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Most Black Americans favour the idea of monetary compensation for the hardship of their ancestors. But who is ready to shell out the cash?
In these post-George Floyd days, calls for reparations to the descendants of black slaves have been intensifying. But should Americans, many with painful life stories of their own, be forced to pay for crimes they did not commit?
If California Governor Gavin Newsom gets his way, the Black Americans living in his state could soon be hitting the proverbial jackpot.
Newsom, one of the most radical progressive liberals in the country, created a Reparation Task Force in 2020, a nine-person group tasked with gathering data to estimate the impact of historical racist policies on black people in the state, and how that impact translates into monetary damages to be potentially compensated with reparations.
Eligible Californians, the task force has ruled, are the descendants of African American slaves or of free black people who lived in the US before the 20th century.
Nearly 6.5 percent of California residents, roughly 2.5 million, identify as Black or African American. The task force is expected to release its final report this year, but the early numbers look staggering already. Housing discrimination from 1933 to 1977 alone — one of five fields studied – warrants a compensation of around $569 billion, or $223,200 per person. Whether those should be education or housing grants or cash payments is still being debated.
Needless to say, the proposal has triggered a political fire-storm in the US where the white population as a whole is being accused of systemic racism and even white supremacy.
By an overwhelming majority, White Americans, as well as Latinos and other historically marginalized racial groups, do not think it is their duty to pay for crimes they did not commit, against people who were never slaves.
At the same time, many Black Americans are of the opinion that it’s the only fair way of addressing the centuries of oppression that their ancestors have endured.
Last year, an online survey by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that 86 percent of African Americans supported compensating the descendants of slaves, compared with 28 percent of white people.
l The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
Online Reporter