An Idea for Reparations

Reparations.  Even saying the word brings up strong feelings to both those who support and oppose the idea.  I have always thought reparations were a good idea in the United States for two reasons.  First, we are somewhat unique in the world of racial justice for our concerted effort to claim “there is no racial problem” or “maybe there was, but it’s over now”.  Second, we have the ability to make amends, so why wouldn’t we?  When discussing this idea, it is important to understand what reparations are, what they are meant to do, and what the actual proposal is. 

         Reparations are a catch-all term that is applied to government action to “make up” for past wrongs.  Similarly to general tort procedures in court, the remedy is designed to make the victim whole.  This could take the form of many different things, money, special treatment in some situation, an apology.  What is most important is there is disagreement on both what form reparations should take, and how to administer them.

         Once President Abraham Lincoln made clear a Union victory in the Civil War would mean the end of slavery, but the public and the government began to worry about the practicality of that result.  In 1860, the US Census reported nearly four million slaves in the country.  The total population in the US was about 31 million.  Realistically, the former slaveholders were not going to treat their former slaves with any compassion on a wide-scale.  Given the emergence of homelessness “a national issue in the 1870s…”, facilitated by the growing ability of the population to move between cities, the government began to see a massive risk by suddenly introducing four million people to a population with a high-probably of homelessness, low wages, and a general disdain from the population.  In response, a group of Senators, after meeting with Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s Secretary of War, and a group of ministers, concluded something must be done.  It was one of the first instances where the government had actually reached out to the black community and actually asked them what they wanted.  The response from Rev. Garrison Frazier unequivocally stated “[t]he way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor …”.  

         When solving a problem, there are three potential results: the problem is not solved, it is solved temporarily, or it is solved and the solution is self-perpetuating.  The representatives of the black community in the 1860s proposed a way to solve their problem of equality, representation, empowerment, and pride, all in one stroke.  By giving former slaves “40 acres and a mule”, it allowed former slaves to have an income and introduce stability to a newly freed population in the United States.  While President Andrew Johnson overturned this order in 1865, it set the standard for what true reparations look like: giving a disenfranchised population a real opportunity to join the society at large in a productive and meaningful way.

         Any consideration of reparations in modern society should embody that same spirit.  But, the world is more complicated, the administration is more difficult, and what gives advantages in our time is more complex than 1865.  What I propose is to make public college free for 30 years.  There are three considerations to this idea.  First, there is a chance attending a public university will be made free for everyone in the country soon.  While I hope that is the case, it would discount this proposal entirely.  It is important for the reparations to both mean something, and be truly targeted to members of the black population.  Second, this reparation will be given when a person is accepted into a public university.  This is not a proposal that involves waving a magic wand.  Unfortunately, there are those who will fight tooth and nail to prevent any reparations from ever being considered.  By requiring those recipients to actually be accepted to universities before receiving the reparation is a way to placate those who would fight this idea.  Unconditional reparations are very difficult to enact on a national level, whether because our political climate is too conservative, or the congressional rules are broken, that is the reality.  I think the message will still be clear, and the result will still be powerful and truly life changing. 

Lastly, and perhaps most controversially, this proposal will be available for anyone who applies for it once being accepted into a public university.  I include this in the proposal for two reasons: to survive constitutional challenges, and simplify administration.  Federal Courts have generally pushed back against race-based action of both state and federal governments unless they take into account other factors, and the entity can point to specific instances of discrimination being solved or corrected.  Reparations for slavery, an institution ended 200 years ago, is extremely difficult to trace specific harm to individuals.  There are realities of government operation, administration, and time, that make this program difficult.  By making this program available to everyone who applies, it eliminates the need to trace specific harm and sets the condition to a non-protected constitutional status, your occupation is a “student”.  Additionally, administering the policy would be much more practical.  A classic rhetorical argument against race-based action eventually comes down to “who gets it and who doesn’t”.  With reparations being administered 200 years after the incident, and populations mixing, eventually, a government entity will have to face an ugly truth: they will need to decide who is “black enough” to receive the benefit.  Being both morally repugnant and practically impossible, this is no decision to be made by any organization.  Nor can we count on possible genetic testing, which only tells us or genetic origins, and not our societal status in the 1860s.  Although some may think it is naive,  I believe shame will be a sufficient dissuading force in leu of other requirements for this proposal. 

I still believe that the majority of people are good, honorable, and upstanding human beings.  I propose we make this program for all who would apply to college, and make those who receive the benefit public.  People’s behavior notably changes once other are made aware of it.  Reparations are meant to help people, and the worst-case scenario would be free college for everyone in America for 30 years.  But I do not believe that will occur.  By the estimate of the Census, there are roughly 1.24 million black Americans under the age of 18.  If we send every single one to college for free, they will achieve a massive amount of prosperity by graduating with no debt.  This will jumpstart their ability to participate in the economy, and further support a stable household, and stable life. 

If we use the heavy-handed metaphor of life and economic participation as a 100-meter race, being born in the US is like starting 20 meters behind the rest of the participants.  Those who say we have improved are correct, we have.  But until the numbers actually reflect not an improvement, but an equality, we still have work to do.  I believe this proposal will be politically palpable, economically effective, and morally just.  The goal of our society is to have those be judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.  But that ideal is unachievable until we have the same standing in our society. 

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