The Price of Racial Reconciliation

The issue of "Reparations in America" has elicited much interest, but in public debate has occurred at the level of historical accounting: who owes what for slavery. This work attempts to get past that discussion and broaden it to address the issue of racial restitution within the framework of larger interests of the state and society. For example, the answer to the "why reparations" question is more than the moral of payment for an injustice done in the past.This work suggests that, insofar as the impact of slavery is still very much in the present and the future, and has been reinforced by forms of post-slavery oppression, the objective of racial harmony will be intermittently disrupted unless it is recognized with the solemnity and substantive amelioration it deserves. The author concludes the grand narrative of black oppression in the U. S. which includes the past as well as the present summary of the black experience, prevents racial reconciliation so long as some substantial form of racial restitution is not seriously entertained.The main findings of this work are that as long as the vital issues that underlie racial oppression are not addressed, racial reconciliation will not be achievable.
This conclusion, then, constitutes the assertion that it is "the price" of reconciliation. The main methodology for achieving this finding is grounded in the discipline of Comparative Politics, where the analysis of comparative institutions and political behaviors are standard approaches. This study is grounded in an historical and theoretical analysis that benefited both from international travel and research to Capetown, South Africa, insights gained from travel to Australia and participation in a conference involving government program to ameliorate the Aborigines and attentiveness to and participation in the "Race Dialogue" sponsored by the administration of President Bill Clinton. The finding of seminar transcripts and other records in South Africa were instrumental in initiating this work.