities: While 77% of white households are “fully banked,” less than half of Black households can claim the same status. Not surprisingly, the denial rate for mortgage loans for Black households is nearly twice the rate of whites. Even among Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) — mission based lenders created to serve low-income communities — capital levels for white led CDFIs are, on average, twice the size of CDFIs led by people of color, a function of capital investment.
Even philanthropic support for these communities is woefully inadequate. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy reports that per-capita grant making in the Mississippi Delta / Alabama “Black Belt” — home to the nation’s most concentrated rural population of Black residents — is a woeful $41 per person, compared to San Francisco, where philanthropic investment is $4,096 per person.
Read: To build racial and wealth equality in post-pandemic America, invest in a Cultural New Deal
Also read: It’s time for wealthy donors to embrace reparations, not more charity
Our experience at HOPE, a Black-owned credit union and CDFI serving the Deep South, has shown repeatedly that aligning resources with need enables people to climb the economic ladder. Nowhere was this more evident than in our work to help Black businesses access the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In a typical year, we make 40-to-50 business loans. However, the onset of the pandemic, the shutdown of the economy and disproportionate impact on Black communities mandated an extraordinary response. Anchored by substantial support from Goldman Sachs, HOPE redirected nearly half of its workforce to originate PPP loans. By the time the program concluded, HOPE had processed close to 7,400 PPP applications and approved 2,900 loans for $85 million. The majority of these loans were to mostly Black communities, with an average loan size of less than $30,000 — more than $70,000 lower than the average for the overall program.
Many of HOPE’s PPP borrowers were small businesses and nonprofit organizations run by Black leaders who could not even get a return phone call from traditional lenders. One of those organizations included a small nonprofit serving youth in the Arkansas juvenile justice system. After reaching out to its bank, the nonprofit learned the financial institution would no longer accept PPP applications.
The news was particularly devastating because, short on funds, the organization was experiencing an influx of teens in need of case management services. Youth formerly in the system were reaching out following their early release, a precautionary measure to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19. Before the organization had a chance to find another lender, the program’s first phase had ended. When the program restarted, HOPE made the loan. While maddening, the outcome was not surprising. What would one expect when a study commissioned by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation found that in Arkansas, where 15% of the population is Black, just 1.2% of SBA loans go to Black businesses?
Corporations and their shareholders have long benefitted from systems, policies and practices, all promulgated by law, that have facilitated and perpetuated the racial wealth gap. However, as HOPE’s PPP experience demonstrates, there is a better way. The health, economic and racial crisis facing America has crystalized the importance of transcendent action at this critical moment in history. Smith’s 2% Solution offers a guide for moving forward: Make substantial, sustained and targeted investments that equip Black communities to thrive. All it takes is 2 cents.
Bill Bynum is CEO of HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and Hope Policy Institute), a family of organizations that advances economic opportunity for disenfranchised populations in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Bynum serves on the boards of the Aspen Institute and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and previously chaired the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Consumer Advisory Board, and the Treasury Department’s Community Development Advisory Board.
www.marketwatch.com
By supporting Black-owned businesses, corporations and banks would create jobs and boost the economy
If just 2 cents of every dollar earned by U.S. corporations was reinvested in Black communities, the racial wealth gap would close at a pace and scale never before seen in this country.
Referred to as “The 2% Solution,” this premise, championed by Vista Equity Partners founder Robert Smith is bold, yet simple. He proposes that corporations, which reap the benefits of America’s prosperity, take the lead in reversing centuries of structural economic racism by investing 2% of their net income over the next 10 years in Black businesses and financial institutions.
This proposal is good not just for direct beneficiaries of the investment, it is good for corporations and the entire nation. Analysis by McKinsey and Company found that closing the racial wealth gap would add between $1 to $1.5 trillion in economic activity over the next 10 years through job creation and income gains.
So how would this plan close the racial wealth gap? By investing in Black businesses and Black-owned financial institutions, which directly translates to jobs and economic growth in Black communities.
The evidence is clear. In a study of Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), the FDIC found that Black-owned banks locate and lend in Black communities at significantly higher rates than white-led financial institutions. Likewise, research by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity showed that while the Black/white wealth gap is 13:1; the wealth disparity shrinks to 3:1 when comparing white and Black business owners.
U.S. banks notoriously underinvest in Black people and communities.
Unfortunately, the resources available to close these gaps are far too scarce. U.S. banks notoriously underinvest in Black people and communities: While 77% of white households are “fully banked,” less than half of Black households can claim the same status. Not surprisingly, the denial rate for mortgage loans for Black households is nearly twice the rate of whites. Even among Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) — mission based lenders created to serve low-income communities — capital levels for white led CDFIs are, on average, twice the size of CDFIs led by people of color, a function of capital investment.
Even philanthropic support for these communities is woefully inadequate. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy reports that per-capita grant making in the Mississippi Delta / Alabama “Black Belt” — home to the nation’s most concentrated rural population of Black residents — is a woeful $41 per person, compared to San Francisco, where philanthropic investment is $4,096 per person.
Read: To build racial and wealth equality in post-pandemic America, invest in a Cultural New Deal
Also read: It’s time for wealthy donors to embrace reparations, not more charity
Our experience at HOPE, a Black-owned credit union and CDFI serving the Deep South, has shown repeatedly that aligning resources with need enables people to climb the economic ladder. Nowhere was this more evident than in our work to help Black businesses access the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In a typical year, we make 40-to-50 business loans. However, the onset of the pandemic, the shutdown of the economy and disproportionate impact on Black communities mandated an extraordinary response. Anchored by substantial support from Goldman Sachs, HOPE redirected nearly half of its workforce to originate PPP loans. By the time the program concluded, HOPE had processed close to 7,400 PPP applications and approved 2,900 loans for $85 million. The majority of these loans were to mostly Black communities, with an average loan size of less than $30,000 — more than $70,000 lower than the average for the overall program.
Many of HOPE’s PPP borrowers were small businesses and nonprofit organizations run by Black leaders who could not even get a return phone call from traditional lenders. One of those organizations included a small nonprofit serving youth in the Arkansas juvenile justice system. After reaching out to its bank, the nonprofit learned the financial institution would no longer accept PPP applications.
The news was particularly devastating because, short on funds, the organization was experiencing an influx of teens in need of case management services. Youth formerly in the system were reaching out following their early release, a precautionary measure to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19. Before the organization had a chance to find another lender, the program’s first phase had ended. When the program restarted, HOPE made the loan. While maddening, the outcome was not surprising. What would one expect when a study commissioned by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation found that in Arkansas, where 15% of the population is Black, just 1.2% of SBA loans go to Black businesses?
Corporations and their shareholders have long benefitted from systems, policies and practices, all promulgated by law, that have facilitated and perpetuated the racial wealth gap. However, as HOPE’s PPP experience demonstrates, there is a better way. The health, economic and racial crisis facing America has crystalized the importance of transcendent action at this critical moment in history. Smith’s 2% Solution offers a guide for moving forward: Make substantial, sustained and targeted investments that equip Black communities to thrive. All it takes is 2 cents.
Bill Bynum is CEO of HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and Hope Policy Institute), a family of organizations that advances economic opportunity for disenfranchised populations in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Bynum serves on the boards of the Aspen Institute and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and previously chaired the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Consumer Advisory Board, and the Treasury Department’s Community Development Advisory Board.
The 2-cent solution to close the racial wealth gap: A call for U.S. companies to invest in Black communities
By supporting Black-owned businesses, corporations and banks would create jobs and boost the economy.
www.marketwatch.com
So much win?
Please, tell me how does the community keep the win going? We must duplicate the process that has given the community so much win in the last 50 years.That's the model for win. Duplicate and scale up. As for reparations, I still wish the argument would be more focused on including Jim Crow. Focusing on slavery gives an easy out for the system. Slavery should not be separated from Jim Crow. And that's not even getting started on the Jim Crow 2 shit ALL these cocksuckers now admit was wrong.
So much win?
As for reparations, I still wish the argument would be more focused on including Jim Crow. Focusing on slavery gives an easy out for the system. Slavery should not be separated from Jim Crow. And that's not even getting started on the Jim Crow 2 shit ALL these cocksuckers now admit was wrong.
Actually, there is as much of a focus on the post-slavery period, Jim Crow, redlining, de facto and de jure segregation, and restrictions against Black access to capital. But, getting past the buffers and Demobots is proving to be our greatest immediate challenge. Just look at this board.
