Analysis Of Housing Discrimination As A Basis For Black Reparations By Jonathan Kaplan

COLOR LINING Prior to the Fair Housing Act of 1968 African Americans had difficulty getting the same quality homes as white people could. Jonathan Kaplan and Andrew Valls wrote a paper titled “Housing Discrimination as a Basis for Black Reparations.” Jonathan Kaplan is a professor at Oregon State and is in the Philosophy Department with a background in ethics; Andrew Valls is also a professor at Oregon State, but he is part of the Political Science Department. Both have published multiple works on race and racism. In their article, they mention many instances of unfair treatment of African Americans. They write, “Yet even after state-mandated segregation was struck down, private racial covenants continued to be enforceable contract provisions

For many white Americans, slavery and the mistreatment of African Americans is “out of sight, out of mind”, it is difficult for many people to understand the true impacts that slavery has today. Segregation has not been prevalent in many people's lives, so it seems like a long time ago, but segregation has only been absent in the United States for under half a century. Prior to the legal end of segregation, slavery lasted for almost 250 years, Jim Crow laws lasted for 90 years, separate but equal was prevalent for 60 years, and 35 years of unfair housing. Inequality that lasted longer than the age of our country is bound to have a lasting impact on African Americans that still affects people

To most people $40,000 is a large sum of money, loans can be paid off, debt settled and it would seem like anything could be bought. There is a reason behind the saying “Money can buy happiness,” because if spent right it truly could improve the quality of life for African Americans. When people are given “extra money” people are more likely to spend more. Cody Wheeler, the founder of Academy Success-a website where people can go to understand complicated finances in a simpler way, wrote an article about what to do with extra money and wrote, “In 2009, Harvard Researchers found that when they gave participants of an experiment an extra $10 more than a peer group, the subjects spent 20% more after being told the money was “extra” in nature.” So if African Americans were to receive these reparations they are likely to spend more than they should which may actually put them into debt which will worsen their quality of life. If African Americans were given reparations then yes it is possible that their quality of life will improve but it can also put them in a worse off financial position if they are not careful. The overall quality of life will most likely improve for African Americans if they were to receive these