When you hurt someone, the victim is deserving of reparations. You are responsible to make amends, of course whether you choose to do so or not is another matter. When someone else hurts someone, the victim is still deserving of reparations. But are you still responsible to appease the victims now? I think the answer here is no. No, you do not have to pay for any damage you didn’t cause. It’s simply not fair to you. Instead the wrongdoer in this scenario should be the one compensating for their actions. However, when a problem transcends beyond the level of simple human conflicts, I think the answer wouldn’t be a straightforward “no”.
It’s no question that Black Americans have suffered greatly from the moment they’re arrived on the shores of a newly founded colony to today. And despite all the progress we’ve made towards equality, there still exists a gap and level of discrimination that hinders the American experience for Black Americans. So the demand for reparation is much justified and called for I think. When the problem lies in the institutions and policies that were laid out hundreds of years ago, do we, as educated and citizens of this nation, not have an obligation to redress these grievances and ensure that they are to never happen again? Even if we are not directly responsible for the implementation and enforcement of these unequal acts, to be aware and unmoved makes us equally responsible for the continuing oppression. This isn’t a question of who’s to blame, because we aren’t five-year-olds squabbling about who should get the last cookie. This is not a question at all. This is just the right thing to do.
When Coates writes of the unfortunate tragedy of Billy Jr, it becomes glaringly obvious that his death was a culmination of mixing with the wrong crowd and the bleak prospects he had in life. For the young Black Americans living in impoverished communities, they’re more likely to live and die there than to achieve the same level of success as a white American living in far better conditions. And to say that it’s their fault for not ever amounting to anything is a very privileged thing to say. When you lack the resources and safe environment to set yourself on a path that doesn’t end with jail time or poverty, it’s because society failed you. Life isn’t fair, and it’s true that not everyone will ever make anything out of their life even when presented with resources. But I do think that just because life isn’t fair doesn’t mean that everyone shouldn’t have the same opportunities. Opportunities that many Black Americans are in much need of now.