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TA-NEHISI_REPARATIONS
July 18, 2020
AT the mid-point of the book--and, I think, at the
center of it, at the core of his thinking-- Coates
presents his case in favor of reparations.
I'm one of many people who don't take
this idea very seriously-- it, at least
at first glance, seems like something Stepping through the ABCs of
that's pragmatically a non-starter and reparations for slavery:
ethically a can of worms: who pays, who All of the people originally
gets paid, how much? wronged, and the people who
wronged them are dead. Even if
Coates, by the way, is aware you like the idea of ancestral
of these questions, but only guilt, you need to determine
barely addresses them-- he has the guilt of different people's
a style of argument that gives ancestors using a sketchy
very short shrift to contrary historical record.
opinions, dismissing them very
quickly often with little more E.g. my family wasn't even in this
than an eye-roll or a sneer. country back then-- am I supposed
to pay? A black person who's
But this risks oversimplifying Coates' a recent immigrant, would they
actual position: he doesn't really expect qualify?
that reparations are going to be paid out,
really he believes that the United States There's one angle Coates has to
needs to confront its history more justify that whites owe blacks:
seriously. You might take his case for the idea is that white people
reparations as a kind of thought benefit from a culture based
experiment, a way of forcing people to on white supremacy whether they
think about issues they often skip. like it or not-- and black people
are certainly damaged by it in
One of the points Coates makes obvious ways, and often in ways
is that every year John that are less obvious.
Conyers would propose doing a
study of reparations-- no (The numbers of black people who
financial commitment, just a end up murdered by racist cops
study of what might make sense may not be large compared to,
that might conclude "nothing say, traffic accidents, but if
much". What problem could you were a black mother raising
there be just doing a study? a teenage boy, how would you
feel about it? How would you
Certainly Coates got me thinking more caution the kid, how would the
deeply about the idea of reparations kid feel after being cautioned?)
that I might've otherwise... and I
found myself thinking something like: So, "white guilt" is presumed to
"Okay, maybe reparations for *slavery* be universal-- though Coates
isn't doable-- it's going too far doesn't use that phrase. He does
back-- but might it be possible to do complain about the powerful force
some form of reparations for things of "white innocence"-- by which he
like red-lining? That's nearer at essentially means "white denial".
hand, and there must be *some* records Or perhaps, "white pretense".
of who did what to whom..." White people, at least, get an
innocent-until-proven deal
Interestingly, right after I started (black people are more like to get
having thoughts like that, Coates' went a "he was no saint" and a shrug).
into the history of some actual attempts
like this... Most of them didn't work
out, though there's one exception from
recent years: Wells Fargo had to pay out
a few hundred million for steering black
people to risky sub-prime loans, There's an oddity about all
irrespective of their actual credit of this in that Coates
ratings, doesn't say a single word
about Native Americans.
So, is that a sign of progress, a Maybe he feels that they've
cause for celebration? Evidently had adequate reparations
not for Coates... (e.g. "reservations")?
But if so you might mention
TA-NEHISI_JOY that in making a case for
other kinds of reparations.
It could be that his
worldview is a little too
"black and white".
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/ta-nehisi-coates-race-politics-2020-elections.html
In 2019, in an interview, Ta-Nehisi Coates, summarizes his position:
"When I say I am for reparations, I’m saying that I am for
the idea that this country and its major institutions has
had an extractive relationship with black people for much
of our history; that this fact explains basically all of
the socioeconomic gap between black and white America, and
thus, the way to close that gap is to pay it back. In terms
of political candidates, and how this should be talked
about, and how this should be dealt with, it seems like it
would be a very easy solution. It’s actually the policy
recommendation that I gave in the piece, and that is to
support HR 40. That’s the bill that says you form a
commission. You study what damage was done from slavery,
and the legacy of slavery, and then you try to figure out
the best ways to remedy it. It’s pretty simple. I think
that’s Nancy Pelosi’s position at this point."
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