Yeah, I don't have much confidence. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. The democrats got the formula down. Plant black shills in the media and political positions of power and hand out crumbs to the rest of the people.
I'll just wait for the fine print of benefits apologists will come with in 4 years when folks ask what has the Biden administration done for us. Can you imagine having the president and congress and not getting anything done -- AGAIN?????!??! A repeat of 2009-10. So much win.
A Practical and Constitutional Proposal for Reparations for African-Americans
Benjamin G. Davis
Edited by: Brianna Bell | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
Benjamin G. Davis, a professor of law at University of Toledo College of Law in Toledo, Ohio discusses his case for reparations...
Responding to the discussions on Reparations are replete while the appalling reality on the ground is not in doubt, to be of assistance and subject to the wisdom of people who have been working on this far longer than me I put on my Business School hat and put this practical and constitutional proposal together. My bottom line is that it is not as hard as people make it out to be. It is not perfect no doubt but the best is the enemy of the good.
I. What Law? International Law (higher law for those originalists)
One might start from the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. While these are state to state rules, they can be analogized from human rights law given that humans have a form of international legal personality and also as a state in its sovereignty is free to invoke these rules against itself in how it has treated and treats its population. Some relevant sections:
II. Transatlantic Slave Trade
Each of those Transatlantic Slave Trade ships flew the flag of some state and so one can identify the state whose jurisdiction was over the ship and the destinee state and their state responsibility. The onward transshipment of enslaved people is not captured I do not think, but this is a start of evidence to identify the state actors.
For the United States, one can imagine three distinct periods of slavery and badges of slavery – up to 1865, 1865 to 1965, 1965 to present.
Persons included in the pool of persons would be the obvious descendants of Africans enslaved in the US, but would also include some less obvious such as:
For the economics, one could seek the assistance of people like Thomas Piketty (Capital in the 21st Century) who do long longitudinal economic analyses and Joseph Stigitz who critiques Piketty.
III. The process
Federal Legislation could create the equivalent of the Freedman’s Bureau where applications for reparations would be submitted. Plugin the persons in the various 9 boxes and the overlay to see the pools in which they swim. The lower the evidence the lower the payout. The longer the period of oppression the higher the payout within each category.
Said commission would make the decisions on allocations with a right of appeal to federal court.
One can see such a Reparations Commission can be conceived of and could be done. I defer to those who have done much more work on this than I have done of course.
One issue would be with the form of the reparation: cash or some other kind of assistance with housing, education, whatever.
I note the rule from international law that I described, to wit:
Article 34. Forms of reparation Full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act shall take the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction, either singly or in combination, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
So singly or in combination, the appropriate reparation could be determined.
The purpose here is not to get into all the weeds but to propose a simple and elegant structure of how this could be done. As I am retiring on January 31, 2021 and so am a pre-has-been, I hereby for eternity grant a paid-up nonexclusive license for anyone (especially a non-tenured junior professor) to work through the strengths and weaknesses of this approach to reparations which focuses on state responsibility rather than proving individual cases against individual people in private litigation.
Yes, there are details in the weeds and the devil always resides there, and at the margins between the three groups there will be debates etc, but the overall structure of the proposal has some valence for cutting through the rhetoric and finding a practical way of identifying the possible claimants, identifying the possible injury, and identifying the possible remedy.
IV. History and Interest Convergence
It would seem, just like in family law, that the rule to be applied is the totality of the circumstances approach. And, in doing that, we must avoid the kind of second-order games of structuring the rules of such a commission so that the evidence to be brought has to be a certain way and – surprise! – only a few can provide the appropriate evidence. We have seen this before with the Dawes Commission lists of who was a Native-American that systematically excluded blacks with Native-American blood. I am sure there are myriad commissions infected with this kind of sickness.
It has been said that one must acknowledge that the prospects of a white majority voluntarily transferring to marginalized people of color wealth, privilege, and/or power, in the form of reparations or anything else, are quite dim. In this view, the futility of race-based reparations could be seen as an inevitable corollary to Derrick Bell‘s familiar “interest convergence dilemma.” This is at the heart of what some see as an enormous (though some feel rarely acknowledged) tension between critical race theory and the argument for race-based reparations.
The false notion in this view is that the white majority is doing anything. This kind of personalization of the American state with whiteness is of course the problem with this thought process. And we know the American state in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches at the federal and state level have on occasion made counter-majoritarian decisions. In fact, one of the hallmarks of democratic processes as was repeatedly emphasized during the period of the fall of the Soviet Union in the Eastern European states was the need to protect the rights of minorities in those states.
The point I have made is that it is the American state that is doing the reparations for its internationally wrongful acts, not some monolithic white majority.
As to the so-called interest-convergence dilemma and a so-called tension between that and an argument for reparations to African-Americans, I have taken issue with Bell’s view in my own writings for it makes my human rights dependent on the vagaries of some interest-convergence with those who have shown a propensity in various times and places to not recognize my human rights.
One starts from the first principle of one’s human rights and then looks to the structures that have to be changed.
Secondly, I think that this “interest-convergence never happening because white people will never do it” view does a disservice to white people. White people may have privilege but they certainly are not monolithic in their consciousness. I fully expect a significant number of white people to see the merits of reparations. And, of course, white people are not the only persons in this polity and I can certainly see a multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural coalition that could back such a possibility. My unscientific estimate has been that 60 years ago 90 percent of white people in America despised black people. But, with an enormous amount of effort by all kinds of people, that number has declined. The best measure I heard was that the number had declined to 75 percent of white people despising black people by the time of Harold Washington’s election in Chicago – said to be the most segregated American city of its time. This was an analysis that UN Ambassador Andrew Young did at the time of that first election in 1983. And subsequent to that we have seen Devall Patrick elected Governor of Massachusetts to go from the local to the state level, Tim Scott and others as senators from both the north and south, and of course Barack Obama as President. As Iowans – a very white electorate I should say – chanted when Obama won the Iowa primary “race doesn’t matter.” One might posit that number as somewhere around 40 percent of white people today with it seems a difference between white men (the most privileged white people) and white women (the less privileged white people).
That still means that 2 out of every 5 white people I meet may be carrying animus towards me. But, that is their trip not mine toward them.
History does matter and the schizoid view of on the one hand adulating the Founders and Framers and on the other hand not coming to a reckoning with their slave-ownership has increasingly become untenable. I saw, the morning I wrote this, Lynne Cheney, wife of Dick Cheney no less, talking about this in presenting her new book Lynne V. Cheney: The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation about Washington, Jefferson, Madison and James Monroe. Maybe the originalist’ academy needs to catch up.
One cannot just talk about their slavery as American’s original sin and try to leave it back there but then try to take us back there to have us wear blinders as to where we think.
Similarly, for the living constitutionalists, one cannot say this is the best way and deal with the fact that as recently as 60 years ago (so in MY lifetime) by my estimate, 90 percent of white Americans despised African-Americans and how all that has permeated every aspect of what the state has done in this country.
And let us not forget that persons who do not share that oppressive view have fought against it in the antebellum period and since (at all times asserting human rights).
V. Hypothetical Situations
Everyone can come up with a series of hypothetical situations which once again confuse in my opinion the level of wealth or accomplishment of someone with whether they should receive reparations from the state. I would say that with the range of remedies I describe above and under a totality of circumstances vision of the evidence to be brought, one person’s remedy might be a formal apology and a payment of nominal damages, and another person’s remedy might be substantial damages. Yes, there is a need to treat similar situations similarly. I get it. But what I am saying is that none of this is insurmountable if the commission I described is tasked with both applying law and equity.
Everyone would have former President Barack Obama on their mind as a principal hypothetical. I hesitate to jump into the Barack Obama hypo because in a sense I get into playing the hypothetical game. But, for the sake of fun, let us play. Barack Obama was born in 1961 so he would have proof that he would fall in the second category of 1865-1965 for a little bit. Post-1965 to the present he would have to bring evidence on behalf of himself and his family about the extent of his injury under the totality of circumstances test. And even in the high status position he was and is in, we watched the injury relentlessly over his 8-year Presidency – but there may be other things. He has to marshall the evidence of his injury and entitlement. The greater the evidence of injury the higher the remedy. Michelle Obama presents a different case because I believe her family goes back much farther in US history. Again the totality of circumstances analysis
And as to evidence, I think also we may underestimate the agency of African-Americans. Similar to the Ancestry.com searches we see, there are family Bibles, genealogical searches like have been done in my family, family reunions with documentation of the history of families, documentation from plantations and on and on that a person seeking such reparation could bring forward as part of their presentation in support of a remedy. I have a copy of the bill of sale from 1800 of my ancestor Barbary for example.
