Why Reparations: A Framework for Restorative Justice

• In Event: Spatial and Structural Racism in the US

Abstract

There are many misconceptions about what reparations entail, often seen as a "handout” that has negative monetary implications on White Americans. This is exemplary of a great need for education on what reparations are and the deconstructing of the notion that recent generations of White Americans as a collective have no connection to and gain no benefit from chattel slavery and the systemic oppression of Black Americans that followed. The current systems of oppression not being chattel slavery does not negate their harm or the connection between enslavement and the economic, educational, and medical disparity, among others, that Black Americans face today. "Why Reparations: A Framework for Restorative Justice" aims to educate on this matter and advocate for a restitutive plan by 1) defining reparations and concepts concerning inequity and injustice, and addressing misconceptions, 2) detailing the past and current injustices faced by Black Americans that make reparations necessary, 3) proposing policy recommendations for implementation, and 4) explaining how these policies would promote systemic reform and have a positive impact on Americans overall. The concept of "Sankofa" is the purpose of this paper—to retrieve, to restitute, and to return what can be by fostering a comprehensive understanding of America’s past so that it is no longer perpetuated in the present.

Authors

• Khloe Williams, Indiana University Bloomington

• Nana Amoah-Ramey, Indiana University Bloomington