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Decades of Jim Crow practices, slavery, and current systematic disparities in equality leave some to ponder the question of blacks receiving some sort of compensation for their sufferings.
Courtesy of Library of Congress
We certainly would not be the first minority to receive reparations. Native Americans have received reparations for treaty violations and other injustices. This includes a 1971 grant of $1 billion and forty-four million acres of land to Alaskan Natives. After World War 2, the United States issued an apology to Japanese Americans who were subjected to internment camps and gave money to the identified victims. Additionally, the United States has given compensation to Jews after the Holocaust, though the United States was not the country at fault. With these instances, and more that were not mentioned, the debate of the United States giving reparations to Blacks is justified.
This debate has been an interesting topic within the Democratic party. President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders all deny that Blacks should receive reparations. They have emphasized that there are other means for Blacks to succeed from their sufferings. President Obama has mentioned that Blacks should focus on getting their education and self-advancement while Sanders focuses on tackling the issues that constrain Blacks from being successful. In fact, when asked about reparations, Sanders ironically avoided the question and emphasized the issues of voting rights, poverty and unemployment. When asked why he did not endorse reparations on NBC's "Meet the Press", Sanders responded, "Well for the same reason that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have. And that is, it is absolutely wrong and unacceptable that we have so much poverty in this country and it is even worse in the African-American community". Sanders never actually answered the question that was posed.
I believe that Blacks should be given reparations, however it should not be a simple monetary reward. The injustices that Blacks have endured in America have left a deep impact on our people that parallels most of the issues we currently have. Some may argue that the Reconstruction Era and consequently the legislation passed after Jim Crow (i.e. Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Brown v. Board of Education) was basically our compensation. However, Blacks still experience a plethora of
inequalities that were embedded by the hardships that we have endured. Therefore, the following are reparation approaches that I believe should take place (coming from the book African-Americans in the U.S. Economy):
1. Guaranteed medical insurance
2. Institutions designed to promote the betterment of the Black community
3. Money to help black-owned businesses
4. Money for asset-building purposes (i.e. real estate, etc.)
5. Better resources for impoverished schools