Some might not spend the time and energy to seek such relief. That is fine. Some may not have more than their birth certificate saying that they were born at x date and thus fall into two of the categories. But they may have oral testimony of what happened in their life (a la Truth and Reconciliation Commission) that can be given under oath to assist such a commission in its evaluation.
VI. Public Opinion and Funding
As to polls that may be against this idea, I go back again to the point I noted above that attitudes change. The attitude of the black community changed to Barack Obama from before he won Iowa to when he won the Iowa primary seeing white voters showing a willingness to vote for an African-American man. And we are seeing now with Kamala Harris as a Vice-President-elect that an African-Indian-American can also be elected.
Paraphrasing what Sojourner Truth said to Frederick Douglass in his moment of despair in his speech at Faneuil Hall in Boston speech, if God is alive, then there is always hope.
And for those who say “how will this be funded?” – that is for the bean counters (accountants) and one-armed economists (on the one hand, on the other hand) to come up with the numbers that are fair first and then for that debate on funding to be done. I am sure they are quite capable of thinking this through with their supercomputers that are able to crunch vast amounts of data in the blink of an eye. I suspect that there are some who have already taken a stab at this. The one’s I am aware of that I would think might be helpful are Thomas Piketty because of his longitudinal approach over centuries and Joseph Stiglitz who is a critic of Piketty. Somewhere in there they might be able to come to a consensus.
Again, where there is a will there is a way.
Benjamin G. Davis is a Professor of Law at the University of Toledo College of Law.
www.jurist.org
Benjamin G. Davis
Edited by: Brianna Bell | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
Benjamin G. Davis, a professor of law at University of Toledo College of Law in Toledo, Ohio discusses his case for reparations...
Responding to the discussions on Reparations are replete while the appalling reality on the ground is not in doubt, to be of assistance and subject to the wisdom of people who have been working on this far longer than me I put on my Business School hat and put this practical and constitutional proposal together. My bottom line is that it is not as hard as people make it out to be. It is not perfect no doubt but the best is the enemy of the good.
I. What Law? International Law (higher law for those originalists)
One might start from the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. While these are state to state rules, they can be analogized from human rights law given that humans have a form of international legal personality and also as a state in its sovereignty is free to invoke these rules against itself in how it has treated and treats its population. Some relevant sections:
- Article 1. Responsibility of a State for its internationally wrongful acts: Every internationally wrongful act of a State entails the international responsibility of that State
- Article 3. Characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful The characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful is governed by international law. Such characterization is not affected by the characterization of the same act as lawful by internal law
- Article 12. Existence of a breach of an international obligation There is a breach of an international obligation by a State when an act of that State is not in conformity with what is required of it by that obligation, regardless of its origin or character
- Article 28. Legal consequences of an internationally wrongful act The international responsibility of a State which is entailed by an internationally wrongful act in accordance with the provisions of Part One involves legal consequences as set out in this Part
- Article 31. Reparation
- The responsible State is under an obligation to make full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act.
- Injury includes any damage, whether material or moral, caused by the internationally wrongful act of a State.
- Article 32. Irrelevance of internal law The responsible State may not rely on the provisions of its internal law as justification for failure to comply with its obligations under this Part.
- Article 34. Forms of reparation Full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act shall take the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction, either singly or in combination, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
- Article 40. Application of this chapter
- This chapter applies to the international responsibility which is entailed by a serious breach by a State of an obligation arising under a peremptory norm of general international law.
- A breach of such an obligation is serious if it involves a gross or systematic failure by the responsible State to fulfill the obligation.
- Period
II. Transatlantic Slave Trade
Each of those Transatlantic Slave Trade ships flew the flag of some state and so one can identify the state whose jurisdiction was over the ship and the destinee state and their state responsibility. The onward transshipment of enslaved people is not captured I do not think, but this is a start of evidence to identify the state actors.
For the United States, one can imagine three distinct periods of slavery and badges of slavery – up to 1865, 1865 to 1965, 1965 to present.
Persons included in the pool of persons would be the obvious descendants of Africans enslaved in the US, but would also include some less obvious such as:
- descendants of escaped enslaved people who got to Canada (Afro-Canadians) or Mexico (Afro-Mexicans) or other places
- people of African Descent who emigrated to the United States post-slavery for the badges of slavery part
- people of African Descent who left the United States post-slavery (GI’s who stayed in theater, others who left the United States such as Richard Wright)
- people who died in the Transatlantic Slave Trade (who did not survive the Middle Passage)
- enslaved persons or persons who died post-slavery who did not have descendants are another couple of groups (those who died in slavery or post-slavery with no progeny) whose reparation should be included in the reparation package as maybe an overlay pool that might be used for apology and satisfaction.
| Up to 1865 to present | 1865 to present | 1965 to present | ||
| High Evidence – Level 1 | Highest reparation – Level 1A | Next highest reparation – Level 1B | Next highest reparation – Level 1C | Level 1 Pool |
| Average Evidence – Level 2 | Highest reparation – Level 2A | Next highest reparation – Level 2B | Next highest reparation – Level 2C | Level 2t Pool |
| Low Evidence – Level 3 | Highest reparation – Level 3A | Next highest reparation – Level 3B | Next highest reparation – Level 3C | Level 3 Pool |
| Total | Total Pool |
III. The process
Federal Legislation could create the equivalent of the Freedman’s Bureau where applications for reparations would be submitted. Plugin the persons in the various 9 boxes and the overlay to see the pools in which they swim. The lower the evidence the lower the payout. The longer the period of oppression the higher the payout within each category.
Said commission would make the decisions on allocations with a right of appeal to federal court.
One can see such a Reparations Commission can be conceived of and could be done. I defer to those who have done much more work on this than I have done of course.
One issue would be with the form of the reparation: cash or some other kind of assistance with housing, education, whatever.
I note the rule from international law that I described, to wit:
Article 34. Forms of reparation Full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act shall take the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction, either singly or in combination, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
So singly or in combination, the appropriate reparation could be determined.
The purpose here is not to get into all the weeds but to propose a simple and elegant structure of how this could be done. As I am retiring on January 31, 2021 and so am a pre-has-been, I hereby for eternity grant a paid-up nonexclusive license for anyone (especially a non-tenured junior professor) to work through the strengths and weaknesses of this approach to reparations which focuses on state responsibility rather than proving individual cases against individual people in private litigation.
Yes, there are details in the weeds and the devil always resides there, and at the margins between the three groups there will be debates etc, but the overall structure of the proposal has some valence for cutting through the rhetoric and finding a practical way of identifying the possible claimants, identifying the possible injury, and identifying the possible remedy.
IV. History and Interest Convergence
It would seem, just like in family law, that the rule to be applied is the totality of the circumstances approach. And, in doing that, we must avoid the kind of second-order games of structuring the rules of such a commission so that the evidence to be brought has to be a certain way and – surprise! – only a few can provide the appropriate evidence. We have seen this before with the Dawes Commission lists of who was a Native-American that systematically excluded blacks with Native-American blood. I am sure there are myriad commissions infected with this kind of sickness.
It has been said that one must acknowledge that the prospects of a white majority voluntarily transferring to marginalized people of color wealth, privilege, and/or power, in the form of reparations or anything else, are quite dim. In this view, the futility of race-based reparations could be seen as an inevitable corollary to Derrick Bell‘s familiar “interest convergence dilemma.” This is at the heart of what some see as an enormous (though some feel rarely acknowledged) tension between critical race theory and the argument for race-based reparations.
The false notion in this view is that the white majority is doing anything. This kind of personalization of the American state with whiteness is of course the problem with this thought process. And we know the American state in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches at the federal and state level have on occasion made counter-majoritarian decisions. In fact, one of the hallmarks of democratic processes as was repeatedly emphasized during the period of the fall of the Soviet Union in the Eastern European states was the need to protect the rights of minorities in those states.
The point I have made is that it is the American state that is doing the reparations for its internationally wrongful acts, not some monolithic white majority.
As to the so-called interest-convergence dilemma and a so-called tension between that and an argument for reparations to African-Americans, I have taken issue with Bell’s view in my own writings for it makes my human rights dependent on the vagaries of some interest-convergence with those who have shown a propensity in various times and places to not recognize my human rights.
One starts from the first principle of one’s human rights and then looks to the structures that have to be changed.
