Black America and Reparations
By Claire Crawford
The case of reparations for African Americans has been highly debated. In 2016, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent urged the United States to address the legacy of slavery through “reparatory justice.” The committee drew a connection of the terrors suffered by African Americans since slavery to that of police brutality, incarceration, and the lack of commitment by the United States to the reconciliation of African Americans.
In 2008, both houses of Congress were willing to issue an apology for slavery and Jim Crow; however, it never left Congress out of fear of lawsuits for reparations. Thus, there is the acknowledgment that reparations are due. However, it forces the United States to go down a road of acknowledgment and truth for which they are not ready.
The first promise of reparations was Sherman’s Special Field Order No.15, an order that popularized the phrase “40 acres and a mule.” Any efforts of reparations that were made were quickly reversed following the Reconstruction Era.
The most common American myth of reparations is welfare. Many argue that the United States government has done its part for the people of African descent through welfare. “Living on welfare” has become synonymous with African American families, leaving many white Americans to believe that through their taxes, they are already paying for the livelihoods of black lives. This myth has prevailed more than the history of African Americans being left to fend for themselves for nearly a century without government support at the end of Reconstruction.
In 2018, the question remains, what would be the best form of reparations for citizens of African descent in the United States? Though the African American narrative prevails after decades of immigration of individuals of African descent to the United States who have also suffered from the scars of slavery left among our society, the package of reparations would need to be inclusive.
In their report, the UN Committee released recommendations for the United States that included calling upon a National Human Rights Commission; needing to acknowledge the transatlantic slave trade in Africans, enslavement, colonization, and colonialism as a crime against humanity; a reparation plan similar to that of the Caribbean Community’s Ten-Point Action Plan on Reparations; accountability of police violations; passing criminal justice reform bills; banning solitary confinement; increasing community policing strategies; and much more.
I suggest an initiative like that of the Caribbean Community’s Ten-Point Action Plan on Reparations which focuses on addressing the long-term effects of crimes against people of African descent. This initiative began through establishing a committee to address and draft this plan. For the American government, it would take the petitioning of Congress and the government.
However, what can the citizens of America do now? I suggest community development. In community development, individuals can clean and beautify public spaces, increase support of public schools and educational programs through volunteering and providing resources, encourage counseling and teach self-care practices, informational sessions on health, and advocacy in communal governing bodies. These are just a few suggestions that can be funded through federal grants. The road of reparatory justice begins with those on the ground trying to build up their communities.
