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"African Americans Reparations Case studies."
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What Makes a Reparation Successful? A Discussion to Inform Design of Reparations to Black Americans
Reparations policies that seek to make amends for a harm incurred face exigent challenges. In this article we focus on what makes reparations successful and what policy components are necessary, if not sufficient, for success. To study the success of reparations policy design we employ a case study approach. Our analysis investigates the motivation, design, implementation, and impact of past policies to understand what has been successful or unsuccessful within each component of the policy in each historical case. Ultimately, our discussion identifies patterns in the creation and execution of reparations policy that offer important considerations for policies that would provide reparations to Black Americans.
Journal Article
Limited Scopes of Repair
We consider two local reparations cases—the Evanston Restorative Housing Program and Chicago reparations for police torture survivors. We argue that the programs are shaped by the differing political opportunities, the local context, and the social location of their advocates given that one was constructed within government systems in Evanston and the other largely by grassroots organizers in Chicago. Furthermore, both programs are criticized to varying degrees as being exclusive in their design and implementation. We term this exclusion a process of deliberative marginalization, whereby some of the most vulnerable and most directly affected beneficiaries of a redress initiative are left out of deliberations and implementation decisions about the initiative’s design. Subsequently, this study shows both the promise and constraints of reparations policy at the level of local government.
Journal Article
Towards design reparations: remedying urban morphologies through policy reform in Harlem, New York
This article critically examines the paradox of housing as a symbol of societal progress in the United States, juxtaposed against the historical legacy of housing segregation, regulatory policy and market biases. It underscores the far-reaching consequences of such policies, which have not only exacerbated the current national housing crisis and widened the racial wealth gap, but also entrenched social inequalities, disproportionately affecting marginalised and minority communities. The article assesses the role of housing market segregation, slum clearance, urban renewal and contemporary zoning regulations and architecture in steering urban development practices, and how they have inadvertently and, in some cases intentionally, hindered equitable spatial opportunities, particularly in housing. Utilising a case study centred on Harlem, New York, this article explores the concept of spatial reparations as a catalyst for policy reform and emergent spatial morphologies that promote redressing both past and current injustices. It emphasises the potential of design-based interventions that materialise from the use of policy as a crucial medium of exploration, in this case for future models of housing-supply innovation. These explorations aim to stimulate meaningful policy and design debates about just-city making, while concurrently serving as a strategic countermeasure to the detrimental consequences of advancing gentrification and related market forces. This research offers a transformative examination of urban housing in the United States and Harlem, challenging traditional perspectives and practices, and advocating for more equitable spatial distribution and opportunities.
Journal Article
Forty Acres and a Mule in the 21st Century
In general, a program of reparations is intended to achieve three objectives: acknowledgment of a grievous injustice, redress for the injustice, and closure of the grievances held by the group subjected to the injustice. Three types of injustices motivate a program of reparations for black Americans: slavery, the nearly century-long Jim Crow regime following Reconstruction, and ongoing discrimination. Inauguration of a reparations program on behalf of black Americans preferably will be undertaken via legislative action at the federal level, rather than by judicial fiat. Logistical issues addressed in the article include determination of the magnitude of the reparations bill and the criteria to be used to identify those eligible to receive reparations. The present day value of 40 acres and a mule can provide the foundation for the calculation of the magnitude of reparations owed to black Americans.
Journal Article
Reimagining Governance in a Racial Justice Coalition: A Case Study in Transforming Power
This case study elucidates the experiences of a mid-sized community-based nonprofit coalition whose mission is to address systemic racism and organize and advocate for racial justice. Following several years of operating as a fiscally sponsored coalition, their staff decided it was the opportune to establish themselves as an independent nonprofit with its own 501(c)(3) designation. This juncture presented a unique opportunity for the Coalition to design a governance model that was in alignment with their deep values of racial equity, shared leadership, democratic principles, nonhierarchal organizational structures, and the advancement of grassroots Black leadership, and the prioritization of individuals most adversely affected by systemic racism and oppression. This case study illustrates the Coalition’s transformational journey and the challenges encountered during the design process of their new governance model, based on the principles of the pioneering governance framework, Community Engagement Governance™ (Freiwirth, 2013).
Journal Article
Restorative Justice as Social Justice for Victims of Gendered Violence: A Standpoint Feminist Perspective
This article provides an overview of restorative justice as a process and examines its relevance to women who have been victimized by physical and sexual abuse. The starting point is the justice system with its roots in adversarial, offender-oriented practices of obtaining justice. The widespread dissatisfaction by battered women and rape victims and their advocates with the current system of mandatory law enforcement opens the door for consideration of alternative forms of dealing with domestic violence. Restorative justice strategies, as argued here, have several major advantages. Like social work, these strategies are solution-based rather than problem-based processes, give voice to marginalized people, and focus on healing and reconciliation. Moreover, restorative justice offers an avenue through which the profession of social work can re-establish its historic role in criminal justice. The four models most relevant to women's victimization are victim- offender conferencing, family group conferencing, healing circles, and community reparations. Each model is examined separately from a feminist standpoint. The discussion is informed by insights from the teachings of standpoint feminist theory and social work values, especially social justice.
Journal Article
Forty Acres and a Lawsuit: Legal Claims for Reparations
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter sets out a descriptive account of the various legal claims for reparations, including the theories involved and the history of reparations lawsuits. It describes the major reparations cases, the arguments used in these cases, and the court decisions. It also discusses the evolution of legal theories for reparations as well as other attempts to secure compensation.
Methodology/approach
I examine the case law and the significant court rulings, as well as the discussion within secondary literature regarding these legal claims. I also examine other reparations advocacy approaches, including H.R. 40 and official apologies.
Findings
Reparations lawsuits have been brought against both government and private defendants, employing both tort and unjust enrichment theories. However, these suits have failed due to a variety of legal hurdles, including statutes of limitations, standing, and causation. The failure of reparations lawsuits illustrates the limitations of the legal system in addressing mass harms.
Originality/value
This chapter summarizes in relatively brief and generalist-accessible form the history and current status of legal claims for reparations.
Book Chapter
Is There A Moral Justification For Redressing Historical Injustices?
In recent years, there have been lively popular and academic debates in the United States and elsewhere about whether to redress injustices committed decades and sometime centuries ago. This Article examines whether there is a moral justification for repairing historical injustices. My theme is the difficulty of devising a compelling moral argument for redressing such injustices, notwithstanding the moral arguments often invoked by the proponents of redress. I begin by briefly introducing the claims that have been advanced in the United States for redressing historical injustices. In particular, I analyze the characteristics of the wrongs for which redress has been claimed, the ways that claims have been advanced, and the remedies requested. Then I specify three moral arguments often made in support of redressing historical injustices and underscore the difficulties of making a case for redress using these arguments. To emphasize the moral complexity of claims for redress, I also offer an original case study of a recent claim: the claim against the Swiss banks for profiting from the Holocaust that resulted in a $1.25 billion settlement in 1998. This case study underscores the difficulty of justifying redress for historical injustices by examining whether the program being implemented to address the banks' wrongs is morally justifiable. I conclude by suggesting that the difficulty of justifying claims for redressing historical injustices counsels in favor of focusing more on recent, as opposed to historical, injustices. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Journal Article