In the attached article from the Atlantic magazine, Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that white supremacy is not merely the work of hotheaded demagogues, or a matter of false consciousness, but a force so fundamental to America that it is difficult to imagine the country without it. And so we must imagine a new country. Reparations—by which I mean the full acceptance of our collective biography and its consequences—is the price we must pay to see ourselves squarely…
What I’m talking about is more than recompense for past injustices—more than a handout, a payoff, hush money, or a reluctant bribe. What I’m talking about is a national reckoning that would lead to spiritual renewal. Reparations would mean the end of scarfing hot dogs on the Fourth of July while denying the facts of our heritage. Reparations would mean the end of yelling “patriotism” while waving a Confederate flag. Reparations would mean a revolution of the American consciousness, a reconciling of our self-image as the great democratizer with the facts of our history.
After reading the article on Black Reparations from the Stanford Encyclopedia, the Coates article, and the article about Evanston Illinois, your team should evaluate whether reparations to African Americans are morally justified and, if so, what form they should take. Assess as well the practical and ethical problems that such a national action may present. Explicitly reference one or more of the moral theories we have studied in justifying your positions.