Pondering

World Stuff [For those interested in current events and ideas, written from a biblical worldview]

Broadly there are two things to consider regarding reparations for the African American community, bearing in mind historical slavery in the U.S.:

  • Have we as a nation atoned enough for the sin of slavery?
  • If we haven’t, what remains for that atonement to be complete?

Conceding to the ongoing socio-economic needs in the African American community, some of which may in fact stem from slavery, much has been done to “right the wrongs” of slavery and racial discrimination in the U.S. Here are a few examples:[1]

  • 1961-1965. We fought a civil war over the matter at the cost of approximately 620,000 lives, the majority of whom were White.
  • 1865. Special Order No. 15, approved by President Lincoln, in which 400,000 acres of private land stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John’s River in Florida, was confiscated and redistributed to Black families.[2]
  • 1865. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution ends slavery.
  • 1866. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gives Blacks citizenship. 
  • 1866. The Southern Homestead Act, which gave recently freed Blacks the chance to become landowners.[3]
  • 1868. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution enshrines Black citizenship.
  • 1870. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution gives Black men the right to vote and hold public office.
  • 1875. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 gives Blacks equal access and privileges to public facilities.
  • 1920. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution gives all women, including Blacks, the right to vote. 
  • 1954. Brown v. Board of Education ends racial segregation in public schools.
  • 1960. Boynton v. Virginia ends discrimination in public transportation.
  • 1964. The Civil Rights Acts givepower to the federal government to protect the civil rights of Black Americans.
  • 1964-1965. The Voting Rights Acts eliminate remaining discrimination in local, state, and federal elections.
  • 1964 and 1968. The Fair Housing Acts eliminate remaining discrimination in housing.
  • 1965. President Lyndon Johnson signs Executive Order 11246 establishing Affirmative Action in government contracts.
  • 1967. Loving v. Virginia ends discrimination against interracial marriage.
  • 1973. Pollard v. United States. Victims of the Tuskegee Study, in which 399 Black men were intentionally infected with syphilis and left untreated, were awarded $10 million in reparations. They and their families were also given lifelong medical care by the US government.
  • 1991. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 establishes the ability for Blacks and other minorities to seek damages for intentional discrimination.
  • 2008. Barack Obama is elected president of the United States—twice. While not a legislative action, it certainly represented progress.

This is not to suggest we’ve “arrived” but merely to point out that we’re moving in the right direction. As a result, the Black community at large has prospered relative to its standing in the 20th century:

  • The number of Black families living in poverty has dropped from 34% to 17%. It was as high as 55% in 1959.
  • The divide between White and Black unemployment has narrowed to less than 2%
  • The average African American has a $45,000 personal GDP—higher than China, Italy, Taiwan, Spain, Japan, Saudi Arabia and over 100 other countries.

But is this enough? Does any of this prove socio-economic progress?

It reveals progress; however, in comparison to White Americans, Black Americans in general are still far behind in wages, wealth, health, education, life expectancy and other socio-economic indicators. I believe the call for African American reparations stems partly from this comparison, and in a sense the Black community struggles to establish its identity in the face of perceived and real hostility. In the minds of many African Americans, equality of opportunity, which admittedly has been hindered at times, is not the same as equality of outcome—i.e., for the Black community to be truly “equal” there must be comparative equality with the White community.

Is that a fair basis for measuring success?

Did slavery and segregation, and does current discrimination, permanently disable Black Americans from being “equal” to Whites according to socio-economic indicators? Are successful Black politicians, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, academic leaders, artists, musicians, athletes, and social influencers the exception to the rule and therefore not to be considered in the “success” calculus of the Black community? Are fatherless homes, cyclical poverty, out-of-wedlock births, abortions, and other rampant maladies in the Black community the result of slavery 12 generations ago?

Depends on who you ask. Continuing encounters with racism in the Black community do keep the wounds of the past from fully healing.

Currently there are cities and states across the country considering, researching, or moving forward with reparations for the Black community. Yet determining who should receive such remuneration, and what that should be, has proven problematic. For example, the first state to seriously consider African American reparations on a large scale, is California. According to the California Reparations Report (AB 3121):

“…the ‘community of eligibility’ for reparations [would] be ‘based on lineage, determined by an individual being a Black descendant of a chattel enslaved person or a descendant of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th Century.’”

Yet California was never a slave state. How will the California legislature possibly determine who should be compensated? What about members of the Black community who are not direct descendants of slaves? Will they be satisfied with the outcome? Moreover, according to CalMatters.org, a current resident of California determined to be a direct descendent of slaves, who has been living in California since 1980, would receive $850,480. The total cost of these reparations, paid by California taxpayers, is estimated between $500 – $800 billion.

This neither affirms nor negates the idea of African American reparations. It simply puts it in practical focus.

So, what’s the “forest” to find among the “trees”?

As a nation we continue to move forward in our quest for a “more perfect union” in which all who are represented find freedom of opportunity to build a life for themselves and their descendants. Righting the wrongs in our society includes helping people create and sustain a new legacy that stands in the face of historical injustice.

Albeit too slowly for some, we’re moving in the right direction.

Whether monetary reparations for African Americans ever happen is uncertain, as is whether such compensation would change things sufficiently for the Black community to feel “equal” to others. No amount of money in the world will negate ongoing racism and discrimination, so the bigger picture is to invest in social structures, namely the family, that enable African Americans to thrive. Financial security is important, yet without solid marriages and parenting, good educational opportunities, and other pathways upon which a healthy society is built, all the money in the world will be for not.

FOOTNOTES

[1] The term “Black(s),” while archaic in one sense, is used in historical context and synonymously with “African American.”

[2] Shortly after the Civil War, General William T. Sherman met with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to devise a plan to enact Special Order No. 15. Regardless of whether they had been free, enslaved, or descended from slaves, each Black family in the region was granted 40 acres of land, which was to be governed by the Black community itself. Soon after, Sherman ordered the army to include a mule for each homestead—thus the famous “40 Acres and a Mule” phrase. However, Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor (and sympathizer of the South), overturned Special Order No. 15 in the fall of that same year. All 400,000 acres were returned to the very people who had declared war on the U.S. and fought for slavery.

[3] Unfortunately, anti-Black forces disabled the law, which was repealed ten years later.

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Email Me: richardaallenjr@pondering.blog

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