BCC to hold debate about
reparations
By Mary Jester
Assistant
Campus Editor
The Black Cultural Center
library will hold a presentation Saturday to educate people and provide
debate on the issue of reparations for African-Americans.
Dorothy Washington, the center's
librarian said, "Basically reparations is whether or not a group is
entitled to compensation based upon past or current injustices and usually
reparations is paid by a country for injustices on a group."
She said the denial of the
right to vote and the enslavement of African people in America are examples
of injustices.
Washington said the issue
is being addressed nationwide; vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman
has voiced support for a bill that proposes forming a commission to
study reparations. Randall Robinson's book, "The Debt: What America
Owes to Blacks," was published this year, raising awareness and resulting
in several airings on C-SPAN, she said.
"The momentum to really push
(the bill) has been within the last year after the publication of Randy
Robinson's book, 'The Debt,'" said Washington.
Richard America, a lecturer
from the School of Business Administration at Georgetown University,
will moderate discussion on reparations, an issue on which he has written
two books, "Paying the Social Debt: What White America Owes Black America"
and "Wealth of Races: The Present Value of Benefits from Past Injustices."
Washington hopes the audience
members will know enough about current events and reparations to discuss
their opinions. If the audience doesn't, America will speak on the issue
instead.
Washington said college students
should know about current events and participate in policy discussions
in order to be part of the democratic practices of the United States.
Toni Tolliver, a senior in
the School of Liberal Arts, said "They should be more conscientious
of it for the simple fact that you need to know where you've been to
know where you're going.
"(The presentation) will
enlighten students on the social and economic facets associated with
reparations in America, for African Americans," said Tolliver. "It's
always been important. You've always had '40 acres and a mule' mentioned
growing up and you weren't quite sure what that meant growing up." She
said the phrase refers to how the government was supposed to loan emancipated
slaves 40 acres and one mule as repayment during post-Civil War reconstruction.
Tolliver hopes to learn about
solutions and how she might be able to enact some solutions herself.
Tolliver's ideas for reparations
include providing money for education and implementing government programs
for low-income families. "Education is big on my list because I feel
education should be free to people who really want to learn," said Tolliver.
Washington said, "There are
several suggestions on how the debt can be paid." Payment, which need
not be monetary, could go to individual families or to programs that
would equalize opportunities and resources; it could fund capital for
housing or mortgage loans, said Washington.
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