Normalizing Reparations: U.S. Precedent, Norms, and Models for Compensating Harms and Implications for Reparations to Black Americans

Paying reparations to Black Americans has long been contentiously debated. This article addresses an unexamined pillar of this debate: the United States has a long-standing social norm that if an individual or community has suffered a harm, it is considered right for the federal government to provid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSF : Russell Sage Foundation journal of the social sciences 2024-06, Vol.10 (2), p.30-68
Main Authors: BILMES, LINDA J., BROOKS, CORNELL WILLIAM
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Compensation
Employment
Federal government
funding mechanisms
Government
Human rights
I. Defining Black Reparations: Content, Impact, and Eligibility
Imprisonment
Interconnections
Japanese Americans
Labor market
Reparations
reparatory compensation
Restitution
Slavery
Social norms
Taxonomy
Victims
Voters
Wages & salaries
World War II
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Summary:Paying reparations to Black Americans has long been contentiously debated. This article addresses an unexamined pillar of this debate: the United States has a long-standing social norm that if an individual or community has suffered a harm, it is considered right for the federal government to provide some measure of what we term “reparatory compensation.” In discussing this norm and its implications for Black American reparations, we first describe the scale, categories, and interlocking and compounding effects of discriminatory harms by introducing a taxonomy of illustrative racial harms from slavery to the present. We then reveal how the social norm, precedent, and federal programs operate to provide victims with reparatory compensation, reviewing federal programs that offer compensation, such as environmental disasters, market failures, and vaccine injuries. We conclude that the government already has the norm, precedent, expertise, and resources to provide reparations to Black Americans.
ISSN:2377-8253
2377-8261
DOI:10.7758/RSF.2024.10.2.02