Reparations - A Thought Experiment
Reparations for past wrongs is an ethical good. The enslavement and persecution of African Americans by the American government and its people is an ethical wrong that should be redressed.
An argument against Reparations that it is impossible to an historical wrong or fairly compensate current individuals. Historically, the opportunity to redress the wrong done directly to individuals was lost when the promise of "40 acres and a mule" was broken and Reconstruction became Jim Crow. And so the wrong still need to be redressed since we are also creatures of history and a wrong can be perpetrated across generations.
So, while it is not impossible to redress those who were enslaved, the wrong of that enslavement is still with us and still cries out for redress. Because we have let time pass without action, those who were directly affected have all died, but the wrong to the group remains.
When Japanese Americans received reparations, those personally wronged were still alive, and they, though quite old, were the beneficiaries of a cash payment of $20,000 -- the children of those who had died did not receive reparations. What is interesting about those who did receive reparations is that many of them donated their money to the universities from which they graduated. This is not surprising in that a college education is a road to financial and social success, and as a group, a college education has done much to benefit Japanese Americans as a group.
Perhaps one way to repair the harm done to the African American community without targeting specific individuals, and at the same time benefiting the United States as a whole is to establish institutions that benefit the African American community.
On such institution which has sought to benefit the Hawaiian community for almost 120 years is the Bishop Estate, which funds the Kamehameha Schools. A major criteria for admissions is the ability to prove Hawaiian ancestry. The "race based" policy was challenged by a non-Hawaiian in 2003, but a Federal circuit court in 2006 found that "Kamehameha [Schools] has a legal right to offer admissions preference to Native Hawaiian applicants as a way to remedy past harms and current imbalances suffered by the Indigenous people of Hawaii as a result of Western contact."
As a matter of reparations, then, it would seem fair that the US commit to funding a similar institution for African Americans, at the rate of 1/10th of 1 percent of the Federal budget, tax exempt, (about $5 billion for the current budget; or the current budget of the Border Patrol) for the next 200 years, enough time to get on their feet or dissolve as they choose. This funding will not prevent them from raising other funds or charging tuition. An essential point is that these funds and the institution is controlled by the African American community.
From the perspective of the Federal budget this is a minuscule amount. Where to get this money? Five billion is 7/10th of 1 percent of the military budget. The military has never been able to pass a Federal audit, they probably wouldn't notice.
These funds could be roughly divided among 5 institutions which would educate African Americans from kindergarten through graduate school. These schools would be located in the major centers of the African American community.
Why schools? Colleges are a major economic engine in a community, more so to the extent that they involve and embrace the community. Every school needs support staff. College students not in dorms prefer to live close to the school, where they contribute to the local economy. Universities control patents for discoveries done through the university. Institutions require consumables to continue daily operation. Start-ups often begin close to the institutions where the entrepreneurs received their education. College sports teams are huge generators of income. They can train people, nurses, teachers, social workers, artists, doctors, lawyers, business people who want to serve and build up their community.
Take time, 10, 20 years, to plan and organize the community, while banking and conservatively investing the money. In 10 years what is banked will rival Harvard's endowment.
An argument against Reparations that it is impossible to an historical wrong or fairly compensate current individuals. Historically, the opportunity to redress the wrong done directly to individuals was lost when the promise of "40 acres and a mule" was broken and Reconstruction became Jim Crow. And so the wrong still need to be redressed since we are also creatures of history and a wrong can be perpetrated across generations.
So, while it is not impossible to redress those who were enslaved, the wrong of that enslavement is still with us and still cries out for redress. Because we have let time pass without action, those who were directly affected have all died, but the wrong to the group remains.
When Japanese Americans received reparations, those personally wronged were still alive, and they, though quite old, were the beneficiaries of a cash payment of $20,000 -- the children of those who had died did not receive reparations. What is interesting about those who did receive reparations is that many of them donated their money to the universities from which they graduated. This is not surprising in that a college education is a road to financial and social success, and as a group, a college education has done much to benefit Japanese Americans as a group.
Perhaps one way to repair the harm done to the African American community without targeting specific individuals, and at the same time benefiting the United States as a whole is to establish institutions that benefit the African American community.
On such institution which has sought to benefit the Hawaiian community for almost 120 years is the Bishop Estate, which funds the Kamehameha Schools. A major criteria for admissions is the ability to prove Hawaiian ancestry. The "race based" policy was challenged by a non-Hawaiian in 2003, but a Federal circuit court in 2006 found that "Kamehameha [Schools] has a legal right to offer admissions preference to Native Hawaiian applicants as a way to remedy past harms and current imbalances suffered by the Indigenous people of Hawaii as a result of Western contact."
As a matter of reparations, then, it would seem fair that the US commit to funding a similar institution for African Americans, at the rate of 1/10th of 1 percent of the Federal budget, tax exempt, (about $5 billion for the current budget; or the current budget of the Border Patrol) for the next 200 years, enough time to get on their feet or dissolve as they choose. This funding will not prevent them from raising other funds or charging tuition. An essential point is that these funds and the institution is controlled by the African American community.
From the perspective of the Federal budget this is a minuscule amount. Where to get this money? Five billion is 7/10th of 1 percent of the military budget. The military has never been able to pass a Federal audit, they probably wouldn't notice.
These funds could be roughly divided among 5 institutions which would educate African Americans from kindergarten through graduate school. These schools would be located in the major centers of the African American community.
Why schools? Colleges are a major economic engine in a community, more so to the extent that they involve and embrace the community. Every school needs support staff. College students not in dorms prefer to live close to the school, where they contribute to the local economy. Universities control patents for discoveries done through the university. Institutions require consumables to continue daily operation. Start-ups often begin close to the institutions where the entrepreneurs received their education. College sports teams are huge generators of income. They can train people, nurses, teachers, social workers, artists, doctors, lawyers, business people who want to serve and build up their community.
Take time, 10, 20 years, to plan and organize the community, while banking and conservatively investing the money. In 10 years what is banked will rival Harvard's endowment.
posted by Godel at 10:35 AM
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