Reparations 101

Frequently Asked Questions

• What are reparations? Reparations are actions taken to make amends for injustices and systemic harm, often through compensation, policy change, or public apology.
• Who would be eligible? Primarily descendants of enslaved Africans in the U.S., but eligibility could extend to those affected by Jim Crow laws and systemic racism.
• Why now? Generations have passed without redress. Acknowledging the harm is essential to reconciliation and national healing.
• Where would the money come from? Federal and state governments, institutions that profited from slavery, and existing equity initiatives.
• Have reparations ever been paid before?
  Yes. Throughout history, reparations have been paid—though not always to the harmed:

  • Japan & Holocaust victims: The U.S. paid reparations to Japanese Americans interned during WWII. Germany paid billions to Holocaust survivors.
  • Native American Tribes: Financial settlements were made for stolen land, broken treaties, and tribal exploitation.
  • British Slave Owners (1833): When slavery was abolished, the British government compensated slaveholders—not the enslaved—with payments worth billions today.
  • U.S. Slave Owners: In 1862, under the Compensated Emancipation Act, U.S. slaveholders in Washington D.C. were paid for the loss of enslaved people. The enslaved received nothing.