The Case for Reparations.
Ta-Nehisi Coates addressed the issue of reparations for slavery, saying that it would be, in a way, a form of justice. Reparations are usually awarded to the generations of the slavery victims. Coates realizes that losses and damages cannot be compensated for in the monetary form. He sees it essential to discuss slavery, for it would be revealing. Coates notes that the Americans are not comfortable with this idea because of an unflattering history that would show the origin of exploitation of the Americans to the Africans. A significant number of white people who are from the slave practicing nations argue that they had no direct contact with slavery, and this will forever make reparations very difficult to be put into practice.
Nehisi broadly speaks about the Chicago housing policy, which was a technical analysis. Nehisi tells a story about Clyde Ross, a man who was living on the West side of Chicago and who lived through the racists’ policies. When Clyde Ross tried getting legitimate housing, he was not granted his wish for mortgages were not allowed to the black people. The blacks suffered as they had to split their gains from their cotton farms with sharecroppers. Occasionally, the blacks were folded into the eyes of corrupt lenders who took them for showoff. Contract sellers used every tool at their disposal to steal from their black clients.
In his article, Coates says that the prosperity of America was tied to its history of racism and slavery. The tremendous property asset in the U.S was slaves. America greatly exploited black families. Some of the land belonging to the black families was already in use as a country club. From the 1930s, the black people we kept out of the legitimate home-mortgage market. Also, any man of color who had a child at the college was denied purchases from the national real-estate association. The racist housing policy lasted for thirty-five years.
Racism and slavery are still in practice in most societies today. Slavery is a way of life in most countries, and it serves as a source for economic growth in most world powers. Slavery is a vice that is tamed today with a need for superiority. In our society today, racism is the subconscious reason for slavery, for it is an express repercussion of the urge for one race to be more superior to the other. The inferiority complex is created among those in the superior race. Racism is showcased through lack of equity, for instance, concerning resource distribution and in institutions that put segregation into practice. Slavery effects to creating two societies; the majority and the minority group who find it difficult to co-exist as co-workers, neighbors, friends, among others.
Several changes need to be instituted to bring social justice. Individuals have to make it a habit to report incidents of vices taking places such as racism and slavery. Reporting racist and slavery crimes help a person to acquire better protection for themselves and others who are victims. Reporting brings relief to the individuals affected, and it also ensures that whatever happened does not re-occur. Creating public awareness on the importance of social justice helps individuals to co-exist with each other without the basis of their racial grounds. Institutions should ensure equality in job distributions by considering all races and spreading the news that racism is a vice.