Secondly, I think that this “interest-convergence never happening because white people will never do it” view does a disservice to white people. White people may have privilege but they certainly are not monolithic in their consciousness. I fully expect a significant number of white people to see the merits of reparations. And, of course, white people are not the only persons in this polity and I can certainly see a multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural coalition that could back such a possibility. My unscientific estimate has been that 60 years ago 90 percent of white people in America despised black people. But, with an enormous amount of effort by all kinds of people, that number has declined. The best measure I heard was that the number had declined to 75 percent of white people despising black people by the time of Harold Washington’s election in Chicago – said to be the most segregated American city of its time. This was an analysis that UN Ambassador Andrew Young did at the time of that first election in 1983. And subsequent to that we have seen Devall Patrick elected Governor of Massachusetts to go from the local to the state level, Tim Scott and others as senators from both the north and south, and of course Barack Obama as President. As Iowans – a very white electorate I should say – chanted when Obama won the Iowa primary “race doesn’t matter.” One might posit that number as somewhere around 40 percent of white people today with it seems a difference between white men (the most privileged white people) and white women (the less privileged white people).
That still means that 2 out of every 5 white people I meet may be carrying animus towards me. But, that is their trip not mine toward them.
History does matter and the schizoid view of on the one hand adulating the Founders and Framers and on the other hand not coming to a reckoning with their slave-ownership has increasingly become untenable. I saw, the morning I wrote this, Lynne Cheney, wife of Dick Cheney no less, talking about this in presenting her new book Lynne V. Cheney: The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation about Washington, Jefferson, Madison and James Monroe. Maybe the originalist’ academy needs to catch up.
One cannot just talk about their slavery as American’s original sin and try to leave it back there but then try to take us back there to have us wear blinders as to where we think.
Similarly, for the living constitutionalists, one cannot say this is the best way and deal with the fact that as recently as 60 years ago (so in MY lifetime) by my estimate, 90 percent of white Americans despised African-Americans and how all that has permeated every aspect of what the state has done in this country.
And let us not forget that persons who do not share that oppressive view have fought against it in the antebellum period and since (at all times asserting human rights).
V. Hypothetical Situations
Everyone can come up with a series of hypothetical situations which once again confuse in my opinion the level of wealth or accomplishment of someone with whether they should receive reparations from the state. I would say that with the range of remedies I describe above and under a totality of circumstances vision of the evidence to be brought, one person’s remedy might be a formal apology and a payment of nominal damages, and another person’s remedy might be substantial damages. Yes, there is a need to treat similar situations similarly. I get it. But what I am saying is that none of this is insurmountable if the commission I described is tasked with both applying law and equity.
Everyone would have former President Barack Obama on their mind as a principal hypothetical. I hesitate to jump into the Barack Obama hypo because in a sense I get into playing the hypothetical game. But, for the sake of fun, let us play. Barack Obama was born in 1961 so he would have proof that he would fall in the second category of 1865-1965 for a little bit. Post-1965 to the present he would have to bring evidence on behalf of himself and his family about the extent of his injury under the totality of circumstances test. And even in the high status position he was and is in, we watched the injury relentlessly over his 8-year Presidency – but there may be other things. He has to marshall the evidence of his injury and entitlement. The greater the evidence of injury the higher the remedy. Michelle Obama presents a different case because I believe her family goes back much farther in US history. Again the totality of circumstances analysis
And as to evidence, I think also we may underestimate the agency of African-Americans. Similar to the Ancestry.com searches we see, there are family Bibles, genealogical searches like have been done in my family, family reunions with documentation of the history of families, documentation from plantations and on and on that a person seeking such reparation could bring forward as part of their presentation in support of a remedy. I have a copy of the bill of sale from 1800 of my ancestor Barbary for example.
Some might not spend the time and energy to seek such relief. That is fine. Some may not have more than their birth certificate saying that they were born at x date and thus fall into two of the categories. But they may have oral testimony of what happened in their life (a la Truth and Reconciliation Commission) that can be given under oath to assist such a commission in its evaluation.
VI. Public Opinion and Funding
As to polls that may be against this idea, I go back again to the point I noted above that attitudes change. The attitude of the black community changed to Barack Obama from before he won Iowa to when he won the Iowa primary seeing white voters showing a willingness to vote for an African-American man. And we are seeing now with Kamala Harris as a Vice-President-elect that an African-Indian-American can also be elected.
Paraphrasing what Sojourner Truth said to Frederick Douglass in his moment of despair in his speech at Faneuil Hall in Boston speech, if God is alive, then there is always hope.
And for those who say “how will this be funded?” – that is for the bean counters (accountants) and one-armed economists (on the one hand, on the other hand) to come up with the numbers that are fair first and then for that debate on funding to be done. I am sure they are quite capable of thinking this through with their supercomputers that are able to crunch vast amounts of data in the blink of an eye. I suspect that there are some who have already taken a stab at this. The one’s I am aware of that I would think might be helpful are Thomas Piketty because of his longitudinal approach over centuries and Joseph Stiglitz who is a critic of Piketty. Somewhere in there they might be able to come to a consensus.
Again, where there is a will there is a way.
Benjamin G. Davis is a Professor of Law at the University of Toledo College of Law.
A Practical and Constitutional Proposal for Reparations for African-Americans
Responding to the discussions on Reparations are replete while the appalling reality on the ground is not in doubt, to be of assistance and subject to the wisdom of people who have been working on thi...
Thanks for the link Bruh...I'm gonna have to come back to this for a thorough reading.A Practical and Constitutional Proposal for Reparations for African-Americans
Benjamin G. Davis
Edited by: Brianna Bell | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
Benjamin G. Davis, a professor of law at University of Toledo College of Law in Toledo, Ohio discusses his case for reparations...
Responding to the discussions on Reparations are replete while the appalling reality on the ground is not in doubt, to be of assistance and subject to the wisdom of people who have been working on this far longer than me I put on my Business School hat and put this practical and constitutional proposal together. My bottom line is that it is not as hard as people make it out to be. It is not perfect no doubt but the best is the enemy of the good.
I. What Law? International Law (higher law for those originalists)
One might start from the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. While these are state to state rules, they can be analogized from human rights law given that humans have a form of international legal personality and also as a state in its sovereignty is free to invoke these rules against itself in how it has treated and treats its population. Some relevant sections:
The reparations issue actually goes back to 1452-1455 and involved more than the United States and 1619. It starts with the Papal Bulls to Spain and Portugal in the mid-1400’s blessing and calling for the perpetual enslavement of Africans among other depredations. The Papal Bull said: “…Thence also many Guineamen and other negroes, taken by force, and some by barter of unprohibited articles, or by other lawful contract of purchase, have been sent to the said kingdoms…and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit…”
- Article 1. Responsibility of a State for its internationally wrongful acts: Every internationally wrongful act of a State entails the international responsibility of that State
- Article 3. Characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful The characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful is governed by international law. Such characterization is not affected by the characterization of the same act as lawful by internal law
- Article 12. Existence of a breach of an international obligation There is a breach of an international obligation by a State when an act of that State is not in conformity with what is required of it by that obligation, regardless of its origin or character
- Article 28. Legal consequences of an internationally wrongful act The international responsibility of a State which is entailed by an internationally wrongful act in accordance with the provisions of Part One involves legal consequences as set out in this Part
- Article 31. Reparation
- The responsible State is under an obligation to make full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act.
- Injury includes any damage, whether material or moral, caused by the internationally wrongful act of a State.
- Article 32. Irrelevance of internal law The responsible State may not rely on the provisions of its internal law as justification for failure to comply with its obligations under this Part.
- Article 34. Forms of reparation Full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act shall take the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction, either singly or in combination, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
- Article 40. Application of this chapter
- This chapter applies to the international responsibility which is entailed by a serious breach by a State of an obligation arising under a peremptory norm of general international law.
- A breach of such an obligation is serious if it involves a gross or systematic failure by the responsible State to fulfill the obligation.
- Period
II. Transatlantic Slave Trade
Each of those Transatlantic Slave Trade ships flew the flag of some state and so one can identify the state whose jurisdiction was over the ship and the destinee state and their state responsibility. The onward transshipment of enslaved people is not captured I do not think, but this is a start of evidence to identify the state actors.
For the United States, one can imagine three distinct periods of slavery and badges of slavery – up to 1865, 1865 to 1965, 1965 to present.
Persons included in the pool of persons would be the obvious descendants of Africans enslaved in the US, but would also include some less obvious such as:
Here is a suggestion of a formulaic key – drawn from examples such as the UN Compensation Committee. The stronger the evidence for the longest period the higher the reparation (Level IA. The weaker the evidence for the shortest period, the smaller the reparation (Level 3C).
