John Conyers « Reclaiming Our Way

27May/140

Ta-Nehisi Coates On Reparations (via NPR): ‘We’re Going To Be In For A Fight’

Below is an interesting discussion from today on NPR's Tell Me More.

So, if I say I want to talk about reparations for African-Americans - you say what? It's about time, that's ridiculous - who cares? - it's never going to happen - or maybe even, what's that? Outside of academic circles and the occasional gathering of Black Nationalists, it would seem that very few people talk about reparations for African-Americans these days.

But that is about to change. In a 15,000 word essay for The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates, national correspondent for the magazine, describes generations of government-directed or sanctioned efforts to deprive black people of the ability to generate wealth. And, as well, he describes black people's efforts to overcome that. He describes this as a moral debt to African-Americans, and says until it is paid, this country cannot be whole. He joins us today from our bureau in New York to talk about this piece, which is already getting a lot of attention. It's called, "The Case For Reparations." And Ta-Nehisi Coates is with us now. Welcome, thank you so much for joining us.

Tagged as: John Conyers, Michel Martin, NPR, Reparations, Ta'Nehisi Coates, Tell Me more, The Atlantic No Comments

25May/140

The Lived Reality and Injury of Racism: Past and Present Conditions that Justify Reparations

The following series of videos comes from yesterday's Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC.

The departure point for the discussion is the analysis presented in Ta-Nehisi Coates' article in The Atlantic, The Case for Reparations. It's certainly the case that every few years someone or organization picks up the microphone to continue the decades-long public discussion of reparations for the crimes and injuries inflicted on the African American community. In this latest article, Coates reviews the historical record to make the case once again.

One thing different about this analysis is that he's not focusing on slavery in making the case (although that is certainly the historical backdrop); he's primarily pointing out that the injuries of white racism directed against people of African ancestry in this country continued for decades after the end of slavery - and have largely been directed by or facilitated by federal government policy. These policies are directly responsible for the conditions we experience today - both as an African American community and as an entire nation.

The major point we need to keep in mind as we keep up the fight... "The underlying source of the problem is not poverty, it's racism!"