#347: Residual Slavery
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I recently learned something about Juneteenth (our country's 11th national holiday, proclaimed by the House, Senate and President Biden last week). Namely, that the slaves in Galveston, Texas who were finally freed on June 19th, 1865, didn't need to be told they were free. Rather, what they needed were armed troops to prevent their "masters" from holding them against their will. They knew they'd been freed; there was just the matter of their "owners" flouting the Emancipation Proclamation.
Then, this morning, I read Rolling Stone's article about reparations, titled 10 Things We Get Wrong About Reparations. And since I'd recently been thinking about slavery's legacy, here's my take (the ten things we get wrong are in black; my commentary is in green):
1. There’s no one living today who owned slaves nor anyone living today who was enslaved.
The authors make the point that the black-white wealth gap in America is something like $11 trillion. They feel that this is a direct result of our nation refusing to address slavery's consequences. They also note that there are Black Americans, alive today, who lived through the degradation of the pre-Civil Rights era.
As a white American (mostly, if not entirely so), I'm guessing the flip side of #1, above, is where most opposition to reparations can be found: that nobody living today was responsible for slavery (so, why should additional taxes be paid).
As I'll make clear, below, there's always room for justice, wherever it might lead. But, convincing a majority of voters that trillions of dollars are owed is a political undertaking. As with any courtship, it isn't always wise to become obsessed with the endgame, at the expense of persuasion.
2. Only a small number of Americans owned slaves, so why burden the nation with a bill for reparations?
This section is quite helpful in that it dispels the falsehood that only 1% of Southern whites were slave owners. The true number was something like 50%, especially when one adds in whites in the South who were part of the slave economy, though too poor to own slaves themselves.
3. African nations who engaged in the slave trade are the real debtors in the reparations conversation.
The authors make a weak argument that additional compensation might be due from African nations that seized humans for sale to traffickers. A stronger argument: most modern African nation states only became independent following WWII.
4. Other communities have suffered. Why should African Americans alone receive reparations?
Here, the authors successfully confront a strong case against. They respond by advocating that all aggrieved communities claim reparations. One minor problem, of course, is that the few instances of reparations being paid by the US government involve people who were still living (Japanese-Americans, placed in concentration-camps during WWII, being the primary example).
5. Reparations will be even more divisive in an already polarized society.
The counter-argument the authors use here is that we don't know how the country would react. This, though, gets to the heart of the resistance that reparations face: that there's no political way forward, and a huge risk of backlash: making reparations scary would be as easy as citing the ensuing tax bill.
6. We can’t put a price tag on oppression anyway.
The authors revisit the black-white wealth gap for an approximate value of what is owed.
7. We can’t determine who will be eligible.
On this point the authors point to census and other genealogical records that can begin to establish who is a descendant of slaves. At this point, having undertaken genealogical research myself (there are many missing links), I begin to wonder if the case against isn't just too great, and that perhaps there's a better way. For one thing, the poorest and most deserving families are the most likely to be those with missing or ambiguous connections (if you were forced to live in the woods, or on the run, just barely eking out a living, the odds of being counted were poor). And, some census records do not exist, due to fire.
8. “Reparations” initiatives at the state and local level carve a path to the national program.
A weak, unnecessary detour. Obviously, only the US government has the resources to pay.
9. Reparations already have been paid by the high price of white lives lost during the Civil War.
Yet another detour, though perhaps some who're against reparations feel strongly about this.
10. Passage of HR 40 will be a milestone on the path toward black reparations.
Again, something that doesn't really address the main arguments against. Still, interesting that they've studied all the details and have the maximalist argument well formed.
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The case for reparations of some kind is fairly strong. Justice has been denied approximately one out of every eight Americans, as the black-white wealth gap makes plain. Every time our government could have done the right thing, it didn't, up until the Civil Rights era, and here we are.
All the arguments for reparations have a huge mountain to climb, though, and that's political likelihood. The authors note a steady rise in the percentage of poll respondents in favor, the highest number being close to, if not a majority among the young, meaning it'll probably take decades before the odds of passage are promising. Or, it may be that young people are naturally idealistic, and only the limitations encountered during our lies harden us, so that when older, we're merely looking out for #1. Which would, of course, dim any prospects.
And yet all is not lost. A more likely approach that few reasonable Americans would have difficulty accepting is what are commonly called Baby Bonds. These are bank accounts established at birth for all children born to parents earning below a certain level (involving a gradual, sliding scale), or conceivably, to those with little wealth. Once an adult, a child's bank account could then be used for college, a home, or a business venture. If generous enough, these would have something like the same effect as reparations. And, because they'd address poverty, regardless of race or ethnicity. would likely be doable now, many years before reparations are possible. Of course Baby Bonds would feel like a mere half loaf to those wanting reparations, but they'd begin a healing process--and sooner rather than later.
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