- descendants of escaped enslaved people who got to Canada (Afro-Canadians) or Mexico (Afro-Mexicans) or other places
- people of African Descent who emigrated to the United States post-slavery for the badges of slavery part
- people of African Descent who left the United States post-slavery (GI’s who stayed in theater, others who left the United States such as Richard Wright)
- people who died in the Transatlantic Slave Trade (who did not survive the Middle Passage)
- enslaved persons or persons who died post-slavery who did not have descendants are another couple of groups (those who died in slavery or post-slavery with no progeny) whose reparation should be included in the reparation package as maybe an overlay pool that might be used for apology and satisfaction.
For the economics, one could seek the assistance of people like Thomas Piketty (Capital in the 21st Century) who do long longitudinal economic analyses and Joseph Stigitz who critiques Piketty.
Up to 1865 to present 1865 to present 1965 to present High Evidence – Level 1 Highest reparation – Level 1A Next highest reparation – Level 1B Next highest reparation – Level 1C Level 1 Pool Average Evidence – Level 2 Highest reparation – Level 2A Next highest reparation – Level 2B Next highest reparation – Level 2C Level 2t Pool Low Evidence – Level 3 Highest reparation – Level 3A Next highest reparation – Level 3B Next highest reparation – Level 3C Level 3 Pool Total Total Pool
III. The process
Federal Legislation could create the equivalent of the Freedman’s Bureau where applications for reparations would be submitted. Plugin the persons in the various 9 boxes and the overlay to see the pools in which they swim. The lower the evidence the lower the payout. The longer the period of oppression the higher the payout within each category.
Said commission would make the decisions on allocations with a right of appeal to federal court.
One can see such a Reparations Commission can be conceived of and could be done. I defer to those who have done much more work on this than I have done of course.
One issue would be with the form of the reparation: cash or some other kind of assistance with housing, education, whatever.
I note the rule from international law that I described, to wit:
Article 34. Forms of reparation Full reparation for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act shall take the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction, either singly or in combination, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
So singly or in combination, the appropriate reparation could be determined.
The purpose here is not to get into all the weeds but to propose a simple and elegant structure of how this could be done. As I am retiring on January 31, 2021 and so am a pre-has-been, I hereby for eternity grant a paid-up nonexclusive license for anyone (especially a non-tenured junior professor) to work through the strengths and weaknesses of this approach to reparations which focuses on state responsibility rather than proving individual cases against individual people in private litigation.
Yes, there are details in the weeds and the devil always resides there, and at the margins between the three groups there will be debates etc, but the overall structure of the proposal has some valence for cutting through the rhetoric and finding a practical way of identifying the possible claimants, identifying the possible injury, and identifying the possible remedy.
IV. History and Interest Convergence
It would seem, just like in family law, that the rule to be applied is the totality of the circumstances approach. And, in doing that, we must avoid the kind of second-order games of structuring the rules of such a commission so that the evidence to be brought has to be a certain way and – surprise! – only a few can provide the appropriate evidence. We have seen this before with the Dawes Commission lists of who was a Native-American that systematically excluded blacks with Native-American blood. I am sure there are myriad commissions infected with this kind of sickness.
It has been said that one must acknowledge that the prospects of a white majority voluntarily transferring to marginalized people of color wealth, privilege, and/or power, in the form of reparations or anything else, are quite dim. In this view, the futility of race-based reparations could be seen as an inevitable corollary to Derrick Bell‘s familiar “interest convergence dilemma.” This is at the heart of what some see as an enormous (though some feel rarely acknowledged) tension between critical race theory and the argument for race-based reparations.
The false notion in this view is that the white majority is doing anything. This kind of personalization of the American state with whiteness is of course the problem with this thought process. And we know the American state in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches at the federal and state level have on occasion made counter-majoritarian decisions. In fact, one of the hallmarks of democratic processes as was repeatedly emphasized during the period of the fall of the Soviet Union in the Eastern European states was the need to protect the rights of minorities in those states.
The point I have made is that it is the American state that is doing the reparations for its internationally wrongful acts, not some monolithic white majority.
As to the so-called interest-convergence dilemma and a so-called tension between that and an argument for reparations to African-Americans, I have taken issue with Bell’s view in my own writings for it makes my human rights dependent on the vagaries of some interest-convergence with those who have shown a propensity in various times and places to not recognize my human rights.
One starts from the first principle of one’s human rights and then looks to the structures that have to be changed.
Secondly, I think that this “interest-convergence never happening because white people will never do it” view does a disservice to white people. White people may have privilege but they certainly are not monolithic in their consciousness. I fully expect a significant number of white people to see the merits of reparations. And, of course, white people are not the only persons in this polity and I can certainly see a multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural coalition that could back such a possibility. My unscientific estimate has been that 60 years ago 90 percent of white people in America despised black people. But, with an enormous amount of effort by all kinds of people, that number has declined. The best measure I heard was that the number had declined to 75 percent of white people despising black people by the time of Harold Washington’s election in Chicago – said to be the most segregated American city of its time. This was an analysis that UN Ambassador Andrew Young did at the time of that first election in 1983. And subsequent to that we have seen Devall Patrick elected Governor of Massachusetts to go from the local to the state level, Tim Scott and others as senators from both the north and south, and of course Barack Obama as President. As Iowans – a very white electorate I should say – chanted when Obama won the Iowa primary “race doesn’t matter.” One might posit that number as somewhere around 40 percent of white people today with it seems a difference between white men (the most privileged white people) and white women (the less privileged white people).
That still means that 2 out of every 5 white people I meet may be carrying animus towards me. But, that is their trip not mine toward them.
History does matter and the schizoid view of on the one hand adulating the Founders and Framers and on the other hand not coming to a reckoning with their slave-ownership has increasingly become untenable. I saw, the morning I wrote this, Lynne Cheney, wife of Dick Cheney no less, talking about this in presenting her new book Lynne V. Cheney: The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation about Washington, Jefferson, Madison and James Monroe. Maybe the originalist’ academy needs to catch up.
One cannot just talk about their slavery as American’s original sin and try to leave it back there but then try to take us back there to have us wear blinders as to where we think.
Similarly, for the living constitutionalists, one cannot say this is the best way and deal with the fact that as recently as 60 years ago (so in MY lifetime) by my estimate, 90 percent of white Americans despised African-Americans and how all that has permeated every aspect of what the state has done in this country.
And let us not forget that persons who do not share that oppressive view have fought against it in the antebellum period and since (at all times asserting human rights).
V. Hypothetical Situations
Everyone can come up with a series of hypothetical situations which once again confuse in my opinion the level of wealth or accomplishment of someone with whether they should receive reparations from the state. I would say that with the range of remedies I describe above and under a totality of circumstances vision of the evidence to be brought, one person’s remedy might be a formal apology and a payment of nominal damages, and another person’s remedy might be substantial damages. Yes, there is a need to treat similar situations similarly. I get it. But what I am saying is that none of this is insurmountable if the commission I described is tasked with both applying law and equity.
Everyone would have former President Barack Obama on their mind as a principal hypothetical. I hesitate to jump into the Barack Obama hypo because in a sense I get into playing the hypothetical game. But, for the sake of fun, let us play. Barack Obama was born in 1961 so he would have proof that he would fall in the second category of 1865-1965 for a little bit. Post-1965 to the present he would have to bring evidence on behalf of himself and his family about the extent of his injury under the totality of circumstances test. And even in the high status position he was and is in, we watched the injury relentlessly over his 8-year Presidency – but there may be other things. He has to marshall the evidence of his injury and entitlement. The greater the evidence of injury the higher the remedy. Michelle Obama presents a different case because I believe her family goes back much farther in US history. Again the totality of circumstances analysis
And as to evidence, I think also we may underestimate the agency of African-Americans. Similar to the Ancestry.com searches we see, there are family Bibles, genealogical searches like have been done in my family, family reunions with documentation of the history of families, documentation from plantations and on and on that a person seeking such reparation could bring forward as part of their presentation in support of a remedy. I have a copy of the bill of sale from 1800 of my ancestor Barbary for example.
Some might not spend the time and energy to seek such relief. That is fine. Some may not have more than their birth certificate saying that they were born at x date and thus fall into two of the categories. But they may have oral testimony of what happened in their life (a la Truth and Reconciliation Commission) that can be given under oath to assist such a commission in its evaluation.
