If I steal from you, you will be affected long after the crime. If I stab you, you will bleed long after I have been detained. If I set you on fire, you will wince at the sight of a match long after I have served my time. The ending of an injustice is not the equivalent of erasing its long enduring effects. You can send me to prison, throw away the key and keep me there for life, but you cannot consider my crimes “washed away.” At least, not to the victims. This is one argument for the consideration of reparations-that to end slavery is not the end of a deep rooted systemic oppression of the black community. Now, I identify as white and to see me is to know my race as white. You may then ask whether my opinion on the matter of reparations is noteworthy and you would be right in doing so. It’s good to ask questions and to question the authority of writers, there’s no doubt. Simply put, I can only speak from the perspective of a white asian american, thus my life experiences have been dictated by how I am treated which has inevitably been altered by my race- neither you, the reader, nor I are color blind and although an uncomfortable message, I think it is one worth sending. So, no, I am not black and no I would not benefit from reparations. But I do support them. And I think it speaks volumes more that someone who would not benefit, would still speak to their effectiveness and to the demand for them.
A few years ago an essay published to the Atlantic written by author Ta-Nehisi Coates, titled “The Case for Reparations,” affirmed that reparations would help close the widening wealth gap between white households and black households—the result of structural racism rooted in the enslavement of millions of black people. “[And] how much would it cost to close that gap? As much as $10.7 trillion, according to Duke economist William Darity and his co-author Kirsten Mullen.” (Tax Policy Center) Now, to be clear on my position, I do agree with many of the arguments in opposition of reparations and I want to state here, why they are fair claims- as John McWhorter questions, how do you identify a black person and would fair distribution even be a possibility? Has too long a time passed for reparations to now come about? He asks audiences to question the practicality of the idea and finally to question whether or not there would ever be enough money given or if it would set a subtle ball in motion, for example in another fifty years would there be a demand for more? Frankly I think these are good questions.
And to flip Hannah-Nicole Jones’ analogy on herself with the use of two children I’ll put it this way. If you give one of your children a weekly allowance of a hundred dollars and the other nothing for ten years and then on the eleventh year you see the error of your ways and begin offering the same amount to each of them, then as Hannah-Nicole put it you have not created a fair situation since you have not made up for the years of not giving to your other child. But where I think the error in this analogy lies is that if you suddenly give a child money that they had never previously seen, I ask you what is the first thing that child is going to do with their newfound wealth? They are probably headed straight for the candy shop and to the toy store and to the arcade- all the places and all the things they couldn’t previously go or previously do. The other child however has ten years of understanding of their money. They’ve already experienced spending it all in one place or on one toy they will quickly move on from and they’ve learned from it.
With this said please do not misinterpret me for being derogatory, however, I think to give a large sum of money to anyone who, as the wealth gap between households has shown, has not previously been privy to a swell of wealth, I think that money would quickly be squandered. This isn’t to say that the payout of reparations would be a great sum all at once, however it would be enough to spend at the adult version of the candy store, the toy store, or the arcade- if you know what I mean.
With that being said I think the greater thing to do would be to spend the money on improving communities where the wealth and income gap is most relevant and where the majority of residents are black. I think the money should be thrown into creating better housing, or implementing better schools in predominantly black neighborhoods, and such. There is no question that the problem is the rooted systemic racism that has followed slavery including the oppression and lack of resources and opportunities for black citizens. So if the problem is one that has rooted itself within a nation, why not start from the inside out and create, systemically, better living, education, and opportunities for those who have been most effected?
I do hope that in stating my opinion here, I do not offend any readers of this blog and that instead I have offered you something to think about.