The difficulty of the question of reparations

Fairly early in the 2020 election cycle, several Democrats vying for the White House have been asked about and responded positively to issue of reparations in response to slavery and systemic racism in America.

The issue of reparations -- usually interpreted as making financial amends to African-Americans for centuries of slavery, racism and inequality -- has again entered the political conversation after several Democratic presidential candidates expressed support for the idea.  

Sen. Kamala Harris of California recently told a radio show host that the idea of reparations should be considered in the face of economic inequality. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has spoken approvingly of the need for reparations, potentially for Native Americans whose land was expropriated by European settlers as well as for African-Americans. And so has former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. The idea, which the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates tried to reintroduce in 2014 with his manifesto "The Case for Reparations," has traveled into the mainstream of political discourse once again. But none of the candidates who have expressed openness to the concept has a concrete proposal that would specifically give a new benefit to any group of Americans based on their race.

Rep. Julian Castro has been open to the idea, as have Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, although they don’t necessarily agree on what method or form it would take. Sen. Kamala Harris, on the other hand, is skeptical of the idea of implementing benefits for black people only, as were former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Besides the issue of methodology, there is another potentially insurmountable problem with attempting to “repair” what has been broken in America since before its independence.

Can what has been broken ever truly be repaired? And do Americans want to repair what has been broken?

from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/2Ha3qyd