Two Arguments That Boxill Makes For Black Reparations

Reparation is the satisfaction for the damages suffered as a result of past wrongdoing. In the past, black people were forced into slavery prior to the United States civil war. For this wrongdoing, Boxill believes that black people now have the right to reparations. There are two arguments that Boxill makes for black reparations. The first argument he makes is called the Harm Argument. This is an argument that says because of the transgressions of slavery, more harm has been done as time continues due to cause and effect. These harms started with the slaves and continue to affect African Americans in the present day. It supports the idea that the aftermath of slavery has caused harm to black people in the current day as it has manifested in different ways of unequal treatment such as

In addition, while the harm argument supports the idea of making reparations in order to rectify past transgressions, it also suggests that by being able to acknowledge the harms of such transgressions, these reparations can help in creating a better society with more equality. Although Boxill’s argument makes valid statements, as with any argument, there are objections. One objection is that slavery, which ended one hundred and fifty years ago, is not the direct cause of the harms which black people experience in the present day, although it agrees that slavery did harm the slaves at the time. Another objection states that present day black people only have the right for reparations from the slaveholders as they were the ones who initially caused the harm. In response to these objections, modifications to the harm argument may be made in order to avoid these objections. The modification to the argument makes it so it is not the effect of slavery itself but the legacy of slavery which has left an impact on present day