This piece is part of a series on systemic racism that’s a small part of Hive Learning’s Inclusion Works program. Here’s why we encourage you to see this content as a jumping-off point for your learning journey rather than the final word.
📌 We researched and wrote this series to try to make sense of systemic racism, an incredibly broad and complex topic. Our aim was to demystify this type of racism for the everyday person who doesn’t have time to read lots of books on the subject, let alone trawl through hundreds of pieces of academic research to really wrap their arms around it.
📌 We’ve curated 350 sources to give a flavor of how systemic racism emerges through a limited set of areas (housing, education, healthcare, criminal justice, media representation), introducing the barriers and injustices of these institutions using a single example from history and from the present day, and focuses solely on racism directed at Black Americans.
📌 We appreciate that there is much much more to say on this topic and we’d love to do that justice in future content. For now, take a look at the further resources linked to take your next step, start to question how the systems you’re a part of are propping up racism in our society today, and seek out actions you can take to dismantle it.
So, how can a society like ours make up for the wrongdoings of the not-so-distant past and radically shift the systemic repercussions that persist today?
One candidate solution that has been called for in the US (and elsewhere) is reparations. But what exactly is owed and how can it be delivered?
🎧 Watch this (4:39)
What America Still Owes African-Americans | Truth Told | Refinery29 – YouTube
💡 Points that give us pause
🚩 In June 2019, US Congress held its first congressional hearing to discuss bill H.R. 40 (00:55 – 01:08)
🚩 If passed, H.R. 40 will address the impact of slavery and discrimination on living Black Americans and the possibility (and correct form) of amendments and a national apology (1:15-1:21)
🚩 Officially sanctioned racial oppression lasted over 300 years and created a wealth gap (1:45-2:07)
🚩 1865: the government promised newly freed Black people up to 40 acres of land (and a mule) but did not fulfill the promise (2:08-2:31)
🚩 1989: John Conyers Jnr introduced legislation to study and discuss what form reparations might take. His bill never went anywhere despite reintroducing it every congressional term before he retired in 2017. (2:32-2:50)
🚩 2019: Sheila Jackson Leigh introduced H.R. 40. It received its first-ever hearing.
🚩 “Opponents of reparations believe America shouldn’t be held responsible for her forefathers’ sins” (3:06-3:13)
🚩 Supporters of reparations don’t blame living white Americans for what happened, but they do believe that the prolonged hierarchy needs to be meaningfully addressed. (3:32-3:43)
🚩 Some supporters of the concept of reparations point out that the answer won’t be financial payments to individuals but, rather, investment in communities. (3:46-3:58)
In 1952, Germany paid over $800 million to Israel and directly to Holocaust victims and their relatives. Since then, Germany has paid over $80 billion in pensions and welfare payments.
Signed in 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act mandated the transfer of land to indigenous peoples and a share of oil revenue. The government also paid $962.5 million for land lost.
In 1988, the US apologized and gave $20,000 to each of the 82,000 Japanese Americans unduly imprisoned during World War II to make up for the loss of property and liberty.
It’s been suggested that reparations need not (and some say should not) focus on payments to individuals. Reparations can also include:
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- Meaningful apology
- Memorials, days of remembrance and fair representation in history
- Investment in healthcare & education
- Land
- Tax credits
- Programs to address various systemic issues
- Law & policy change
✅ How can we formulate the size of the debt to be repaid?
✅ It’s not just about wealth — how do you measure a moral wrong? Or the varied effects of discrimination across the population?
✅ How should it be funded?
✅ Which disparities should programs address? For how long?
✅ Can a reparation benefit non-Black people, too, such as ‘baby bonds’ to ensure all children from low-income backgrounds can attend college? Or does that miss the point?
GIF by @gregeneraltest.
✅ How is someone eligible for reparations? Does each eligible person receive a ‘fair share’ proportional to claims they can make?
✅ Are some people, regions or organizations more accountable than others?
✅ Can it be done in a way that is good for race relations? Might there be backlash?
✅ The transfer problem: one analysis found that, if Black Americans were given financial reparations for slavery, there’s a risk they could spend it on goods and services that increase the wealth of white people and non-Black POC, decreasing wealth for Black people overall.
Significant restructuring and/or incentives around where to spend would be necessary. But what could that look like?
📚 Further reading
The case for reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic — this seminal piece by journalist Coates is also one of the most academically cited papers on the topic (alternative link to pdf here)
🗝️ Your key takeaway
The topic of reparations to make amends for the injustice of the past and present comes up a lot. To some, it’s an intractable problem. To others, it’s a necessity that is long overdue.