VI. Public Opinion and Funding
As to polls that may be against this idea, I go back again to the point I noted above that attitudes change. The attitude of the black community changed to Barack Obama from before he won Iowa to when he won the Iowa primary seeing white voters showing a willingness to vote for an African-American man. And we are seeing now with Kamala Harris as a Vice-President-elect that an African-Indian-American can also be elected.
Paraphrasing what Sojourner Truth said to Frederick Douglass in his moment of despair in his speech at Faneuil Hall in Boston speech, if God is alive, then there is always hope.
And for those who say “how will this be funded?” – that is for the bean counters (accountants) and one-armed economists (on the one hand, on the other hand) to come up with the numbers that are fair first and then for that debate on funding to be done. I am sure they are quite capable of thinking this through with their supercomputers that are able to crunch vast amounts of data in the blink of an eye. I suspect that there are some who have already taken a stab at this. The one’s I am aware of that I would think might be helpful are Thomas Piketty because of his longitudinal approach over centuries and Joseph Stiglitz who is a critic of Piketty. Somewhere in there they might be able to come to a consensus.
Again, where there is a will there is a way.
Benjamin G. Davis is a Professor of Law at the University of Toledo College of Law.
A Practical and Constitutional Proposal for Reparations for African-Americans
Responding to the discussions on Reparations are replete while the appalling reality on the ground is not in doubt, to be of assistance and subject to the wisdom of people who have been working on thi...
I guess i need to see what's going on in here.
Im not sure people will agree with me.. But theirs not enuf money on this planet to repay us copper color people on this country!! They have to pay for stolen resources, stolen inventions, stolen land, payment for miseducation, payment for free labor, payment for putting our people in prison for payments to the rich, payment for flooding our neighborhoods with drugs and guns for payments for the rich, payment for medical experiments and I can go on and on..
@fonzerrillii
FHTE Reparationist Quick Guide
January 2021 - Volume 1 Issue 2
About Us
The FHTE (From Here to Equality) Reparationist Quick Guide Response was
initially established in October of 2020, as the ADOS Reparationist Quick Guide©, and is
designed to be a civic engagement resource for anyone. It allows supporters to take an
ownership share in our online social justice advocacy. Authorship is being encouraged from
every sector and community of citizens concerned with the restorative justice of black
American Descendants of Slavery (i.e., ADOS) and the closing of the black-white racial
wealth gap. The book From here to equality: Reparations for black Americans in the
twentieth century (Darity & Mullen, 2020) will serve as our base source for the volumes’
invited authors. Each issue will contain four topics and five quick points from four featured
authors who offer their responses to commonly held positions in opposition to reparations or
frequently asked questions (FAQ) about African American reparations.
The inherited disadvantages of slavery and the inability to transfer wealth to ADOS
descendants have been a significant contributor to the bottom class positionality of this ethnic
group. This series is published to encourage study and dialogue. It is an instrument for
personal empowerment. The guide creates a space for the civic engagement participation of
Reparationist in national coalition-building, including petitioning for significant revision (or
replacement) of the bill H.R. 40 (S.1083) currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress.
Civic Engagement and Adult Learning - Lisa R. Brown
1. “Why can’t the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) give ADOS
reparations?”
• The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is the judicial and third branch of our nation’s
government; the other two are the Executive Branch (President) and the
Legislative Branch (Congress, made up of the Senate and House of
Representatives). The SCOTUS is tasked with interpreting the law made by
Congress per the United States Constitution.
In the 19th century, the SCOTUS adopted a pro-slavery stance, as reflected in the
1857 Dred Scott decision. A black family was living with a U.S. Army surgeon
who had enslaved them in Illinois before moving to a territory where slavery was
illegal (what is present-day Minnesota). The SCOTUS’s ruling against the Scotts’
pursuit of freedom upheld the Fugitive Slave Act passed by the U.S. Congress in
1850. The Act meant that runaway slaves escaping to slave-free states were in
violation of the law and must be returned to their owner(s) (FHTE, paragraph 2,
pp. 90 – 92). Additionally, rights extended to Freedmen—such as voting rights—
only were granted via Constitutional Amendment during Reconstruction and not
by a SCOTUS proclamation.
2
Coupled with the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that upheld legal segregation in the
United States, a decision whose reversal did not begin until the Brown v. Board
(1954) decision, the SCOTUS has not been a bastion of support for black rights.
As the Brown decision itself demonstrates, the Supreme Court does not have the
capacity to enforce or finance its policy mandates.
Therefore, even in the unlikely event that the SCOTUS declared African American
reparations valid, the Court would have no ability to make it happen. It must be the
legislative branch of our Government (i.e., Congress) that could offer and pay for
any sustainable framework of a national reparations program for ADOS citizens,
not the Supreme Court of the United States.
2. “Why should ADOS consider the year 1776 as the start date for a Reparations
claim?”
• At the time of the Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776, nearly 25%
of the inhabitants of the 13 colonies were black (about one-half million people). In
1790, the first post-Revolutionary War Census recorded that 90% of North
American blacks were enslaved, and only 8% were free. The Continental Congress
charted the establishment of the new sovereign nation on June 11, 1776. Five men
were appointed to draft the declaration. Although black patriots fought in the
Continental army on behalf of the 13 colonies to win victory and freedom from
English rule, emancipation was not given to the black enslaved population. In fact,
after the war victory, promises of freedom to slaves who fought in the Continental
Army were rescinded by whites.
Of the five men selected to pen the Declaration of Independence, Thomas
Jefferson was its chief writer. The Declaration, by ushering the United States into
existence as a Slave Republic, allowed even the most impoverished whites to hold
dominance over blacks. Jefferson’s views on the humanity of enslaved Africans
and their descendants as being on par with whites were untenable. This claim’s
evidence reflects Jefferson’s aristocratic upbringing, where he inherited and
maintained slaves (FHTE, paragraph 3, pp. 69 - 70; 75- 76). Moreover, Thomas
Jefferson fathered children by a woman, Sally Hemings, enslaved by him and she
bore him sons and daughters who were not free-born human beings but Jefferson’s
enslaved chattel.
3. “How can reparations for ADOS improve our civic engagement as adults or remove
barriers to higher education?”
• Granting reparations to ADOS would validate black Americans’ full rights as
citizens and inspire their civic participation in preserving the only Nation their
families have known for centuries, dissimilar to AAFL (African Ancestry Foreign
Lineage) Americans. As a matter of justice, reparations would affirm for the
native black population that our Government was complicit in the atrocities visited
upon ADOS, including the denial of equal benefits to whites, for this ethnic group
from the Nation’s founding to the present day. Reparations open the door locked
against Thomas Jefferson’s proclamation, “We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,” a proclamation unjustly refused to ADOS and their
families in America.
3
Post-secondary education at the college and university level provides adults with
an expanded knowledge base about American history and how our democratic
republic operates. The rising cost of higher education has stymied ADOS’s
participation in this valuable franchise that can lead to a more robust electorate and civically engaged citizenry.
Closing the black-white wealth gap via direct- payments to those who this author describes as black ethnics possessing decades of
Ancestral Black American Lineage (ABAL) in this country is just. Reparations
empower ADOS to become better stewards of their educational, economic, and
civic futures in America. Moreover, elite colleges and universities profiteered from
slavery, further strengthening the case that a debt is owed (FHTE, paragraph 3, p.
389).
4. “Did the post-civil war 3/5th compromise mean that former slaves and their ADOS
children were three-fifths of a human being?”
• The three-fifths compromise meme is often used to gaslight native black
Americans. It is a simpleton’s insult to charge that the worth of an ADOS life was
only 3/5ths the value of a white life. First, the slight is ahistorical because the
three-fifths compromise was adopted in the new Nation's Constitution—before the
Civil War—following the American Revolutionary War with Great
Britain. Nevertheless, the compromise was a far more complex and egregious
decision than a simple snub towards blacks. It helped cement slavery into the new
republic's ethos (FHTE, paragraph 6, pp. 80 – 81). Adopting the new nation’s
Constitution in 1787 included a three-fifths counting metric for the numbering of
enslaved populations held mostly in the South for purposes of Congressional
representation and taxation.
