Reparations: Pro and Con 1st Edition by Alfred L. Brophy (PDF)

Description

Today, the debate over reparations–whether African-Americans should be compensated for decades of racial subjugation–stands as the most racially divisive issue in American politics. In this short, definitive work, Alfred L. Brophy, an expert on racial violence, regards the debate over reparations from the 1700s to the present, examining the arguments on both sides of the current debate. Taking us inside litigation and legislatures past and present, examining failed and successful lawsuits, and reparations actions by legislatures, newspapers, schools, and businesses, including apologies and truth commissions, this book offers a valuable historical and legal perspective for reparations advocates and critics alike.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The packaging was great in terms of protecting the book, but opening it was a bit of a challenge. This was not an ordinary bubble envelope, but a thick envelope with some shredding material coming out of it. Just be ready for some mess when opening the envelope 🙂 The book was in great shape.

⭐Good read

⭐Alfred L. Brophy is an American legal scholar who taught law at the University of Alabama prior to his retirement in 2019.He wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “Faced with differences between blacks and whites in wealth, poverty rats, educational achievement, and health care, scholars and activists in post-Civil Rights America have increasingly turned to ‘reparations talk’… People are talking about whether there is a need to redress the years of unpaid labor and slavery from 1620, when the first African slaves were brought to the Virginia colony, until 1865, when slavery ended, and the decades of ‘Jim Crow’ segregation that followed. There has also been action. There have been apologies for slavery from the Southern Baptist Convention… and an apology from the U.S. Senate for failing to pass antilynching legislation in the 1920s…“The two sides, reparations advocates and their opponents, however, rarely talk to one another… Reparations advocates focus mostly on the harm of slavery and Jim Crow… They often refer to how harms that began in those times continue to limit the opportunity of blacks today and how those eras have left blacks with only a fraction of the wealth of whites. They speak in terms of the debt owed by white America and of the continuing benefits of ‘white privilege.’ Reparations skeptics… focus on the economic and educational opportunities that blacks have in the United States, as well as their achievements… And even with the discrimination in the United States, they ask, would blacks prefer that their ancestors had remained in Africa? This book is an attempt to take seriously the arguments on both sides of the debate… This book will survey the major arguments, but first and most important, I want to make readers think about this important subject and to raise issues for further research… I hope this book will provide a vehicle for moving the discussion of reparations toa new level.” (Pg. xi-xii)He notes, “Reparations and apologies are about issues of racial justice and redistribution of wealth. Thus, they touch central issues of the American soul, of guilt for past sins, and contemporary issues in race. There is something more at stake with reparations, though; there is more opposition to reparations than to most issues in the culture wars. In many issues of the culture wars, such as abortion, gay marriage, and what should be taught in elementary and secondary school history classes, there is some basic parity. With reparations, judging by public opinion, there is no parity. Reparations are simply viewed with disdain by the vast majority of Americans. Why is this? Perhaps it is because … frequently, group members see themselves as being asked to pay more than their fair share. Other group members think they are receiving less than they deserve.” (Pg. 6)He observes, “Some define reparations narrowly, as including only payments. They see truth commissions and apologies as adjuncts to reparations plans, which lay the groundwork for payments of some sort. But if we define reparations as programs designed to repair past injury, reparations do not NECESSARILY have to include payments. Some injuries may be best repaired by study of the past injustice and by apology…. Even if… an apology is insufficient to repair all past harm, it can be part of a meaningful program of repair and reconciliation.” (Pg. 11)He asks, “The material disparity between blacks and whites has a long history; it is nothing new. So, one wonders, why is reparations talk so popular now?