| excerpted from: Alfred L. Brophy,
The Cultural War over Reparations for Slavery , 53 DePaul Law Review
1181-1213, 1182-1184 (Spring 2004) (116 footnotes)
Reparations payments--even apologies--are deeply controversial. When
the Mobile Register polled Alabama citizens on the issue of reparations
in the summer of 2002, it found that the question of reparations was the
most racially divisive issue since it began polling. (See Table 1.) The
differences between whites and blacks outstripped even the gap seen
during the civil rights struggle over integration. Why is it that only
five percent of white Alabamians support reparations for slavery, while
sixty-seven percent of black Alabamians support them? Why did some
whites become so enraged at the mere suggestion of reparations that they
could not complete the survey? Lest one think that Alabama is
out-of-step with attitudes in the United States, that racial gap is
fairly constant nationwide. According to a study by Harvard University
and the University of Chicago that researchers reported in the spring of
2003, only four percent of whites support reparations payments. (See
Table 2.)
The opposition even to apologies, which are free from financial
obligation, suggests that something very important is at stake--it is
how we view ourselves and our place in the world. It is, in short, about
what is known as the culture wars--a conflict between liberals and
conservatives over how they view issues as diverse as abortion,
religion's role in public life, affirmative action, and the United
States's culpability for racism. Reparations touch on these issues in
several places. Reparations relate to how we view the United States's
history--is it a narrative of the United States as a place of
opportunity or oppression? They also relate to how we view the legacy of
slavery and what we should do about it now. Is there continuing
culpability? Do we need to do something to repair past harms? Do ideas
of personal culpability free current taxpayers from liability?
|
Table 1: Alabamians' Attitudes Toward Apologies and Reparations |
|
Should there be: |
Blacks |
Whites |
|
Apology for slavery |
73% |
24% |
|
Corporations that benefitted apologize |
76% |
31% |
|
Corporations that benefitted from slavery establish scholarship
funds for descendants of slaves |
87% |
34% |
|
Corporations that benefitted from slavery pay descendants of
slaves |
69% |
15% |
|
Reparations payments from the government |
67% |
5% |
|
Table 2. Attitudes of Blacks and Whites Toward Apologies and
Reparations |
|
Should the government |
Blacks |
Whites |
|
Apologize for internment of Japanese Americans during World War
II |
75% |
43% |
|
Pay compensation to those interned |
59% |
26% |
|
Apologize for slavery |
79% |
30% |
|
Pay compensation for slavery |
67% |
4% |
A central feature of the culture war is how we view American history.
There is something more at stake with reparations. Reparations are more
controversial--that is, more people oppose them--than most issues in the
culture war. There is some basic parity in many issues relating to the
culture war. With reparations, at least judging by public opinion right
now, there is little parity. Reparations are simply viewed with disdain
by many. What else is it? It is a conflict that appears frequently when
race enters political discussion--of fear of issues of group identity
and group liability. So frequently, group members see themselves as
being asked to pay more than their fair share. And group members think
that they are receiving less than they deserve. Those sentiments are
heightened when one deals with racial group identity.
|
