Assessing the feasibility of Black reparations in the United States: Lessons from other domestic and international reparation patterns

The aim of this paper is to assess the feasibility of Black reparations in the United States through analyzing past successful international reparation programs. For the argument in favor of Black reparation to be made, one must first understand the breadth of Black oppression in the United States, starting from slavery and colonialism all the way to modern day institutionalized racism. The first chapter is intended to deepen the reader's knowledge of the domino effect that racism has had on the United States, to ultimately unveil the hole that has been left - seen through economic, educational and health disparities within the Black American community. The discussion of Black reparations in the United States is often boxed into a response to the human rights violations enacted during slavery, however, the goal for this chapter is for the reader to understand that slavery was just the beginning of oppression enforced on Black Americans. While the idea of reparations for just slavery is a valid argument itself, understanding that the oppression did not end there allows for an even stronger argument for financial and social reparations to the Black community of the United States. This chapter will begin with understanding the start of Slavery in the United States and the economic benefits that free labor had on white culture. It will then move to the American Revolution, Civil War and following emancipation of slaves, Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights movement, the War on Drugs, Police Brutality in the 1990s to present day, and finally how these have all shaped modern day institutional racism with the nation - analyzing the educational, health and economic disparities within the Black community. The second chapter will then use an international lens and analyze the successes and failures of past reparation policies in two separate case studies to then predict the feasibility of a reparations policy in the United States. The case studies that will be analyzed will be Australia and their “Stolen Generations” reparations policies and post-Apartheid reparations in South Africa. This chapter will delve into the successes and failures of the two case studies, while also assessing key actors that came into play when rolling out each reparations policy. Lastly, the final chapter will conclude the paper with recommendations for reparation policies in the United States based on the findings from the case studies, assessing the predicted reaction from the government and the American people. It will also include research of local reparation policies already set in place within the United States and will predict and recommend ways that a federal policy could build from local initiatives.