Reparations for Black descendants of people enslaved in the U.S.

Reparations programs for Black descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. are a suggested strategy to repair psychological and material damages from slavery and racial discrimination^{7, 8, 9} and to close the racial wealth divide^{5, 10}. Surveys and interviews of Japanese Americans who survived World War II internment camps suggest reparations can increase faith in the government, provide closure and emotional relief, and may alleviate economic hardships¹¹. Congressional approval for a commission to study and propose a federal level reparations program could be the first step to establish federal reparations for slavery in the U.S.¹². Additional evidence following the implementation of a federal reparations program is needed to confirm program effectiveness in closing the racial wealth divide.

Reparations may reduce health disparities between white and Black Americans by addressing the vast gap in resources on both individual and community levels. The connection between good health and access to resources (i.e., quality housing, education, fair wages, safe work environments, clean air and water, healthy food, etc.) has been established and reparations can improve access to resources for eligible recipients (however defined). Reparations may also reduce stress, support healing from trauma, and improve current and future health outcomes for Black Americans^{6, 13}. Data analysis suggests reparations would have reduced the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black Americans¹⁴.

Apologies and recognition of historical wrongs are considered a critical component of reparations programs, though they are not sufficient by themselves¹⁵. Experts suggest reparations programs support education to develop and maintain national consciousness of America’s racial history^{8, 16, 17}. Lack of recognition of past trauma and ongoing discrimination is part of the minoritization and dehumanization of Black Americans that devalues their identity, social condition, and memory—which increases negative identity development, low self-esteem, stress, and suffering¹⁶. Reparations can express remorse and establish a positive, respectful relationship between perpetrators and victims that focuses on equal citizenship, recognition, and social status, as well as building civic and social trust. When genuine expressive reparations are combined with monetary investments, reparations programs can offer hope and begin the healing process, which may help victims and perpetrators work together productively to achieve common goals^{15, 18, 19}. Experts caution that poorly executed reparations efforts are likely to exacerbate negative feelings and contribute to the need for litigation and protest^{15, 18}. Careful design, implementation, and evaluation is needed for reparations programs to effectively close the racial wealth divide²⁰.

With the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the U.S. government paid $1.6 billion in reparations directly to Japanese American survivors of World War II internment camps for civil rights violations¹². In Brazil, reparations laws have been passed with a focus on recognizing groups descended from slaves, increasing public education about the history of slavery, and improving access to higher education with quotas for under-represented Afro-Brazilians¹⁶. The Caribbean Community has a 10-point reparations plan that includes a full formal apology, programs to improve public health, eradicate illiteracy, cancel debt, and meet community technology needs, especially among the most marginalized groups in the Caribbean. The plan also includes efforts to preserve African cultural traditions and histories and to promote education about the history of slavery in the Caribbean⁸. After a series of official negotiations between Israel and Germany, the German government has paid nearly $87 billion in Holocaust reparations from 1945 to 2018, which included individual direct compensation and community funds provided to Israel^{17, 21}.

Historical awareness is necessary to understand the need for reparations and to provide context for apologies and education initiatives^{8, 17}. However, supporters emphasize the need for reparations policies to be future-oriented and aim for structural change and community investment⁸. To achieve reparative justice, society can focus on taking collective action toward repair, instead of pursuing legal liability or using a legal context for reparations, which presents many obstacles⁸. Using the political and legislative process to establish reparations programs may be more successful, as in the example of German reparations paid for the Holocaust, where the German government acknowledged the historical injustice and approached Israel to negotiate payments and reparations options¹⁷.

Surveys suggest that reparations programs are politically unpopular in the U.S.; however, the degree of support or opposition to reparations proposals varies dramatically from one survey to the next—often based on question wording, framing of the proposed reparations, and who conducts the interview². Public opinion appears to be shifting in response to increased awareness of racism and discrimination, racial inequity, and the role of governments in addressing these issues²².

The cost of reparations proposals varies significantly based on program design and calculation methods. For all calculation methods, experts acknowledge that the government has a debt to pay and the interest owed on the debt increases as time passes¹⁷. The racial wealth divide is a strong indicator of the cumulative effects of white supremacy and the oppression of Black people; successful reparations programs should aim to close the racial wealth divide over time^{5, 12}. A strategy that pools government funds with contributions from institutions, organizations, universities, banks, and insurance companies that profited from slave labor, could be established to pay for reparations. However, experts note that the federal government has the capacity to fund a properly designed reparations program without changing current tax rates, especially if funds are distributed over time²³.

At the federal level, the House of Representatives is considering a bill, HR 40, to create a commission to study and develop proposals for reparations for slavery and discrimination in the United States. HR 40 was first introduced in 1989 by Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan). In January 2021, the bill was introduced again and assigned to committee. The bill has been ‘ordered to be reported’ for consideration by the full House of Representatives, but as of October 2023 it has not progressed^{24, 25}.

In 2019, the California state legislature adopted a resolution acknowledging the influence of 400 years of slavery and the need to pursue reparations for descendants of enslaved Africans²⁶. In 2020, California established a Reparations Task Force to study and develop state reparations proposals⁴. As of 2022, the New York State Assembly passed a bill that acknowledges and records the history of slavery in New York and aims to establish a community commission for reparations²⁷. The Senate version of the bill is in committee²⁸.

Cities have adopted resolutions apologizing for slavery, calling for local community reparations, and encouraging larger scale reparations from the state and federal government, as in Evanston, IL²⁹, Asheville, NC³⁰, Durham, NC³¹, and Detroit, MI³². In Durham, NC the city council unanimously passed a resolution calling for federal reparations for descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. to eliminate the racial wealth divide^{31, 33}. In 2020, the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island announced an Executive Order to establish a reparations process to record the truth about systemic racism, to change local policies that continue to negatively affect residents, and to repair past damages³⁴.

Many groups and coalitions across the country are working for social justice and advocating for reparations for historical and ongoing trauma. For example, A New Deal for Youth is a youth-led, youth-centered effort that advocates for new systems, policies, investments, and structures that transform current systems and includes a holistic approach to reparations for past and continuing traumas, including land theft, slavery, environmental racism, voter suppression, and more³⁵. The American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) Foundation proposes specific reparations for descendants of people enslaved in the U.S., as well as a broader Black agenda to build more equitable communities for all Black Americans³⁶. N’COBRA (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America) is another group that advocates for reparations programs³⁷. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) supports HR 40³⁸. The National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) is another non-profit that unites professionals in multiple fields from across the country in a commitment to support reparations and to advocate for social justice³⁹.

Apologies for slavery have been offered by the federal and some state governments without monetary compensation or reparations programs. In 2007, Virginia issued a public apology for slavery. Seven more states adopted similar legislation soon after: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina⁴⁰. In 2008 and 2009, the federal government drafted an apology for slavery and the Jim Crow era that passed the House and the Senate; however, the legislation did not include a reparations package, the Senate version specifically included a disclaimer protecting against responsibility for monetary claims, and President Barack Obama did not sign it^{41, 42}.

The International Center for Transitional Justice has done work in many countries to establish multi-component reparations programs appropriate for each country’s specific context, including Cambodia, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, and Uganda. International human rights law also includes a right to the truth for victims of human rights violations, outlines the need to acknowledge and share the truth to alleviate suffering and anger, and establishes government responsibility for investigating the truth¹.

In some circumstances, reparations can be paid by organizations or corporations. For example, in 2020, Lloyd’s of London paid reparations in the form of donations to charities for Black and minority ethnic groups for its history as an insurer of slave ships⁸.