The Question Of Whether Americans Should Pay Reparations Is Thornier Than You Might Think
It's undeniable much was taken from enslaved black Americans, but forcing those uninvolved in slavery to pay reparations risks worsening racial tensions.
By Dennis Weisman
April 23, 2021
After being first proposed more than 30 years ago by Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, the 116th Congress of the United States voted last week to advance H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-American Act. Aided by the Democratic Party’s control of the executive and legislative branches of government, the current sentiment in the country regarding racial justice and equity may provide the bill’s proponents the opening they seek.
To start, it’s worth noting reparations are not without precedent. The United States paid reparations to Japanese-Americans as restitution for their internment during World War II. It also made reparations to American Indians for seizing their land and mismanaging natural resources.
Yet paying reparations to black Americans who are the descendants of slaves is likely to prove more contentious for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the vast length of time that has passed since slavery ended, coupled with the fact no living person has participated in the heinous practice. Indeed, as it violates our fundamental sense of fairness and justice, we tend not to visit the sins of the father upon the son in this country.
Furthermore, while all the relevant demographic data isn’t reliable, it is safe to assert the majority of non-black Americans are descendants of individuals that immigrated to the United States after the end of the Civil War in 1865.
Nonetheless, this issue of the time that has elapsed since slavery ended is not dispositive. To wit, the return of art stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners would be justified even if centuries passed before the reunification occurred. As such, I don’t believe a brash, reflexive dismissal of the question of reparations is advisable or necessarily cathartic for the country.
There are seemingly two overarching questions pertaining to reparations. The first abstract question concerns whether reparations are “owed†at all.
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https://thefederalist.com/2021/04/23/the-question-of-whether-americans-should-pay-reparations-is-thornier-than-you-might-think/