Specifically, the arrangement was applicable to states where direct taxes were
assessed by population size. Initially, taxes were calculated based on the white
landowner’s property value without accounting for their human property (i.e.,
slaves). However, Southern lawmakers negotiated a compromise in the
Constitution to increase their tax burden in exchange for slaves only being counted
as 3/5ths of the individual enumerated state inhabitant. This political move made
for a greater tax burden among owners of human property in the slaveholding
states, but also granted them greater surrogates in Congressional and Electoral
College representation. Hence, acceptance of the Southern planters’ legal
maneuver allowed them to elect representatives who would vote to uphold slavery
thereby locking in the institution as an economic engine for the South. The
formerly enslaved were not given the franchise until after the Civil War via the
Reconstruction Era passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870. It was not until the
1965 Voting Rights Act that all legal barriers were removed, such that their
descendants had, in principle, the right to vote.
5. “Is it true that the first blacks elected to the House of Representatives and the Senate
were Republican Reparationists, and how did President Lincoln’s successor Andrew
Johnson (a Democrat) undermine their politics?”
• During a period of great abolitionist activism, the two main political parties were
the Democrats, primarily southerners, and the Whigs, mostly northerners. The
4
Democrats split into Northern and Southern factions. A newly constituted anti-
slavery Republican Party replaced the Whigs party and selected Abraham Lincoln
as its presidential candidate (FHTE, paragraph 6, p. 147).
After the war, the Reconstruction era witnessed the first black Senators elected to
serve in the upper house of Congress. They were Senator Hiram Revels in 1870-
71, and Senator Balance K. Bruce (1875-1881), the latter born a slave in Prince
Edwards County, Virginia. Both men were Republicans representing the state of
Mississippi (FHTE, paragraph 3, p. 227). Revels served during the Reconstruction
Era and was a minister of the AME Church and a college administrator. He was
born free in North Carolina and later lived and worked in Ohio, where he could
vote before the Civil War. Following Bruce’s term, Mississippi adopted a new
constitution that essentially denied the black residents' vote (FHTE, paragraph 3, p.
227). Revels and Bruce were the only black Senators elected and seated until
Edward Brooke’s (Mass-R) general election victory in 1967 (FHTE, p. 379, Note
#33).
President Lincoln’s successor, Democrat Andrew Johnson (1865-69), publicly
espoused anti-slavery rhetoric but held a secret disdain for black Americans
(FHTE, paragraph 1, p.161). He also avoided being harsh toward punishing ex-
Confederate leaders, which served to shape his less than enthusiastic approach to
Reconstruction and establishing black rights for the Freedmen (FHTE, paragraph
6;2, pp. 161-162.). Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives,
February 24, 1868. However, he was later tried and acquitted by the Senate in
May of that year. White violence led by Southern Democrats and the intimidation
of the black electorate increased throughout the South. By 1952, black voter
registration in the south dropped dramatically, in Mississippi to fewer than 6
percent of eligible black voters.
What Group does U.S. Reparations Target? - William A. Darity Jr.
and A. Kirsten Mullen
6. “Why not include all blacks in the U.S. reparations claim? Even those living
elsewhere?”
• The specificity of the case for black American descendants of slavery includes
only those subjected to all three phases of atrocities and their cumulative effects: 1)
slavery, 2) Jim Crow (plus massacres), and 3) post-Jim Crow era damages. Native
black American slave descendants (i.e., ADOS) are the only group with a claim on
the U.S. government associated with the unfulfilled promise of the 40-acres land
grants. Unique historical processes that determine their immense shortfall in
wealth, vis-à-vis white America, do not apply to the wealth position of more recent
black immigrants to the U.S. (FHTE, paragraph, 5 p. 42; paragraphs 1-3, p. 43)
Other blacks in the U.S. do have claims for reparations, just not on the U.S.
government. Other groups are proceeding, as they should, with claims that do not
include black American descendants of U.S. slavery (e.g., CARICOM’s former
British colonies and the U.K., the Congo and Belgium).
5
7. “Wasn’t slavery so long ago? Shouldn’t we have moved past it by now?”
• Slavery was not “so long ago” from a generational perspective. There are persons
who have lived into the 21st century with parents who were born into slavery. Ms.
Hortense McClinton, now 102 years of age, is the daughter of Sebrone Jones King
who was born in January 1865 in Texas as a white person’s property. There are
still large numbers of persons who are two, three, and four generations away from
slavery times.
Moreover, the effects of slavery extend to the present moment because of the
failure to provide the formerly enslaved with any form of restitution for their years
of bondage. That failure has crippled the wealth position of living descendants of
U.S. slavery.
Plus, the ADOS case for reparations is not tied exclusively to slavery. Of course,
slavery was the crucible that produced white supremacy in America and is the first
item on the bill of particulars for atrocities. But the basis for African American
reparations also is linked powerfully to nearly a century of legal segregation (“Jim
Crow”) coupled with a series of massacres that took black lives and seizure of
black property by white terrorists and post-Civil Rights era damages, including
mass incarceration, police lynchings of unarmed blacks, and discrimination in
employment, credit, and housing markets.
8. “Won’t it result in wasted money if black American descendants of slavery are given
monetary payments? At best, won’t it just mean giving the money back to white
people”?
• Why does the assumption that black people will do stupid things with the money
exist when that question did not get raised about other groups? To build assets out of
the funds received—e.g., buying homes, developing or expanding businesses,
purchasing financial assets, purchasing real estate, etc.—will likely mean some
purchases will be made from whites. However, they will be purchases that build
black wealth, which is the fundamental goal. To the extent that black Americans
with higher wealth can more effectively build a black business infrastructure, the
more likely any funds, from reparations or otherwise, will return to black hands.
Plus, we have clear evidence now that higher levels of a previous generation’s
wealth will lead to higher levels of wealth AND income for subsequent generations,
changing the game altogether. (FHTE, paragraph 2, p. 36).
9. “What’s the point if structural racism still is intact”?
• Malcolm X made a comment in 1964 when he described a situation in which
someone plunged a knife in his back. Malcolm distinguished between pulling the
knife out and healing the wound. Reparations involve healing the wound, but it is
important also to staunch the bleeding. The knife must be pulled out also. Pulling
the knife out does not compensate the victim for the harm caused by the stabbing.
Reparations or compensation for the harm caused by the stabbing includes
giving African Americans sufficient monetary resources to eliminate the racial
6
wealth gap. Such provisions make ADOS more politically able to fight structural
racism.
10. Won’t the Supreme Court block reparations legislation anyway?
• It depends on the Supreme Court's alignment when Congress finally passes
reparations for black American Descendants of U.S. slavery. As noted, under the
Congress that passes such legislation must be prepared to appoint pro-reparations
judges to the Court. (see Negro Will; FHTE, paragraphs 4-6, pp. 89-90). Also, see
the answer to question 1 above.
Who Pays U.S. Reparations and How - A. Kirsten Mullen and
William A. Darity Jr.
11. Don’t reparations at the municipal or state level establish strong precedents for a
national project?
• Local or piecemeal reparations are problematic and, to a large degree, a detour.
Elimination of the racial wealth gap will require an expenditure of at least $10 to
$12 trillion. The combined budgets of all state and local governments combined
amount to approximately $3.1 trillion used for all purposes. Therefore, it is
impossible for municipal and state level acts of restitution to approach the sum
required to erase the black-white wealth difference. Only the federal government
has the capacity to foot the bill.
Plus, the federal government is the culpable party, having established and
maintained the legal and authority framework for slavery, nearly a century of
official American apartheid, and ongoing atrocities directed against black
American descendants of U.S. enslavement.
12. Why not rely upon “baby bonds,” a program for all American children, to close the
racial wealth gap, rather than reparations, which only target black Americans?
• “Baby bonds” is a policy designed to provide each newborn infant with an
endowment calibrated on the basis of their parents’ wealth. The objective is to
ensure each child of receiving a trust account that will bring their resources to a
level consistent with the intergenerational transfer received by the child in the
median wealth family (FHTE, Chapter 13 notes, pp. 390-391).
There are two reasons why “baby bonds” will not accomplish what can be
achieved by true reparations. First, “baby bonds” is a universal program, and, in
general, universal programs, even if they have, on the margin, a disproportionate
benefit for black people, cannot eliminate the racial economic inequality because
the gains go to everyone.
Second, because “baby bonds” target gaps at the median, they will leave
untouched 97 percent of the wealth held by white Americans. Closing the racial
wealth gap requires targeting the racial wealth gap at the mean rather than the
median. That is a core attribute of a true reparations project. At best, baby bonds,
after being fully executed after 40 years might reduce the 2019 racial wealth
7
differential by twenty percent (https://socialequity.duke.edu/wp-
content/uploads/2019/10/Running-the-Numbers-8.4.19-FINAL.pdf). “Baby
bonds” is a complement to a full-blown reparations plan for black American
descendants of U.S. slavery, not a substitute.
