Who owes reparation if the enslavers are gone? (>1min for the busy types)
Another common question about reparations:
"None of the enslavers from the days of slavery are alive. Should their descendants be punished because of their ancestors? How is that fair?"
The question assumes that reparation seeks compensation from (and punishment for) individuals, rather than from institutions. But reparation is about government accountability. The enslavers might be long gone, but the U.S. gov't is not. It owes repair, not the descendants of enslavers.
Of course, while present-day taxpayers ultimately finance reparation, the basis for that is the ordinary civic responsibility we have to our government. No punishment or blame is involved.
Reframe. Reparation is about holding our political institutions accountable for their complicity in state-sanctioned violence and exploitation.
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