rep·a·ra·tion / repəˈrāSH(ə)n / noun: 1. the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. 2 the compensation for war damage paid by a defeated state.
ARCHAIC. the action of repairing something.
In a previous essay, ‘Political Organization v. Reparations,” I had made the case not for nor against reparations, but for a grasp of reparations—as historicized concept and practice, as individual compensation, and as an organizing strategy. Here, I want to reaffirm my position, which remains unchanged, and suggest there’s no way to have sensible discussion about reparations unless we put all its meanings on the table and then decide which ones support broader-than-the-individual strategies in the African world.
In a time when every human effort constitutes a “movement,” with self-appointed leaders and spokespersons, with or without organizational structures, reparations because of its iterations lacks cohesion and thus cannot be a movement. There is no shared aim or strategy. For the pay-check expectants, what happens then the day after getting the (unlikely) compensation? What individual desires should be tempered to feed collectivist needs, and how will those needs receive remedy? This monetary approach to reparations, if we can call it an approach, justifies itself as a solution, but the layered predicaments of “black” life in white societies is no mathematical equation solved with a number-crunching solution. For those who want an apology, and are satisfied with that alone, then the ends justify the means, for this, too, is a dead-end approach. For the justice-seekers, what does the justice they seek looks like and justice (whatever this means) for whom and from whom? They cannot bring a collectivist suit, representing their angst and aims, against the U.S. government—or any government—and expect to win in their courts. For the law-making sponsors of reparations, there have been decades of bills introduced in Congress to study reparations, not to grant it, and this approach continues elected officials asking for or creating reparations task forces and commissions to study “the effects of slavery and create recommendations for reparations.” And, finally, for the this-will-save-democracy and bring-racial-reckoning-to-a-close proponents, nothing in nor through reparations will accomplish either, except reconfigure U.S. empire as it marches on with less-than-disgruntled “descendants of slaves” (pun intended!).