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Reparations For Slavery: A Dream Deferred, Watson Branch

San Diego International Law Journal

When the year began, the prediction was that 2001 was going to be the "Year of Reparations." Both internationally and in the United States, the consensus held that the time had finally come for governments around the world to face up to racism and apologize for the harm brought about by slavery and its aftermath harm in the past, to those long dead, and in the present, to those who, because of the color of their skin, still suffer from racism. Governments were expected to make amends for that harm through restitution and compensation, whether individual or collective. This willingness …