Some Exponential Benefits of Reparations

A lot of white people that I talk to about reparations contend that paying reparations to descendants of slaves would transfer wealth unfairly to people who have not earned it at the expense of the white people who pay it. Both of those contentions are based on flawed logic. The first flaw in the logic is that it is an unfair transfer of wealth. Black people have systemically had their wealth stolen from them through labor practices, business practices, and outright theft of property. The second flaw is that only white people would pay reparations. Reparations would be paid from the treasury which would collect the money from tax payments. Even Black people will be paying reparations.

I don't make my bias toward the payment of reparations any secret. What some people may not understand, though, is that I think paying reparations is not only the right thing to do, I also think it would help fix some other problems that plague society. Here are some of the exponential benefits for society in general that would follow the payment of reparations.

It would help correct wealth and income inequality.

Wealth and income inequality trails only the climate crisis as problems affecting our society. Paying reparations would help significantly in correcting the inequality. If every person who has identified as Black and who can trace their ancestry to a slave were to receive a significant amount of money through tax credits for a few years, we would see Black people able to buy those boots, so they have straps to grab, and by which pull themselves up. We would also see more affluent Black people move their dreams up a notch. Those with stable careers may opt to open businesses; those with jobs and dreams may opt to go to college and seek careers; those who are waiting a few years to retire may opt to do so early.

Every person who uses the payment of reparations to seize an opportunity that is only a dream without reparations would open up a job for someone to whom the job would be a step up. People moving up into those jobs would also be vacating jobs that would need to be filled. Obviously, there would also be stories of failures. However, some of those failures will be able to rebound into a job market that has greater opportunities because of those who will succeed.

Just considering it mathematically, if a demographic from society that is markedly poorer than average is given significant money, that demographic will become wealthier thereby making it more equal. That is on top of it eliminating a debt that America should own up to owing.

It would create real demand and opportunity.

There are Black people who earn ample money to maintain all their properties and still travel, but it would mean for many Black people who have worked hard and acquired some assets that they can take vacations or put new roofs on their homes. It will mean utilizing current income without dealing with debts for others, which may mean an occasional night out that is now difficult to afford. It will mean finally getting some stability for many.

All of this translates into economic activity and that translates into demand for workers and opportunities for entrepreneurs. This activity would not be contained within the Black community so all segments would benefit from these opportunities created by real demand from this demographic.

It would be used to settle some other valid claims Black people have against America's social policies of the past.

There are claims against the government for discriminatory lending practices at the Small Business Administration (SBA), and there is political pressure being waged for services in what have become resource deserts in poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods in many cities. As Black people gain financial resources, many people who had entrepreneurial dreams but got declined for an SBA loan will naturally qualify more easily, and the demands for a minimum percentage of new loans to go to specific groups will be more easily verifiable.

I have heard arguments against giving poor Black people large amounts of money, surprisingly even from some Black people. I think my participation as a white person needs to be limited to supporting the concept of reparations, but to leave the discussion on how best to distribute the money, including using it for public or non-profit services to provide necessary goods and services within communities that are currently underserved and neglected, up to Black people, with the Congressional Black Caucus being in the best position to devise the plan.

The Black Panther Party used its resources to create non-profit medical centers and to provide community resources that improved the lives of many of the most neglected people in society. We would see a resurgence like that, but it would be sustainable because it would be viewed as remedial rather than radical.

The times are changing.

What seemed like a pipe dream just a few short years ago is now being legitimately disussed publicly. There are radical views on both sides. However, the bell curve on this topic is becoming large enough that it is only a matter of time until the topic reaches enough voters and consumers who have the wisdom to see that paying reparations would not only resolve a long-standing problem that has plagued American history for four hundred years, but that it predictably would have exponential benefits for employment, in the economy in general, and at resolving other legitimate complaints Black people have against America and how its policies have discriminated against some of the greatest citizens this country has ever had.

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