Thoughts on Reparations

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a major contributor to the 1619 Project, noted that of all the racial groups, Blacks typically have the smallest share of income, wealth, and social standing in this country. Once, this result could have been ascribed to the impact of slavery and/or Jim Crow laws. But, those laws have been gone for at least fifty years. What explains this result today? It must be that there are lingering effects of racism that work against Blacks. Discrimination continues to exist, though in more subtle forms. Thus, Martin Luther King was wrong, when he pleaded for judgment on the basis of the content of your character, rather than the color of your skin. The whole notion of “merit” is a myth. The point was made succinctly by Ibram X. Kendi. In his best-selling book, “How to Be an Anti-Racist”, he wrote, “The only remedy for past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy for present discrimination is future discrimination”. A whole host of policies follow from this, which can be lumped together under the heading of “equity, diversity, and inclusion”. Reparations are an attempt to deal with the disparity in wealth by redistributing it.

There are two fundamental problems with these reparations notions. First, they promote racial friction. The quest for Black reparations began immediately after Congress decided to compensate Japanese Americans for their forced incarceration during World War II. Will others come forward, if Blacks are paid. They aren’t the only ones with grievances. What about American Indians? What about  Chinese Americans, discriminated against as early as 1882? What About Mexican Americans? From 1931-1940, between 355,000 and 2 million were removed to Mexico to preserve jobs for other Americans. Many of these people were U.S. citizens. Very few were able to return. Should they be compensated? The other problem is the very arbitrariness of decisions on who is compensated, who pays, and how much they receive. It is complicated by the time that has elapsed since Blacks were victimized. Some Blacks have overcome the hurdles placed in front of them. Should they be compensated? What about those who made bad choices, like involving themselves with drugs, crime, or out-of-wedlock births? Are they compensated? The question of who pays is equally complicated. Should the descendants of Union soldiers killed or severely wounded in the Civil War pay? What about all the immigrants who have come to the U.S. in the last several decades–do they pay? And how much should be paid? Obviously, there is a considerable disparity in the damage done to individuals. Does everyone receive the same amount? Do you adjust the damages by the net benefit Blacks have received over the years from government transfer payments or affirmative action programs? Doubtless, there are other issues. Clearly, some number–probably substantial–can be arrived at, but how could you possibly defend it? And an indefensible number will certainly produce a racial backlash. Do we really want to go down this road?

Nonetheless, support for reparations has been growing. Democrats began introducing legislation “to study” reparations in 1989 in the U.S. House, and they actually succeeded in reporting a bill (H.R. 40) to the House floor in 2021. A similar “study committee” was approved in California and recently recommended that $800 billion be transferred to some Black residents of the state, although California was never a slave state. This is 2 ½ times the size of California’s entire budget. How would a former slave state fare? There are now 13 “study commissions” in counties and cities around the U.S. San Francisco and Sacramento are in the early stages of implementing their commission recommendations. Evanston, Illinois has actually sent out $25,000 checks–the first of three sets of payments–to Black residents who lived in the city from 1919-1969. All of these jurisdictions are dominated by Democrats, not unlike Fairfax County. Do you know where your county supervisor, state house, and state senate candidates stand on this issue?