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The Pros And Cons Of Reparations For Black Americans

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After examining the historical injustices and current wrongdoings committed against the Black community, it is clear that reparations are in order. The remaining question is what will they look like? Reparations are meant to cover costs and disparities such as a loss of culture, a loss of potential profit, and an uneven distribution of benefits and burdens. One of the biggest issues the United States is still facing is the Black-white wealth gap. To address this, I propose investing in HBCUs as a form of reparations for Black Americans. HBCUs, or Historically Black Colleges or Universities are institutions founded to allow Black Americans to pursue higher education at a time when they were barred from attending Predominantly white institutions …show more content…

According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, from 2018-2019, 62.3% of white Americans had a bachelor’s degree, in comparison to Black Americans with 10.3% (National Center for Education Statistics). This ratio has a direct impact on the wealth gap, especially when generational wealth is considered. One of the consequences of American slavery was a 200-year loss of potential profit. With this came a lack of access to adequate education, even after slavery was abolished. That is already two ways the United States government was upholding the wealth gap.
We should accept premise one because there is a direct link between having a college degree and the salary you receive. A report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) revealed that adults who graduated with a bachelor’s degree earn $1.2 million more than the median income for someone with just a high school diploma. It also revealed that with “every additional level of education, [employees] tend to earn more than those with less education” (Nietzel para. 1). When money is invested into HBCUs, the result will be an increase in Black Americans with college …show more content…

12% is still a very large gap, especially when you are looking at the increasing size of the population. The goal of reparations is to put Black and white Americans on a level playing field. The book with Williams’ commentary was published in 2003, meaning that the data he supplied is 20 years old. Today, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis reports that white Americans make up 60% of the population and hold 84% of the wealth, while Black Americans are 13% of the population and only hold 4% of the wealth (Camner McKay para. 36). It is important to note that income and wealth are two different things. Wealth is the total value of all an individual’s assets, and income is an addition to wealth. Williams chose to address income inequality because that gap has shortened, while the wealth gap has only increased. Choosing to ignore this detail further upholds white supremacy by erasing the past and ongoing struggle Black Americans endure. Of course, it is important to acknowledge how far we have come, but that does not mean that we can stop moving toward

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Reparations for slavery is the idea that some form of compensatory payment should be made to the descendants of Africans who had been enslaved as part of the Atlantic Slave Trade. With that being said, I don’t believe this essay is a case for reparations. Coates never gives the breakdown of what the United States reparation would look like. He never tells us, his readers, how the system would work, or how anyone would actually make the political case for it. This argument is not about reparations for slavery, either.

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HBCUs were founded to educate black intellectuals and to transform Aamerican society into understanding and envisioning what it meant to be black after the Civil War. HBCUs can be described as “the vehicles

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Historically Black College/University aka HBCUs matter in the 21st century because they were the only way that most African Americans could receive college degree. HBCUs have been the mainstay of educating African Americans at the college and university levels. They were established for African Americans when HBCUs in the 21st century no other institution would allow them to attend. Although HBCUs were established for blacks to get an education diversity has increased, half of the students enrolled in an HBCU were mostly white, Native Americans, Hispanic, Asian, or pacific islanders compared back in the 1800s.

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In his article, Coates argues that the idea of reparations needs to have an important place in discussions of race in America. Coates doesn’t argue that a great sum of taxpayer dollars be given to every African American. It is impossible to come up with a lump sum of money that would pay for hundreds of years of enslavement and abuse. Instead, Coates argues that the idea of reparations is what is important. That African Americans need start considering

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We as black people should be even with white people if racism and lynching are over. However, it is clear that we are not. From writing this paper, I was hoping to finally get the answers I desired. I thought at first I should read a book that was just recently written and may have some insight on what is going on in this century so as a result I choose the book, “When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor” by, William Julies. He made an amazing effort to address why Black people are stuck in poverty while white people are able to advance every day.

