Slavery: The Case For Reparations

Slavery was abolished in America 150 years ago, however, the color line it created is very much still alive. From the overtly racist Jim Crow laws to the discriminatory covert practices within the housing industry today, there is a clear division of white versus black, superior versus inferior that divides the nation. In her article “The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates makes the case for why African Americans should be paid back for all of the injustices they had to, and continue to, endure. Granting reparations would be more than just handing out money to blacks to make up for the astronomical wealth gap certain discriminatory actions and policies have created, though. Coates said that making “reparations to those on whose labor and
This article was originally published in June 2014, and it sounds eerily similar to W.E.B. DuBois’ words in his 1903 book, “The Souls of Black Folk.” In that excerpt the class read during the first week of the semester, DuBois wrote, “The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins (of slavery); the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land.” It is disheartening that 111 years later, the same problem of America not completely healing from its sins of slavery/apologizing to African Americans for the atrocity is at hand. Still, it is exciting to know that this class is providing me with knowledge that I can use to combat racism and discrimination of all types on all levels. “The Case for Reparations” was an excellent example of how everything we have been learning about it linked. Writing this, I kept finding ways in which to include certain points in our class discussions and readings. Just reading and analyzing an article about racism and discrimination is much different than experiencing it and trying to put an end to it, though. After reading this article and seeing how complicated all the interconnected layers of racism/discrimination are -- even in just the one industry of the housing market -- I can only imagine how difficult it can be to make substantial change through legislation. To start that process of ridding the country of racism, though, I think what we are doing in this class, and what Coates was trying to accomplish through this article, is the route to take. If one by one, people are educated on race and its history in the United States, the inequalities that are presented to people of color by the effects of the color line can be realized, and minds can be changed to make for a more unified