We Deserve Reparations

24April2024

In our Communications class related to the African diaspora, our professor asked should we conclude the class with discussions about Critical Race Theory or Reparations. I concluded that we should end the class by discussing reparations rather than critical race theory in my opinion. After watching videos of people that went before the Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on slavery reparations, I found it to be interesting to hear the different points of view by the African Americans and to hear the point of view by the white family who owned the largest slave trade in the country. Now, I will say that critical race theory is also a topic that is interesting because it addresses racism as something that is not acknowledged. Although we all inherently know that it exists, that white over color serves to give white America certain advantages, we pretend to live in a make-believe color-blind society that pushes the inequality we know exists up under the rug and outwardly walk around thinking we are all equal. Why is this? Critical race theory looks to delve into this to understand why a deep-rooted feeling of color supremacy is there. In critical race theory second thesis, it maintains that racism is there by design. It helps the rich white people gain and maintain the material items and it helps the working-class whites feel superior even though they do not have the material gains. Because there is an overall advantage to whites, it makes it hard to eradicate it completely.

In contrast to critical race theory, reparations are just about paying what is due to groups of people that were harmed by the gains of the country. I liked how author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates made the rebuttal to everything Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in his opposition to reparations. Senator Mitch McConnell believes that Americans today should not have to pay for what their ancestors did, although it was admittedly wrong. Coates spoke about the economic wealth of this country that was made on slave labor. He also spoke about how although the people that committed these crimes during slavery, continued to commit crimes against African Americans even into the lifetime of Mitch McConnell. He spoke of the crimes committed against Black homeowners in the 50s and 60s and how we do not only want reparations for slavery but also for the Jim Crow era. The descendants of these white slave owners should be responsible for righting these wrongs against an entire nation of people. Danny Glover, actor, activist, and slave descendant, spoke about being the great grandson of a slave and how important it is that America recognizes and acknowledges their crimes against an entire race of people by paying them what they are due.   However, when Katrina Browne, white descendant of one of the largest slave trading families in the US which was housed in Rhode Island spoke, it brought a new and valuable perspective. She was ashamed that her family, being northern, had participated so heavily in such brutality. Her thoughts were first to acknowledge it, face it, then do something about it. For me, that took a lot of courage as a white American to speak up and admit the guilt of her ancestors and to side with giving reparations to people of African descent.

On the other hand, to hear Coleman Hughes, who seems to be a privileged African American, and former NFL player and Fox News contributor Burgess Owens argues against such reparations made me sad and furious at the same time. How can a privileged black person even speak on that fact that reparations are not needed for our race. They represent the slim majority of our race that do not face the struggles everyday of unemployment, poverty, housing discrimination and racial profiling because of the psychology that was passed down to the white man from their ancestors. They believe that by paying reparations that it further divides our country and that it sends a message that we cannot succeed on our own. Well, that is just trash spilling out both their mouths. We have been surviving and thriving all this time through adversity, and we are tired of being heroes without a helping hand. Most of us would appreciate reparations because it would be a helping hand that is owed to us to better ourselves and the next generation. I think this thought process needs to be examined more, which is why I think we should conclude our class by talking more about reparations. Watch the video below to expand your knowledge about reparations.