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LWVSFC Discussion Forum

Reparations:  What Is Owed?

12/22/2020

2 Comments

 
WHAT IS OWED (concluding section)
by Nikole Hannah-Jones
NY Times June 30, 2020
If black lives are to truly matter in America, this nation must move beyond slogans and symbolism. Citizens don’t inherit just the glory of their nation, but its wrongs too. A truly great country does not ignore or excuse its sins. It confronts them and then works to make them right. If we are to be redeemed, if we are to live up to the magnificent ideals upon which we were founded, we must do what is just.
 It is time for this country to pay its debt. It is time for reparations.

(Nikole Hannah-Jones is a staff writer for the magazine. In 2020, she won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her essay about black Americans and democracy. She is the creator of The 1619 Project, which won the National Magazine Award for public interest and a George Polk special award this year. She is also a 2017 MacArthur fellow.)
The push for reparations includes active efforts from Indigenous people, New Mexicans whose land grant rights from the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo have been ignored, and the descendants of the African slaves throughout the US.
Below are links to several information sources on reparations efforts by all three groups. What are your thoughts on these causes?


 

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2 Comments
Stephanie Schlanger
1/3/2021 10:19:15 am

To me, this is the most critical question in the conversation about race in America today: how to repair the damage done by the legacy of slavery and heal this country. As a former history teacher and one who has done a lot of reading this year, it seems to me everything comes down ultimately to this original sin and its continuing malignant effects on our society and citizens. Two things have become obvious to me: 1) I don't know what the answer is and 2) As a white person with many privileges who has benefited from this system, I don't have any right to a say in this matter. While racism does affect us all, I feel those who have suffered the most harmful and enduring and continuing effects of this tragic history should deliberate this matter and determine what reparations are just and proper. My role is to support their conclusions and vote for the implementation of their proposals.

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Virginia McCallum
1/3/2021 02:23:37 pm

Perhaps involving women of color to join in conversations with white women is beneficial to this civil discourse? (1) There are different views among different ethnicities. (2) For a vibrant and healthy multicultural, multiethnic society, would all of us engaging in on-going discussions be most likely to ensure deep and continuous understanding.
All white people do not react in the same way to race and all people of color also have different beliefs, experiences, etc,
Is there someway for women of color to join the discussion about this book, for example?

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