If Reparations Are Owed ... the Democratic Party Should Pay Them
Every so often, some Democrats call for reparations to compensate Black Americans for slavery and other indignities.
The latest plan comes from San Francisco, where a reparations committee is considering a program that would offer $5 million per qualified Black resident.
Let’s analyze the issue of reparations from the standpoint of morality and practicality.
Most people believe that compensation for misdeeds should come from the people who caused the misdeeds. For example, if John Smith and Joe Brown recklessly damage your car, you expect Smith and Brown (or their insurance companies) to pay for the repairs. Normally, you would not expect the repairs to be financed by the entire town in which you live: That would make no sense.
What if Joe Brown died shortly after the accident? Would you expect his children or grandchildren to pay you? Probably not. Instead, your claim for compensation would be focused on the surviving reckless driver, John
Smith.
We can apply this logic to the reparations issue.
Obviously, no person alive today existed during the slave era or as an adult in the subsequent Jim Crow or Ku Klux Klan eras.
However, there are certain responsible entities that existed then and now:
- The United State government
- Eleven slave states of the Confederacy plus four union slave states
- A handful of corporations with origins dating before the end of slavery
- The Democratic Party
I did not include the Republican Party for a very good reason: It was formed in 1854 by a bunch of abolitionists for the express purpose of ending slavery, which was accomplished at an enormous cost 11 years later. On the other hand, the Democratic Party has to be listed for very important reasons, which are explained later.
We have identified four parties or groups of parties that may bear responsibility for slavery and subsequent discrimination. What is the financial liability of each?
How much should be paid by the United States and the slave states?
Shortly after the war, Gen. William T. Sherman signed an order reserving 400,000 acres of Confederate land, to be used for the allotment of 40 acres to each of thousands of former slaves. Unfortunately, after Republican Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Democrat Andrew Johnson became president, the offer was rescinded, and the land was reclaimed.
After the promise of 40 acres was withdrawn there was no large-scale and meaningful program of reparations offered until the 1960s. That is when the nation created affirmative action programs, community reinvestment programs, and augmented welfare programs. Many people believe that those programs were a form of national reparations, and one such person is a Black scholar named John McWhorter.
In an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, he said:
“Affirmative action was reparations. People didn’t use that word, but that’s precisely what it was. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 that forced banks to invest in inner cities ... that was reparation [although] nobody makes a movie about that.... Welfare was reformed to be easier to get in the late ‘60s— another untold story. It was reparations.”
McWhorter’s views are shared by many others. In an essay in the Harvard Law Review, Mitchell F. Crusto argued:
“...affirmative action cannot be viewed in a vacuum, it is an intentional remedy for centuries of blatant discrimination against Black people in all aspects of American life.”
After launching the “War on Poverty” President Lyndon Johnson stated that the government needed to pass laws that erase:
“the consequences of ancient brutality, past injustice, and present prejudice.”
And William Darity and Andrea Mullen, two advocates for reparations, conceded that:
“...some have argued that social programs like Medicaid, Social Security and other welfare benefits are a form of reparations....”
With regard to affirmative action, it is impossible to estimate the total cost. How do we calculate the cost to our society when thousands of students with relatively high college admission test scores are replaced by students with lower scores?
We can, however, estimate the cost of welfare programs, and the disparity in the amount of such benefits given to black Americans versus white Americans.
In the view of John McWhorter, the government’s “War on Poverty” programs have cost $23 trillion since 1965, with an estimated $1.3 trillion in 2022 alone. In addition, there are state and local welfare programs that cost hundreds of billions of dollars each year, with an estimated $744 billion spent in 2019.
By using published welfare tables from Health & Human Services (FYE 2021, Table 10, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, we can roughly estimate that a black family is about 4.7 times more likely to receive federal welfare benefits than a white family. Using those ratios and McWhorter’s $23 trillion estimated cost of the War on Poverty, we can conclude that, since 1965, black families have received more welfare benefits than white families in an amount equal to several trillions of dollars. I believe that it would be appropriate to consider this disparity in welfare benefits to be reparations since those payments were designed to alleviate suffering from prior socioeconomic disadvantage due to racism.
