“Please, we need your help. We have recently suffered from the worst of possible tragedies, of which we had no part in this most unfortunate matter that has been so egregious and damaging to our crops, property, and livestock. Our wives and families are in danger of falling into the grasp of impoverished degradation, and our very lifestyle is at stake.”

“Stimulus bills approved by Congress beginning in 2020 unleashed the largest flood of federal money into the United States economy in recorded history. Roughly $5 trillion went to households, mom-and-pop shops, restaurants, airlines, hospitals, local governments, schools and other institutions around the country grappling with the blow inflicted by Covid-19…

“What the money did was to basically make sure that when we could reopen, people had money to spend, their credit rating wasn’t ruined, they weren’t evicted and kids weren’t going hungry,” said Louise Sheiner, an economist with the Brookings Institution.”

Where $5 Trillion in Pandemic Stimulus Money Went

By Alicia Parlapiano, Deborah B. Solomon, Madeleine Ngo, and Stacy Cowley March 11, 2022, The New York Times.

The preceding plea for help and the following federal aid delivered accurately depict 2020. However, the fictional request for aid draws from another time of seeking federal government aid. It could have been from a slave owner losing what he referred to as livestock (human livestock victims of chattel slavery) 

With Abraham Lincoln’s signature on April 16th, 1862, the United States Government ended slavery in the District of Columbia and compensated slave owners up to $300 for each formerly enslaved person in the District of Columbia Emancipation Act. This Law was signed 8 1/2 months before the Emancipation Proclamation. The newly freed slaves received nothing.

January 16th, 1865, following his Union-led march to the sea, General Sherman proposed Field Order 15. This was a highly comprehensive plan developed in large part by formally enslaved people to apportion the 3.5 Million newly freed slaves land. Sadly, after Lincoln’s assassination, his successor Andrew Johnson ended the program we now recognize as 40 Acres and a Mule, and once again the now-freed slaves received nothing.

In 1946, Congress created the Indian Claims Commission in which Hundreds of millions of Dollars were distributed to tribes and displaced indigenous communities. Unfortunately, the average person only received about a thousand dollars apiece. Much of it was handled by trust funds created by the commission, which in large part was accused of widespread financial mismanagement.

With the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, America officially apologized for the Japanese internment camps and paid more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent $20,000 a piece to surviving victims. Meanwhile, descendants of those shackled by chattel slavery received nothing.

The Three Rs of Apology are Widely viewed as Remorse, Taking Responsibility, and Reparations. Remorse and, in some cases taking Responsibility have been observed in various secular ceremonies, religious gatherings, movies, and media. But the question remains will America complete the apology and come to grips with Reparations?

How many times in my life have I heard the words I’m sorry? Apologies would resound, whether in a black history observance in high school or after viewing Alex Haley’s Roots, a civil war lecture, in a history class, along with many other times throughout my life straddled between a majority white suburban school and community I was part of and the antithetical realities I experience under my two extra skin layers of melanin. Regardless of the lightness of my complexion, my genetic admixture, three-quarters African forever shackled to the legacy of slavery, and one-fourth European of the enslaver’s blood. Neither I nor the numerous white apologizers were there for the atrocities; however, the artifacts of systemic racism and privilege remain. That is where we find ourselves today.

In Luke’s Gospel, the 10th Chapter the Good Samaritan also was not present when the theft and beating were perpetrated upon the victim, however, he acted with healing and restitution while others (The Priest and the Levite) expected to do so did not. The Priest even walked on the opposite side of the street as if to act as though it never happened, or most certainly had no effect on his present day. All this is reminiscent of today’s attempts to whitewash, restrict, censor, and rewrite history.

How much would it cost in straight cash to each African American Family? According to William A. Darity Jr. 800,000 dollars to each family who has descended from enslaved people, segregation, and biased systems, roughly 10 to 11 trillion dollars. Cries of “we can’t afford that” can be heard coast to coast. However, remember the five trillion in Covid funding doled out in a few months. Though helpful, understand that financial compensation alone will not be the answer.

According to Professor of Sociology John C. Torpey in his book Making Whole What Has Been Smashed: On Reparations Politics., “Reparations come in many forms, Symbolic commemorative reparations, while other reparations are aimed at transforming structural inequalities and changing the system.”

The National Juneteenth Holiday is symbolic. However, system-changing initiatives could include but not be limited to public-private partnerships. Also, oh yes, remember all those major corporations from Mcdonald’s Corp to the NFL that touted Black Lives Matter in 2020, they could undergird education costs, or wipe away all student loan debt, as another form of restitution/reparation. Public-private investment could eliminate Health Disparities. For those who avoid honest conversation about this important subject. Scripture reminds us:

“Fools mock at making restitution but there is goodwill among the upright.”

Proverbs 14:9 (HCSB) Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Truth and Reconciliation program in South Africa promoted forgiveness and contrition with any reparations apparatus. In whatever form restitution comes, don’t we all owe our children, grandchildren, and generations that follow, the hope for the elusive “Liberty and Justice for all”?

It is time to talk when you’re ready. Are you?

By Kevin Robinson Founder/Editor, Publisher of Three-Fifths Magazine