Forty Acres and a Mule, Plus Interest: The Case for Reparations That Repair

The case for reparations for slavery has been discussed and re-discussed for generations. But it’s usually pro-reparations with vague details versus anti-reparations with no recognition of the havoc America caused to so many families. This essay by race expert Jeffrey Kass discusses tangible ideas for administering a reparations program aimed at actually repairing rather than just compensating.

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​In 1865, as an emancipatory gesture, Union General Sherman promised freed Blacks an allotment of property, animals and farmland. While controversial, many saw this as a much-needed correction, one that would allow former slaves to heal and build their lives as free people.

​To earn one’s own living. And to repair.

​That’s where the word reparations is derived from.

Sadly, President Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor would have none of it. Thus virtually all of the vast plantations captured or controlled by Union Armies after the Civil War were returned to their white slave owners.
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So instead of rebuilding, this broken…

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