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“The average per capita income of Chicago’s white neighborhoods is almost three times that of its black neighborhoods” (13). Coates also displays images to get the message across. The pictures along with the captions explain the types of suffrage Negroes went through, mostly all negative messages. Coates states, “Negro poverty is not white poverty,” (41) basically explaining that African Americans have a worse chance off in poverty than whites would.

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Your quote also resonates with contemporary issues of economic inequality, where wages and compensation for labor remain unjustly distributed across racial and class lines. The persistence of economic disparities highlights the ongoing legacy of slavery and discrimination in the United States. Similarly, sociologist Matthew Desmond found that “in 2019, the median white household had a net worth of $188,200, compared with $24,100 for the median Black household” (Nova). The stark economic disparities revealed by Matthew Desmond's findings demonstrate that America is failing to fulfill its vision for the country. Despite advancements in civil rights, the vast wealth gap between white and Black households perpetuates systemic inequality and limits upward mobility for Black individuals.

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I was surprise at the extent to which blacks were taken advantage of in the housing market. It was interesting how the author brought Obama’s family into his analysis. It is important to recognize that the first family does not represent the entire black population. They do not represent the typical situation for a black

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The in the article “Inheriting Footholds and Cushions” by Sleeter she goes into speaking about her own personal history she dug up taking a deep look into what her relatives did. Back in the 1800s land was given to her family, which we know land equals wealth. From this came great profits which allowed most whites to gain all the wealth. Her family grew up in nice houses in nice neighborhoods which allowed family to attended good schools to get good jobs and houses again. To keep wealth within families children need good educations to get good jobs one day, so private money is put into certain schools to make

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and the effects of discrimination, we still see today, the question of whether or not the government should provide reparations is one to take into deep understanding and consideration. After reading from the sources provided and examining the arguments and evidence of both sides, many would argue that reparations would be too hard to implement or that they undermine individuals who have surpassed the need for reparations. These arguments overlook the deep history of economic and social factors that have limited the opportunities and resources available to Black Americans. So I do believe that the government should pay a sum to those who have had to deal with generations of discrimination and inequality and that it is the best option to start the process of understanding and

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341 Words | 2 Pages

As white people do you ever ask yourself if your race does not play a part in our perception? I get it that being black gives people an intimate knowledge of the affects that reparations would give to them and the role it would play in their lives, but do any white people ever ask if a myopia (if you don 't know what that means is a condition of seeing things clearly up close but relatively blind to the far things) and a certain amount of privilege changes your point of view? Reparations aren 't about "white people" paying blacks for stuff their ancestors did. They 're about the United States of America compensating for depriving a piece of its population of human rights for generations, through slavery, forced segregation and Jim Crow.

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The gap between rich and poor in the US has never been bigger than what it is today. The income inequality has gone from the typical worker earning 48.302 dollars and the typical

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In America today there is clearly a racial and gap problem. Asset inequality continues to be a issue here today. Minorities have been victims to the subprime mortgage system. Blacks have been given an unfair amount of the loans that has caused to them to lose a big amount of their home equity earnings. Financial assets are key to maintaining and staying ahead in your finances and usually without them you’re more likely going to struggle to stay in the middle class and fall to poverty.

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The guiding principle of reparations must be self-determination in every sphere of life in which Blacks are currently dependent. The money reparations could be used for a variety of different agendas to help improve the lives of African American people. The money could be used to fund African Americans business, by providing small business loans. Money from reparations could be used to help find and cure and treat diseases like Aids and heart disease which claim the lives of thousands of African Americans yearly. Pg.2 Many have argued against giving African Americans reparations, the question why is it necessary, since all of the individuals that were directly affected by slavery are all deceased.

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Only 75 percent of blacks have received post-high school education, compared to 85 percent of whites. Not surprisingly, blacks on average also make less money than whites” (Philip M. Deutsch). It’s unjust that people of color are treated as inferior to white people, and it is that kind of social issue that interferes with the liberties of all Americans of

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