… There are several main reasons… Awareness of past tragedies and their impact on the present has led to a renewed focus on tragedies. And that focus on the past has led to an expansion of apologies. At the same time, other members of certain groups have been successful in obtaining reparations, such as Native Americans, Japanese Americans, Holocaust victims, and victims of the Armenian genocide… There has also been a growing realization that the promise of the Civil Rights agenda has not been fulfilled. The popularity of affirmative action is in decline… At the same time… there was the development of critical race theory (CRT)… [which] studies the importance of race to American society and seeks ways to address racial inequality.” (Pg. 57-58)He summarizes, “we have many goals of reparations. Some of them are corrective, to correct for past injustice. Others are distributive, to redistribute wealth and political power. Some seek interracial justice and peace, others redistribution of privilege, even a separate state for African Americans. Still others have such modest goals as teaching about the connections of the past to the presently to illuminate the many ways in which past discrimination continues to have an effect today. There is the hope among reparations proponents that, once those connections are clearly established, there will more readily be action to overcome that past. It is becoming more difficult to answer the question, ‘What do reparationists want?’ because they have so many different—and perhaps even contradictory—goals.” (Pg. 74)He suggests, “Reparations—and the apologies that surely precede them—are but a microcosm of how we view U.S. history. Do we see the United States as a place of plentiful opportunity, where people can go as far as their ability and energy will take them, or as a haunted landscape full of oppression? Do we view the chasm between black and white wealth… as the fault of blacks and the Great Society… Or do we view it as a legacy of past state-sponsored discrimination and racial crimes? That self-image—and the accompanying narratives we tell ourselves about how we view our own accomplishments… carries powerful weight.” (Pg. 91-92)He acknowledges, “Finally, there are enormous questions about such typical legal problems as statute of limitations, finding a claim, and computation of damages… Maybe it is hard to prove the amount of harm that the plaintiffs have suffered, but they may still be entitled to some relief. Yet, the difficulty of figuring remedies, such as who is entitled to reparations and the form they will take (such as individual payments), pales by comparison with the other issues, such as identifying proper defendants and overcoming the barriers of the statute of limitations and locating a substantive claim. How, one wonders, can plaintiffs come into court in 2006 and ask for relief for a claim arising before 1865? And, given that slavery was legal before 1865, how can there be relief for harms imposed during the era of slavery?” (Pg. 102-103)He explains, “So as reparations proponents advocate correction of past injustice, the calculations must take account of imposing unfair burdens on those asked to pay reparations. Reparations are [also] a question of … whether to repair past damage using the money of somewhat (or perhaps very) innocent people. We need, then, to take into account the culpability of those asked to pay. We must ask to what extent the current payers are responsible for decisions that led to injustice… To what extent have the current payers retained some benefit of past racial crimes?” (Pg. 168-169)He notes, “it is difficult to find reparations proponents who seriously propose direct payments to individuals, so it is particularly hard to arrive at an estimate of what direct payments might cost. One might propose something like a payment of $500,000 per enslaved person distributed to that person’s dependents—the estimate one reparationist made of the present value of property taken…. It is exceedingly difficult to obtain estimates of what the payments should be, however. Some conservatives view such plans as a good idea, because they hold out the promise of ending discussion of race—of finally putting an end to discussions of past discrimination, by essentially paying off the claim… reparations skeptics … ask, who would get checks? Is someone who is descended from slaves and non-slaves entitles to only partial payments? We are unlikely to need to address any of those issues soon, because direct payments are such a remote possibility as to be unimaginable.” (Pg. 175)He concludes, “The costs of a meaningful program of reparations—and racial justice—will be colossal, though so will be the benefits. Much of our work now requires dealing not with overt racism … but with the relics of state-sponsored racism…. It will no be accomplished by a single act of Congress or executive order. It is now a battle against apathy… Reparations, if carefully crafted, thus hold out the hope of accomplishing two important, elusive goals: correcting an injustice and building something more positive for the future. Maybe those goals are still attainable.” (Pg. 179)Although much more “pro” than “con,” this book will be of great interest to those seriously studying the history and implications of possible reparations for African-Americans.

Keywords

Free Download Reparations: Pro and Con 1st Edition in PDF format
Reparations: Pro and Con 1st Edition PDF Free Download
Download Reparations: Pro and Con 1st Edition PDF Free
Reparations: Pro and Con 1st Edition PDF Free Download
Download Reparations: Pro and Con 1st Edition PDF
Free Download Ebook Reparations: Pro and Con 1st Edition