Reparations
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Long before the phrase "40 acres and a mule" was coined to describe what black Americans were owed for slavery, abolitionists discussed compensating slaves for what had been unjustly taken from them. Today, the debate over reparations--whether African-Americans should be compensated for decades of racial subjugation--stands as the most racially divisive issue in American politics.To date, there has been more animosity than serious consideration of this crucial issue, with reparations advocates and skeptics taking extreme positions, rather than reaching for common ground. In this short, definitive work, Alfred L. Brophy, an expert on racial violence, regards the debate over reparations from the 1700s to the present, examining the arguments on both sides of the current debate. Brophy tells the story of the black reparations movement from Thaddeus Stevens, through the dark days of Jim Crow and then the Harlem Renaissance, to critical race theory, and relates it to other movements for racial justice. Most importantly, he cuts through the rhetoric to expose how the actual practice of reparations, such as for Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Native Americans, and for the detainment of Japanese Americans during World War II, has been conducted. Brophy takes us inside litigation and legislatures past and present, examining failed and successful lawsuits, and reparations actions by legislatures, newspapers, schools, and businesses, including apologies and truth commissions. Reparations: Pro and Con concludes with a frank and sober look at the case for reparations and where, if anywhere, the movement is going.
A comprehensive yet concise introduction to the moral and legal case for and against reparations, this book offers valuable historical and legal perspective for reparations advocates and critics alike.
Reviews
"Reparations is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the ins and outs of the debate about 'building something better for the future by correcting for past injustice.'"--Harvard Law Review
"A comprehensive yet very accessible book on a controversial topic...an outstanding source. Recommended."--CHOICE
"Amidst the often rancorous national debate over reparations for slavery, Alfred Brophy's Reparations: Pro and Con stands out as a work of rare balance and judiciousness. Rather than offering another partisan polemic, Brophy takes seriously the arguments of both advocates and opponents of reparations, illuminating the complex historical, political, legal, and moral questions entailed by any confrontation with historical injustice. Whatever your politics, you will profit from reading this book."--James T. Campbell, author of Middle Passages and Songs of Zion
"Professor Alfred Brophy has written a book about reparations and its contentious qualities that is a must-read for all. While reparations was a dormant subject in the twentieth century, Alfred Brophy has raised it to an exalted status: if you want to know the essence of the debate, this book is for you."--Charles K. Ogletree, Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor, Harvard Law School, and Executive Director of Harvard's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
"In spite of our victory over master race theory in World War II, in spite of Brown vs. Board of Education and the heartwrenching victories of the civil rights struggle, Jim Crow lives on in fact if not in law. Brophy's book operates in the realm of fact. How would we act if repairing injustice were the true goal of our hearts? What world would we make? Answering the questions posed in this book is the way to peace, at last."--Mari Matsuda, co-author, with Charles Lawrence, of We Won't Go Back: Making the Case for Affirmative Action and Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
About the Author(s)
Alfred L. Brophy is Reef C. Ivey II Professor Law at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Riot of 1921: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation and Book Reviews Editor of Law and History Review . He contributed to the report to the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, a body created by the Oklahoma Legislature to investigate the riot and make recommendations for reparations. Brophy has appeared on CNN's News Night with Aaron Brown, NBC Nightly News, NPR's "Fresh Air," the "Tavis Smiley Show," and "Talk of the Nation," and has been quoted in such newspapers as the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times , and Washington Post .
