His new book is "From Here To Equality: Reparations For Black Americans In The Twenty-First Century." The book reminds us that slavery and emancipation weren't that long ago. So are the descendants of the enslaved owed reparations? Economist William Darity says yes. That's why we have staggering economic inequality in the U.S. Discrimination continued in jobs, housing, education. When slavery ended, the disenfranchisement of black Americans did not. At the same time, substantial allocations of land were being made to white Americans. The starting point is the failure to provide the formerly enslaved with the 40-acre land grants that they were promised. When we look at these vast inequalities now between white wealth and black wealth - inequalities that extend to health outcomes, homeownership, education, the size of people's bank accounts, the neighborhoods that people live in - where do those gaps come from? And in turn, the North would have had to commit to having the Union army play an extended role in the southern part of the United States. The North did give in and I think that the North gave in, in part, because the price for providing full citizenship to black Americans would have meant having a sustained and long-term division among white Americans, because the price for achieving full citizenship for black Americans would have meant deconfederatization in full.
But the Southern states, the Confederacy, made lots and lots of demands, particularly around what would happen to black people and what would happen to their labor, and the North gave in. "And they must go in such a way that we in fact eliminate the racial wealth gap," he said.ĭid the North even win the Civil War? I mean, one of the things that is so clear in your telling of this history is that, yes, emancipation happened. Speaking with NPR, Darity said that while support for education and entrepreneurial activity should be part of any reparations plan, "the preponderance" of funds must go to individual recipients. Kirsten Mullen, offers a roadmap on how to implement reparations for descendants of enslaved people. makes the case for reparations as an answer to closing the racial wealth gap.įrom Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the 21st Century, written by Darity and his wife, A. In a new book, economist William Darity Jr. Discrimination continued in jobs, housing, education - barriers that have contributed to the staggering economic inequality that persists in the country today. When slavery ended, the disenfranchisement of African Americans did not. Robert Lee, last week, in Richmond, Va.Īndrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images Black Lives Matter activists occupy the traffic circle underneath the statue of Confederate Gen.
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