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The Non-Monetary Value Of Reparations Rhetoric, Emma Coleman Jordan
The Non-Monetary Value Of Reparations Rhetoric, Emma Coleman Jordan
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
I have several comments to offer on the subject of reparations. Reparations is not a single idea. The forty acres and a mule that General Sherman promised to the slaves was the beginning of the idea of reparations in America, but not the end. Reparations is a multi-part idea; until we get that straight, we are vulnerable to the feeling that we are lost again. There are at least three arenas in which the reparations issue may be contested. One is the political arena. In the arena of legislation and political maneuvering, bills must be submitted for majoritarian acceptance. It …
A History Lesson: Reparations For What?, Emma Coleman Jordan
A History Lesson: Reparations For What?, Emma Coleman Jordan
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
A major difficulty facing the reparations-for-slavery movement is that to date the movement has focused its litigation strategies and its rhetorical effort upon the institution of slavery. While slavery is the root of modern racism, it suffers many defects as the centerpiece of a reparations litigation strategy. The most important difficulty is temporal. Formal slavery ended in 1865. Thus, the time line of potentially reparable injury extends to well before the period of any person now living. The temporal difficulty arises from the conventional expectations of civil litigation, which require a harmony of identity between the defendants and the plaintiffs. …