Part of the problem when it comes to the history of race relations in the United States is our unwillingness to come to terms with the truth of our past, its influence on the present and to have an honest and meaningful conversation about it. Reparations for slavery, whether one is in agreement with it or not, is a part of that conversation. In 2014, Ta-Nehisi Coates laid out one of the most comprehensive, well-researched recent think pieces on the subject for The Atlantic which is a must read. But of course, Coates was not the first person to publicly talk about reparations for black Americans, nor will he be the last. In fact, since 1989, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has consistently introduced a bill to establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery in the U.S. and take appropriate actions based on the findings. The students at Western Kentucky University also agree that this is a conversation worth having. On Tuesday, the student government voted in favor of giving slavery reparations to black students.
“We demand reparations for the systemic denial of access to high quality educational opportunities in the form of full and free access for all black people (including undocumented, currently and formerly incarcerated people to Western Kentucky University),” the resolution reads, according to the Daily News. [...]
“Due to discriminatory education, housing and employment policies that have disproportionately held back Black Americans, we believe this resolution is ultimately a conversation starter for discussing how to make college both more affordable and accessible for communities of color and marginalized people in general,” he wrote in an email.
A conversation that links reparations to the systematic denial of access to educational opportunities to black people is appropriate and timely. Many academic institutions had ties to the slave trade. Georgetown University recently acknowledged this last year, as well as offering an admissions advantage to the descendants of enslaved people as part of atoning for its participation in the shameful legacy of slavery and racism dating back nearly 200 hundred years when it sold 272 slaves to pay off debt. Let’s get real, though. How much of this will translate beyond words into actual action? Conversations and gestures are a good start—especially since many of us have a hard time even sincerely considering this subject. And symbolism is important. But as a nation, we are deeply divided on this subject. And it doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon.
A 2016 poll showed nearly seven in 10 Americans oppose paying reparations to African Americans, with opinions skewing along racial lines. The Exclusive Point Taken-Marist study (commissioned by WGBH Boston for its PBS debate series Point Taken) showed while white Americans overwhelmingly oppose restitution, a majority of African Americans favor redress; Latino Americans were about evenly divided. Older generations were more likely to oppose reparations while more than half of Millennials favored it.
Despite the fact that there is empirical data to prove that centuries of atrocities have been committed against black Americans (let’s not forget our history also includes segregation, systematic exclusion from the workforce, housing, education, state sanctioned brutality, etc), most of our imaginations will not allow us to conceptualize reparations as a possibility—even though there is precedent.
Yet there's ample legal precedent for reparations, be it financial settlements in the 1980s for Japanese Americans who were placed in U.S. internment camps during World War II, restoration of lands to Native Americans, or billions that Germany paid Jewish Holocaust survivors.
While other groups in the history of this country have experienced their share of racism (and, yes, there were and are plenty) and bigotry and discrimination, the legacy of slavery and anti-black racism is a particular phenomenon. To be honest, the debt America owes black Americans is so big it is beyond repair. It would be nearly impossible to repay. But America at least owes us, and itself, the conversation.