Is there a case for reparations for racism in the United States?
Public Discourse has published a shorter version of the argument I made for reparations (and apology and forgiveness) as responses to racism in the paper that I posted on this blog in April. Public Discourse asked Dr. Derryck Green to respond to my piece, which he did thoughtfully. I had read Dr. Green’s chapter in the volume, Race and Covenant: Recovering the Religious Roots for American Reconciliation, edited by Gerald R. McDermott, where he argued for forgiveness even while he took a view of reparations different (though not entirely) from my own. His and the other essays in the volume were a strong inspiration of the paper I refer to above.
Both of our perspectives are written from a Christian standpoint, drawing upon both natural law as well as the Cross and Resurrection, which we see embedded in America’s national heritage and standing as resources for healing the wounds of racism.