As a historian and as a human being who cares about social justice, I write in support of the April 24 Viewpoint endorsing House Resolution 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act.
In addition to the failure to provide â40 acres and a muleâ after slavery, the effects of systemic racism are much more recent. I can see clearly the points in my white immigrant grandparentsâ and parentsâ lives when the real estate assets they obtained in the 1950s would not have been possible for African Americans because of redlining.
I grew up in a Florida town, with rising real estate value in which no Black person was welcome after sundown, much less able to run a small motel, as my parents did. This real estate has meant a cushion of inheritance, passed on to me. National reparations could make a difference in the wealth gap that makes life much harder for African Americans, regardless of education, hard work or income.