Unlocking the Path to Justice: Exploring Reparations for African Americans in the 21st Century

LenZen: HR-40 is a bill that has be reintroduced every year since 1989 and finally cleared committee this year. It would create a commission to study reparations for descendants of slaves. "From Here to Equality" is supposed to be THE book to make the case for reparations. Although it has received glowing reviews on Amazon and I went into it inclined to support reparations I felt less inclined to do so after reading the book.

The bottom line is probably the most important part of this book if you are interested what any HR-40 committee is likely to conclude: Their conclusion, no surprise, is that descendants of slaves should be awarded reparations. The amount should be enough close the gap between the average family wealth of white versus black families. The total invoice would come to about $10 trillion or about $250,000 to each black person in the US descendent from slaves. They feel this money should go into trusts for individual black people (regardless of age) with a reparations committee approving of expenditures. To generate this kind of money they say that either the Fed should just print it, or that it be tacked onto the national debt. They feel that Congress is the entity...

United States on Sep 26, 2021

Luke Matthews: Just about the moment that the book I’m posting about today, FROM HERE TO EQUALITY: REPARATIONS FOR BLACK AMERICANS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY*, published in 2020 and written by William A. Rarity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen - he a professor of public policy, African and African American Studies and she a folklorist, museum consultant and lecturer focusing race, art, history, and politics - hit my doorstep, the idea of reparations for African-Americans was in the news again. The idea surfaces every now and then, and causes consternation and confused outrage among certain groups of mainly Whites both on the left and right but usually recedes into obscurity as the greater American strategy of ignoring the unpleasant aspects of our collective history re-asserts itself (sort of a grand version of “out of sight, out of mind.”) The event that seems to have brought reparations to some public attention was Evanston IL becoming the first US city to make reparations to Black residents for a past of discriminatory practices particularly in housing. I should stay away from the comments sections for news articles but against better judgment, I dive in to see what people are saying (or...

United States on Apr 02, 2021