Reparations for Slavery?
Introduction The idea of reparations for slavery has been around in one form or another since the time of the Civil War. [1] Recently, the subject has received renewed attention as several Democratic candidates for president have announced their support for the idea. They argue that the legacy of slavery and its attendant evils are largely responsible for the disparities we see today between whites and blacks in terms of their respective educational achievement, household income, net worth, homeownership, unemployment and incarceration rates, etc. For instance, a ccording to studies done by the Pew Research Center in 2015, 36 percent of whites over the age of 25 have at least a bachelor’s degree compared with only 23 percent of blacks. Whites have a significantly higher household income ($71,300) than blacks ($43,300). Homeownership is more common for whites than for blacks: 72 percent vs. 43 percent. The unemployment rate for blacks (as of 2015