Tom Joyner, Boyce Watkins Talk Slavery Reparations

Date: Thursday, July 31, 2008
By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Tuesday’s apology for slavery and Jim Crow segregation from the U.S. House of Representatives is a necessary step toward healing some of America’s racial ills and could open the door for serious dialogue on reparations, some observers say.

“When you admit to guilt, the next thing people say is, ‘what are you going to do to make it right?’” Syracuse University professor Boyce Watkins told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “If you admit something was stolen, you have to give something back. It opens the door for additional conversation about reparations.”

“The U.S. House deserves credit for taking this step, but the proof is in the potato salad,” he said. “If you don’t follow the apology with action, talk is cheap. Talk is less expensive than reparations.”

The move toward slavery apologies in several instances in recent months have been accompanied by initiatives to benefit blacks whose families were harmed by slavery and Jim Crow segregation laws.

JP Morgan’s top officers in 2005 — William B. Harrison Jr. and Jamie Dimon — wrote a letter apologizing to the descendents of slaves. The company pledged to set up a $5 million scholarship fund for blacks.

In 2007, Brown University pledged to raise $10 million for local public school and also give free tuition to black graduate students after a report showed that slave labor was used in the university’s early years.

Watkins says it is programs and initiatives that help build institutions and wealth in the black community that bring the most benefit.

“I am not a fan of everybody getting a check. That doesn’t make much sense. I would favor engaging in specific policies that would lead to the restructuring of communities that have been devastated by segregation. Also, more focus on programs such as Head Start and more efforts to make inner city schools just as good as the schools in the suburbs,” Watkins said.

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