By Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times — NORWICH, Conn. — The two slaves, a father and daughter, were stripped to the waist and positioned for frontal and side views. Then, like subjects in contemporary mug shots, their pictures were taken, as part of a racist study arguing that black people were an inferior race. Almost 170 years later, they are at the center of a dispute over who should…
Charles and Camilla are the latest to arrive and help whitewash the injustices of slavery and empire. By Nalini Mohabir, The Guardian — Once upon a time monarchs ruled by divine right, then later with charismatic authority. The future king Prince Charles (#NotMyPrince) has neither. Yet Caribbean governments are paying for Prince Charles and Camilla’s royal tour of the Caribbean which began on Sunday and continues for 12 days, to…
MSNBC VIDEO — Reparations for slavery is becoming a hot button issue in 2020. Joy Reid is joined by Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee on H.R. 40, which would create a commission to study reparations, and long-time participant in the legitimate movement for reparations, Rev. Mark Thompson.
By Noah Smith, Bloomberg — The issue of reparations for African Americans is, of course, full of more moral and historical issues than one column, even by someone with much greater understanding and deeper knowledge than me, could ever resolve. But since the proposal is now being taken seriously, it’s worth thinking about the economics of how it could and should work. The idea of compensating the descendants of American…
Openly talking about reparations for the descendants of enslaved men and women is a notable shift for Democrats. But the conversation still lacks substance. By P.R. Lockhart, VOX — A…
National African American Reparations Commission Applauds Recent Statements of Interest by 2020 Presidential Contenders Calls on all the Candidates to Support HR-40 Download/Print PDF or DOC version of this…
By David Brooks, The New York Times — I’ve been traveling around the country for the past few years studying America’s divides — urban/rural, red/blue, rich/poor. There’s been a haunting sensation the whole time that is hard to define. It is that the racial divide doesn’t feel like the other divides. There is a dimension of depth to it that the other divides don’t have. It is more central to…
Perhaps the main reason so many people objected to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam calling the first 20 Africans to land in Virginia in 1619 indentured servants, and not slaves, is that they believe the conditions of slavery were so much harsher than those of indentured servitude, that calling these Africans indentured servants amounts to a cover-up of their reality. That is because the popular image that we have been sold…
By Jamie Lovegrove, Post and Courier — SUMMERVILLE — The highest ranking African-American member of Congress has major problems with two prominent ideas to address racial disparities in the economy:…
A direct cost of slavery is the cost of African-American life. How much is a life worth depends on a lot of personal factors. By Benny Williams, Ebony — Reparations owed to African-Americans in terms of dollars are insurmountable and nearly impossible for America to afford. No amount of money can repair the psychological damage African-Americans have experienced for centuries, and no amount of money can address the systemic racism that…
William A. Darity, Jr., Duke University — In general, a program of reparations is intended to achieve three objectives: acknowledgment of a grievous injustice, redress for the injustice, and closure of…
By: Micah Smith, The Denver Channel — DENVER — Throughout Denver, there’s a growing racial justice movement focused on reparations and reconciliation. Most of those involved in this push to bridge…