The Case for Reparations
In May of 2014, Ta-Nehisi Coates published a landmark article in The Atlantic, "The Case for Reparations". In case you haven't read the 16,000+ word article, watch this TV interview of Coates on the Bill Moyers' Show:
Every middle and high school social studies teacher and every college professor ought to require that their students read this article. Understanding slavery, Jim Crow, and the current affects of both is essential for understanding that America is not a post-racial society. Even alcoholics must admit that they have a problem drinking in order to correct that problem. Being color blind is not being color realistic. It's just plain blind.
So teachers, give your students an assignment that forces them to think creatively about resolving the conflict so eloquently outlined in The Atlantic article below. Could enacting voluntary reparations for slavery through a National Jubilee Lottery be one such conflict resolution?
Ta-Nehisi Coates will speak in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at a talk hosted by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. For more information, please see Community Events at http://www.reparationslaborunion.org/ta_nehisi_coates_in_ann_arbor .
P.S. At the end of the above video, Bill Moyers mentioned that the racist housing policies which Ta-Nehisi Coates discussed in his reparations article affected schools in racially segregated neighborhoods. What follows below is the study that Bill Moyers referenced regarding how black and brown children are still adversely affected by racial segregation in education 60 years after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. See http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/24/14-disturbing-stats-about-racial-inequality-in-american-public-schools/