13. Won’t debt relief do the job of closing the racial wealth gap, rendering reparations
superfluous?
• Student loan forgiveness, while a good idea, it will do even less to close the
collective racial wealth gap for black Americans than the projected effects of a
baby bonds proposal. In part, this is because the proportion of blacks (36%) who
enroll in college and university and acquire debt is lower than the proportion of
whites (4l%), although average black debt levels are about $7,400 higher. But the
more compelling reason why there will be a sharp shortfall in closing the racial
wealth gap by debt relief is simply that the size of the black-white gap is so large.
At best, student loan forgiveness will reduce the gap by about one percent at the
median difference and by an imperceptible amount at the mean difference.
(https://socialequity.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Running-the-Numbers-
8.4.19-FINAL.pdf). Comprehensive reparations at the national level are essential
to eliminate the immense gulf in wealth between black and white Americans
(FHTE, paragraphs 1-2, p. 240).
14. “What has been the response of ADOS advocates to disparities in health outcomes
particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic?”
• The health of black people is placed in constant jeopardy in America (FHTE,
paragraphs 4, pp. 235-236). There has always been a clear acknowledgment that
the calamitous outcomes to health, employment, and remote education requiring
adequate digital infrastructure, were fears held for ADOS children and adults due
to the COVID-19 pandemic. A reparations position paper written by two co-
authors for this issue of the FHTE quick guide was published by the American
Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) last June. The paper
served to highlight these types of problems and emphasizes how reparations were
imperative to provide community preservation and to shield ABAL from economic
devastation due to the coronavirus outbreak.
15. “Which political party is responsible for the atrocities?”
• All the political parties that existed—or subsequently changed political party
names—and have led our Federal government during the three phases of American
atrocities (FHTE, paragraph 4, pp. 5-6) targeting ADOS are responsible. The
reparations claim for black Americans of ABAL ethnicity begins following the
winning the War of Independence from Britain and the establishment of a new
nation in 1776. That new sovereign codified and embedded the chattel slavery
enterprise into its Constitutions providing the human capital that fed the economic
engine which produced that Nation’s wealth and society. Therefore, pure
reparations for black American ethnics are unique in this regard.
ADOS holds no opposition to Pan-Africanism or immigrant groups whose
reparations claims involve attention to global or international anti-racism
petitions. These groups have promoted slavery reparations claims under the aegis
8
of CARICOM, not including African Americans. Select groups of AAFL
Americans have exercised—with some success—social and political activism in
America that do not center native blacks, not even include ADOS. We applaud
those victories and seek to emulate them via pure reparations for ABAL ethnics.
Anti-Reparations Equity Arguments - Gabriel Piemonte
16. “Didn’t white people already pay for slavery by fighting the Civil War to free black
people?”
• The war to preserve the Union certainly did cost many white Northerners their
lives. But equating their service as compensation to slaves and their descendants
dishonors them and would arguably be an inaccurate accounting of history and the
costs of the war. The massive expense of the Civil War, intended to end a vicious
system of slavery that held millions of the country’s inhabitants in bondage and to
preserve the Union should not call for any additional burden to be placed on those
aggrieved (FHTE, para. 1, p. 308). Furthermore, the cost to the nation to end the
practice of slavery was not exclusively shouldered by white soldiers. One out of
every ten Union soldiers was black, numbering about 180,000 people. Moreover,
one-third of soldiers killed in the Civil War were blacks fighting on the side of the
Union (FHTE, para. 1, p. 309).
Besides, the war which ended slavery was not the only path to dismantling the
practice. Compensated emancipation was also a viable alternative to war and the
loss of life. The brutal duration of the war would have been shortened,
substantially, if compensated emancipation had been realized (FHTE, para. 3, p.
308). No payments for African American reparations have been made by the
United States government. The debt owed in restitution for the triad of atrocities
toward ADOS is still outstanding.
17. “My ancestors struggled and didn’t get any special treatment or programs to
help them advance. Why should I give someone else an advantage over me?”
• Virtually every other group that has come to the United States, mainly from
Europe, has been provided with special programs to allow them to build assets for
their families. Many immigrants and refugee groups get extended American social
service benefits that aid in their comfortable living as new arrivals. A major
example is the provision of 160-acres land grants to 1.5 million white families
under the terms of the Homestead Act, first enacted during the Civil War in 1862.
In contrast, newly emancipated black people were denied 40-acres land grants that
they were promised as restitution for their years of bondage.
In the twentieth century, black soldiers returning from World War II were denied
benefits such as in-demand training in the form of post-secondary education that
other non-black soldiers enjoyed as part of the GI Bill (FHTE, paragraph 1, p.
311). Banks gave loans to non-ADOS veterans which were denied to native black
American soldiers (FHTE, paragraph 1, p. 311). Also, in the United States, the
benefit of Social Security was refused to native black agricultural and domestic
workers when it was first implemented, effectively banning a vast majority of the
9
ADOS workforce in the South from any chance at retirement resources (FHTE,
paragraph 4, p. 310). The aggregated effect of these discriminatory practices was
an economic leap forward for whites, further exacerbating the black-white wealth
gap and fewer American opportunities for ADOS.
18. “Shouldn’t black people just build up political power and then try to get
reparations? What good is economic power without influence in policymaking?”
• In America, economic power is a precondition to political power. In fact, black
communities that have enjoyed financial success have been targeted not just for
harassment and abuse but for utter destruction. With the development of economic
power, black citizens will gain a concomitant growth in political power (FHTE,
paragraph 2, p. 31).
19. “Don’t we have to provide financial literacy to Black people before we start giving
out money?”
• Black Americans are among the most economically sophisticated citizens in the
country. More economic innovations come out of the black community than any
other group. Every economic configuration is present in the black community. For
example, whether it is housing co-ops, credit unions, or buying clubs, black
citizens who have been deprived of individual affluence longer than any other
group, have been compelled to be economically resourceful. ADOS on many
occasions has been forced to do more with less irrespective of calls for financial
literacy (FHTE, paragraphs 4-5, p. 32) and community-based classes; reparations
are the fail-stop.
20. “Isn’t there already a bill to study reparations? Why not just support that?”
• H.R.40 is a bill to establish a “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation
Proposals for African-Americans,” but it is not adequate to the task of producing
true reparations for black American descendants of U.S. slavery in its present
form. In a recent Boston Globe opinion piece, Darity and Mullen outlined a series
of essential revisions to HR40 that can better lead us to development of a viable
national reparations project (see https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/03/opinion/flaws-reparations-bill/).
10
ADOS Reparationist Quick Guide - Volume 1 Issue 2
prepared by Reparationist:
Lisa R. Brown, BS, MPA, University of Akron; Ph.D. Adult Education, University of
Georgia @Ambidextrous_X
William A. Darity, BA, Brown University; Ph.D. Economics, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology @SandyDarity
A. Kirsten Mullen, BA, University of Texas - Austin, Folklorist and Arts Consultant and
the Founding President of Artefactual @IrstenKMullen
Gabriel Piemonte, BA, Suffolk University @gabrielpiemonte
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number 5 is pointless to the overall push for reparations. And its curious as to why it needed to be added since democrats and republicans today are not like the parties of that time.
and you all know this...
I agree...there is no relevance in this day and age. I don't know if it's just to continue on with the historical backdrop or what?number 5 is pointless to the overall push for reparations. And its curious as to why it needed to be added since democrats and republicans today are not like the parties of that time.
what party black people were elected into office in 18whatever has little if any relevance to why reparations is necessary. There is a strong resentment of the democratic party among ADOS organization people that syncs up with talking points the GOP uses with blacks against the dems today.
But the GOP of today isn't even giving lip service to the notion of reparations....its a total nonstarter for them on top of that the elected party make up of both parties today is startling in its difference..
so what's the point of stating how the GOP had the first black elected officials in 1870 while the democrats actively blocked any progress for the blacks when two CENTURIES later in 2020 the GOP looked like this ^^^^ and if you bring up the word reparations for Black Americans they will walk out the room.
I seriously don't get the point of it....anyone can answer whats up with that??
number 5 is pointless to the overall push for reparations. And its curious as to why it needed to be added since democrats and republicans today are not like the parties of that time.
It’s far from “pointless.” The entire point is that reparations isn’t a new concept and has been in play since the end of the Civil War.
Leave it to you to highlight a single point that, in your mind, does not fall into line with unquestioning Black support and loyalty to the Democratic Party, and then try to make that the issue.