Reperations

Hi Friends!
Welcome to Issue 47 of this newsletter. This week’s topic is Reparations. The word “reparations” out of context simply means “the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.” In the context of American slavery, most people hear the word “reparations” and understand it to be a reference to all of the free labor enslaved people endured (not to mention the emotional, physical and mental trauma and abuse). You’ve probably heard “40 acres and a mule” referred to in your history class as a promise to former slaves, but do you know how that really went down? “Making the American Dream an equitable reality demands the same U.S. government that denied wealth to Blacks restore that deferred wealth through reparations to their descendants in the form of individual cash payments in the amount that will close the Black-white racial wealth divide.” Let’s get into it!

Key Terms

Jim Crow: Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens.

Reparations: A system of redress for egregious injustices.

40 Acres and a Mule: After the Civil War, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman issued Field Order, No. 15, confiscating Confederate land along the rice coast. Sherman would later order “40 acres and a mule” to thousands of Black families, which historians would later refer to as the first act of reparations to enslaved Black people. After Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865, the order would be reversed and the land given to Black families would be rescinded and returned to White Confederate landowners.

The Marshall Plan: The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent.

Field Order 15: On January 16, 1865, during the Civil War (1861-65), Union Gen. William T. Sherman issued his Special Field Order No. 15, which confiscated as Union property a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John’s River in Florida, including Georgia’s Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast. The order redistributed the roughly 400,000 acres of land to newly freed Black families in forty-acre segments. Additionally, some families were to receive mules left over from the war, hence 40 acres and a mule.

Let’s Get Into It

The case for reparations is complex, but one of the main focuses is the reality that while white Americans had the opportunity to build wealth Black Americans (and many other marginalized groups) were not afforded the same opportunities to build generational wealth, security and societal advancement. Read my newsletter on redlining for more on this as well.

In this article from Brookings, Rashawn Ray and Andre M. Perry share some important stats:

• Today, the average white family has roughly 10 times the amount of wealth as the average Black family.

• White college graduates have over seven times more wealth than Black college graduates.

• In 1860, over $3 billion was the value assigned to the physical bodies of enslaved Black Americans to be used as free labor and production.

• In 1861, the value placed on cotton produced by enslaved Blacks was $250 million.

• Economists William “Sandy” Darity and Darrick Hamilton point out in their 2018 report, What We Get Wrong About Closing the Wealth Gap, “Blacks cannot close the racial wealth gap by changing their individual behavior –i.e. by assuming more ‘personal responsibility’ or acquiring the portfolio management insights associated with ‘[financial] literacy.’” In fact, white high school dropouts have more wealth than Black college graduates.

• The racial wealth gap did not result from a lack of labor, it came from a lack of financial capital.

• In 2016, white families had the highest median family wealth at $171,000, compared to Black and Hispanic families, which had $17,600 and $20,700, respectively

The United States has yet to compensate descendants of enslaved Black Americans for their labor. Nor has the federal government atoned for the lost equity from anti-Black housing, transportation, and business policy. Not only do racial wealth disparities reveal fallacies in the American Dream, the financial and social consequences are significant and wide-ranging. Wealth is positively correlated with better health, educational, and economic outcomes.

The History Of Reparations

The United States government is familiar with reparations:

• Native Americans have received land and billions of dollars for various benefits and programs for being forcibly exiled from their native lands — though obviously we are well aware of the constant horrors that the Native community has and continues to face.

• $1.5 billion was paid to Japanese Americans who were interned during World War II.

• Via the Marshall Plan, the United States helped to ensure that Jews received reparations for the Holocaust

• Black Americans are the only group that has not received reparations for state-sanctioned racial discrimination, while slavery afforded some white families the ability to accrue tremendous wealth.

  • About 15 percent of the enslaved shipped from Western Africa died during transport.

  • One in three marriages between enslaved people were split up and one in five children were separated from their parents.

40 Acres and a Mule:

• The first major opportunity that the United States had and where it should have atoned for slavery was right after the Civil War.

• Union leaders including General William Sherman concluded that each Black family should receive 40 acres. Sherman signed Field Order 15 and allocated 400,000 acres of confiscated Confederate land to Black families.

• Additionally, some families were to receive mules left over from the war, hence 40 acres and a mule.

• After President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, President Andrew Johnson reversed Field Order 15 and returned land back to former slave owners.

• In Washington D.C., slave owners were actually paid reparations for lost property—the formerly enslaved. This practice was also common in nearby states.

Proposed Methods For Reparations

• Individual payments for descendants of enslaved Black Americans: The U.S. government owes lost wages as well as damages to the people it helped enslave. The cumulative amount of restitution for individuals should eliminate the racial wealth gap that currently exists. According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent numbers in 2016, based on the Survey of Consumer Finances, white families had the highest median family wealth at $171,000, compared to Black and Hispanic families, which had $17,600 and $20,700, respectively.

• College tuition to 4-year or 2-year colleges and universities for descendants of enslaved Black Americans

• Student loan forgiveness for descendants of enslaved Black Americans

• Down payment grants and housing revitalization grants for descendants of enslaved Black Americans

• Business grants for business starting up, business expansion to hire more employees, or purchasing property for descendants of enslaved Black Americans\

Who Should Receive Reparations

One key question after deciding what a reparations package should include is who should qualify. In short, a Black person who can trace their heritage to people enslaved in U.S. states and territories should be eligible for financial compensation for slavery. Meanwhile, Black people who can show how they were excluded from various policies after emancipation should seek separate damages.

• For instance, a person like Senator Cory Booker whose parents are descendants of slaves would qualify for slavery reparations

• Senator Kamala Harris (Jamaican immigrant father and Indian immigrant mother) and President Barack Obama (Kenyan immigrant father and white mother) may seek redress for housing and/or education segregation

• Sasha and Malia Obama (whose mother is Michelle Robinson Obama, a descendant of enslaved Africans) would qualify

Will reparations really happen in The United States? Right now, it seems impossible on a nation level. However, at the local level, activists have made some impact. In 2015, Chicago enacted a reparations ordinance covering hundreds of African Americans tortured by police from the 1970s to the 1990s. Last spring, students at Georgetown University voted to create a fund that would raise $400,000 annually to benefit the descendants of almost 300 enslaved people sold by the college in the 1830s. Ultimately, these aren’t the reparations that Black Americans deserve, but they’re the only example we have. See ya next time!

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, we are the change we seek” — With love and light, Taylor Rae