Of course, it is noteworthy that this apology comes 140 years after the abolition of slavery and decades after black Americans began pleading for the government to issue it. And the only reason for this unconscionable delay is that the government feared an apology would validate longstanding demands for more vexing and costly reparations.
No doubt, those fears will now be realized; especially since this resolution commits the House to ‘rectifying the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow.’
Nevertheless, the Senate is due to pass a similar resolution in due course.
[US Congress finally apologizes for slavery, TIJ, July 30, 2008]
This was how I acknowledged the belated apology for slavery the US House of Representatives issued last year. And the Senate duly followed suit yesterday.
Admittedly, as far as apologies go, it is quite significant. Not to mention the symbolism of issuing it on the eve of “Juneteenth” – a day (June 19) commemorating the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the emancipation of blacks from American slavery.
But the US government has no intention of putting its money where its mouth is. Nothing demonstrates this quite like the disclaimer the Senate included in its apology resolution, which states that “nothing in it supports or authorizes reparations by the United States.”
Therefore, no matter how the House intended to rectify the “lingering consequences” of slavery and Jim Crow, when these two apologies are reconciled, the Senate’s disclaimer will prevail. This means that blacks will receive no compensation for America’s “original sin” that was committed against their ancestors.
Here, for the record, is how I expressed my general view in a previous commentary:
Claims by Holocaust survivors and interned Japanese were successful primarily because direct links could be established between the perpetrators of the harm alleged and surviving victims of that harm. By contrast, no such links exist between the institution of slavery and modern-day claimants for reparations.
(“CARICOM’s Fatally Flawed Demand for Reparations,” Caribbean Net News, February 16, 2007)
Meanwhile, what are we to make of affirmative-action programs that were supposed to rectify the lingering consequences of slavery and Jim Crow over the past 40 years? Never mind that those programs seemed to mostly benefit white women and wealthy blacks.
Whatever the case, it behooves black activists to appreciate why the word reparations is so toxic, so much so that it makes any discussion of it utterly futile. Even sympathetic, guilt-ridden whites will flinch defensively to deflect blame for the “original sin” their forefathers committed 400 years ago.
Instead, black activists should frame their claims in the context of the systemic racism that persists, which dates back to the good old days of Jim Crow. This provides a direct link between harm alleged and compensation sought.
What’s more, the harm can be so easily documented. One need only cite the litany of studies on such racially insidious harms as redlining, gentrification, separate and still unequal schools, workplace discrimination, unfair incarceration, to say nothing of police brutality.
Finally, instead of expecting the government to write compensatory checks, black activists should demand more targeted and comprehensive affirmative-action programs. Those programs could include such (means-tested) benefits as free healthcare, childcare, education (from pre-K to graduate), and even subsidized housing.
Related commentaries:
House finally apologizes for slavery…
fatally flawed demand…
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