[11][12] Forms of reparations which have been proposed in the United States by city, county, state, and national governments or private institutions include: individual monetary payments, settlements, scholarships, waiving of fees, and systemic initiatives to offset injustices, land-based compensation related to independence, apologies and acknowledgements of the injustices, token measures (such as naming a building after someone),[2] and the removal of monuments and streets named to slave owners and defenders of slavery.
[20]: 60 During the Revolutionary War, Warner Mifflin advocated for restitution for freed ex-slaves as early as 1778, in the form of cash payments, land, and shared crop arrangements.
Early in 1859, in a book dedicated to "Old Hero" John Brown, James Redpath declared himself a "reparationist", and implies that in his view, the lands of the Confederacy should be given to the ex-slaves.
On this occasion [Missouri raid, 1859], after telling the slaves that they were free, he asked them how much their services had been worth, and—having been answered—proceeded to take property to the amount thus due to the negroes.
"[26]: 220 Calls for permanent confiscation and redistribution of plantation lands had already been made by Representatives George W. Julian and Thaddeus Stevens, both of the Radical Republican faction.
In 1865, after the Confederate States of America were defeated in the American Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Orders, No.
However, President Andrew Johnson reversed the order after Lincoln was assassinated, the land was returned to its previous owners, and the blacks were forced to leave.
In addition, white extremist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan engaged in a massive campaign of terrorism throughout the Southeast in order to keep African Americans in their prescribed social place.
In one anomalous case, a former slave named Henrietta Wood successfully sued for compensation after having been kidnapped from the free state of Ohio and sold into slavery in Mississippi.
In 1915, under Callie House's leadership, the association filed a class-action lawsuit, Johnson v. McAdoo, in federal court against the U.S. Treasury Department for 68 million dollars.
The topic became a prominent theme during the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries as concerns surrounding race were heightened due to current events.
Harper's Magazine estimated that the total of reparations due was about "$97 trillion, based on 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and 1865, regardless the United States wasn't a recognized independent country until after the Revolutionary War in 1787, compounded at 6% interest through 1993".
For the descendants of the 12.5 million Blacks who were shipped in chains from Western Africa, “America has a genetic birth defect when it comes to the question of race,” as stated recently by U.S. representative Hakeem Jeffries.
On March 8, 2000, Reuters News Service reported that Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, a law school graduate, initiated a one-woman campaign making a historic demand for restitution and apologies from modern companies that played a direct role in enslaving Africans.
It quotes Dennis C. Hayes, CEO of the NAACP, as saying, "Absolutely, we will be pursuing reparations from companies that have historical ties to slavery and engaging all parties to come to the table.
[59] Pro-reparations groups such as the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America advocate for compensation to be in the form of community rehabilitation and not payments to individual descendants.
[46] Many groups under the Black Lives Matter organization have laid out a list of demands, some of which include: reparations, for what they say are past and continuing harms to African Americans, an end to the death penalty, legislation to acknowledge the effects of slavery, a move to defund the police, seizing homes owned by white families and providing them free to blacks,[60] as well as investments in education initiatives, mental health services, and jobs programs.
[66] Ray and Perry state in a Brookings article that the lack of a social safety net and the wealth gap are particularly highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[67] Many argue that giving reparations for slavery is too complicated, but there is a strong basis for them on the past and current discrimination that blacks in America face.
[9] The legacy of these policies have kept African Americans from opportunities to build wealth, while slavery "enriched white slave owners and their descendants".
[67] Today, the district of North Lawndale in Chicago, where redlining was the strongest, is the poorest neighborhood in the city, with an unemployment rate of 18.6% and 42% of residents living below the poverty line.
[63][67][69] As Bittker claims in his book The Case for Black Reparations, "as slavery faded into the background, it was succeeded by a caste system embodying white supremacy".
[70] Many argue that while reparations may be a first step towards amending the harms caused by slavery, the systemic racism that exists in many institutions will not be fixed as easily.
[72] In several cases the federal government has formally apologized to or compensated minority groups for past actions: U.S. state governments have made reparations in some specific circumstances: Other countries have also opted to pay reparations for past grievances, such as: Most state and federal laws under which parties can sue for damages have a statute of limitations which sets a deadline for filing; these have all long since passed, which prevents courts from granting relief under existing laws.
[68] On the other hand, some dismiss the case for reparations entirely due to practical concerns, such as who would receive these financial payments, why should the current generation pay for wrongs for which they are not responsible, and how much should be paid.
[67] For example, in the city of Asheville, North Carolina, reparations have been implemented in the form of "investments in areas where Black residents face disparities".
[76] Republican senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is a descendant of slave owners,[77] while acknowledging that slavery was an "original sin" of the United States, opposes providing reparations because he believes "none of us currently living are responsible.
[68] Often in these conversations, the White reaction is to claim that this is a form of unjustifiable "reverse racism", or that demands for reparations are an example of the "Black refusal to move beyond the memory of slavery".
Some arguments also highlight the complications behind reparations, such as "not all Black Americans are descendants of slaves" or that the people alive today are not responsible for the harms of slavery.
The call for reparations has amplified due to the coronavirus pandemic, with people of color disproportionately likely to be laid off, to struggle financially, and to die from the virus.