Thus, people who advocate for the payment of reparations should consider the cost of affirmative action programs, and they should carefully calculate the disparate cost of all types of federal and state welfare programs. These programs may fully or partially satisfy any obligation for reparations.
How much should slavery-era corporations pay?
Some companies, or their predecessors, benefitted from the slave trade. For example, Lloyd’s of London has apologized for insuring slave ships and has recently indicated that it will give financial support to charities that support Black causes.
Here are some other companies that may have a history of involvement with slavery in that era:
- Lehman Brothers
- Aetna, Inc.
- New York Life
- Wachovia Corporation
- Norfolk Southern
- E.W. Scripps and Gannett
- FleetBoston
- CSX
- Brooks Brothers
- Barclays
Personally, I don’t think these companies owe reparations unless their activities went beyond the normal business practices of the times in a manner that promoted slavery or post-slavery discriminatory practices. However, each company needs to investigate its own history to carefully determine liability for reparations, if any.
How much should the Democratic Party pay?
“I used to be a Democrat until I did my history
and found out the misery that party brought to my race”
-Burgess Owens, as quoted by Jeffrey Lord
When it comes to the Democrat party, there may not be a legal obligation, but the moral obligation is massive and much greater than that of any other entity.
As Mark Levin put it...
“[W]e do know one entity that promoted slavery...one entity that fought on the wrong side of the Civil War with respect to slavery... one entity that supported the [Ku Klux] Klan... one entity that supported ‘separate but equal,’ and ... one entity that was terrorizing civil rights workers in the South— and that was the Democrat Party.”
In A Short History of Reconstruction (Eric Foner, 1990, page 184), here is how the close relationship between the Ku Klux Klan and the Democratic Party is described:
“In effect, the Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic party, the planter class, and all those who desired the restoration of white supremacy. It aimed to destroy the Republican party’s infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the black labor force, and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life.”
Jeffrey Lord made this observation: “Jim Crow” laws were post-civil war laws...
“passed enthusiastically by Democrats.... These laws segregated public schools, public transportation, restaurants, rest rooms and public places in general (everything from water coolers to beaches).”
Clearly, the Democrat party’s culpability is great, but many Democrats try to shift the blame to the Republican Party. How often have you heard this?
After the 1960s “the parties more or less just swapped members.”
Here is another blame-shifting canard, as quoted in a so-called fact check by USAToday:
“In the mid-20th century, both parties’ stances on racial equity began to switch.”And, unfunny man, Trevor Noah, rushed to the defense of fellow Democrats with this: “A lot of people like to skip over the fact that when it comes to race relations, historically Republicans and Democrats switched positions.”
Statements like those are misguided, self-serving, offensive, and plain stupid. Are we to believe that, after 1960, Republicans embraced slavery, Jim Crow, and the Klan? In its entire history, the Republican Party has never supported those horrors— not for a single moment. But the Democrat party did— enthusiastically, for nearly 150 years.
To be fair, modern-day Democrats have no more individual responsibility for things that took place 150 years ago than do Republicans. However, it seems to me that their political party has a great deal of institutional responsibility.
For that reason, the Democratic Party should develop a plan to identify the specific Black citizens to whom it owes reparations. Presumably, not all Black citizens will qualify. After all, many had no ancestors in America during the slave era, many did not experience significant racism, and thousands of Black Americans are very successful, economically. It might be determined, for example, that Barack and Michelle Obama are not appropriate recipients for reparations.
For people who qualify for reparations, the Party should consider paying a very modest amount of at least $50 million, starting this year. It won’t provide very much in the way of compensation, but it is a start, and it is a way for the Democrat party to show that it recognizes its responsibility for a sordid past. The Party should continue with annual payments that increase as much as possible until it feels that a proper level of compensation has been reached.
Democrats, if you truly believe in reparations, stop talking and start taking action.
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato (429-347 BC)
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