Women and Reparations

Reparations for victims of gross human rights violations are becoming an increasingly acknowledged feature in post-authoritarian and post-conflict societies coping with the legacy of a violent past. Despite some recent progress much more work needs to be done for massive reparations programs to respond better to the needs of women. This article, resting as it does on a comprehensive conception of reparations, outlines both the procedural and substantive components of reparations programs necessary for the programs to fulfill the goal of providing (partial) justice to women

Reconciling with the Past: Ana Lucia Araujo’s Lecture on Coming to Terms with the Past When Monuments Are Taken Down

On Thursday, November 2nd, Howard University History Professor Ana Lucia Araujo visited Gettysburg College to give a lecture titled “Slavery, Memory, and Reparations: Coming to Terms with the Past When Monuments Are Taken Down.” The historian, author, and professor talked about the history of slavery as well as the concepts of memory and reparations. One form of reparations discussed recently has been the removal of Confederate monuments in the United States, which has been heavily debated for years. [excerpt

Forty Acres and Unfulfilled Promises

As part of the English 101.003 Writing Seminar taught by Dr. Anne Porter in Fall 2015 at Providence College, this essay was written in response to an assignment to articulate a central question about slavery reparations. The essay explores the question from various angles and makes reference to Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel, “The Case for Reparations” from The Atlantic (June 2014) by Ta-Nehisi Coates, as well as at least one additional, scholarly source. The essay is written for college-age readers, who are interested in the issue and asking the same questions. Abstract: In response to escalating racial tensions in American society, this essay analyzes the feasibility of reparations for racial injustices. As evidenced by historic orders like ³Forty Acres and a Mule², the government has failed to fulfill its promises to pay, only further perpetuating inequality. There is controversy as to whether reparations are still due and how they can be quantified. This essay evaluates the present-day value of these historic unfulfilled promises and assesses if this valuation could be used as a solution to the reparations debate. If America is able to quantify the value of reparations, the question remains whether it is the duty of modern-day American citizens to right the wrongs of the past

Closing the gap: symbolic reparations and armed groups

The question of whether non-state armed groups could and should provide reparations to their victims has been largely overlooked. This article explores this gap, with a particular focus on symbolic reparations, such as acknowledgement of the truth and apologies. It argues that, while the question is fraught with legal, conceptual, and practical difficulties, there are some circumstances in which armed groups are capable of providing measures of reparations to their victims. The article identifies the issue of attacks on informers as one potential area for armed groups to provide such measures, and demonstrates that in a few cases armed groups have already engaged in actions that could be seen as analogous to symbolic reparations. The article’s main case study is provided by recent actions by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in relation to its past attacks against suspected informer

Reparations to Africa and the Group of Eminent Persons

In the last ten years, a worldwide movement has emerged for reparations to various previously subordinated groups for past wrongs. This paper discusses the movement for reparations to the continent of Africa. It begins with a discussion of the United Nations-sponsored World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa, in September 2001. It then traces the discussion of reparations to Africa back to the Group of Eminent Persons (GEP) established in the early 1990s by the Organization of African Unity to pursue reparations for slavery and (perhaps) other wrongs perpetrated on Africa. Only three members of this group are still active: they are J. F. Ade Ajayi, Ali A. Mazrui, and Dudley Thompson. The present author interviewed all three in December 2002. An essay by J. F. Ade Ajayi is included in this volume. After discussion of the GEP, this essay looks at precedents for the demand for reparations to Africa. It closes with an assessment of the likelihood that a large social movement for reparations will develop

The Non-Monetary Value of Reparations Rhetoric

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 is no surprise that the current reparations bill has not gained the majority acceptance necessary for success. Thus, success in the political arena requires personal and collective political activism. The second arena is legal. In this arena those wronged can bring lawsuits. There is a coalition currently working on these lawsuits. As a lawyer, I must confess that the legal arena is probably less promising than the political arena. Although several legal precedents serve as barriers standing in the way of success in the courts, lawsuits are not, however, without value. One must simply understand their limited value. Lawsuits create the platform for the third, most important and powerful arena: the intellectual challenge to the history of racism. This arena allows us to challenge, to document, to read alternative stories, and to give those stories to our children-stories that help reposition Blacks from economic parasites to economic contributors unfairly deprived of their wealth. The intellectual arena provides an important strategic difference. When we address tired debates such as whether affirmative action is reverse discrimination, a different perspective emerges; reparations offers that positioning. Reparations as an intellectual project is most promising because it engages us all and gives us an opportunity to challenge the idea of racism - to challenge it as an idea that governs the way goods are distributed in society

How the Uniform Crime Victims Reparations Act Works

The Uniform Crime Victims Reparations Act, approved by the American Bar Association\u27s House of Delegates, has been submitted to state legislatures. This timely act seeks recompense for the victims of crimes, but also incorporates numerous safeguards to prevent abuse. The American Bar Association\u27s House of Delegates, meeting in Houston on February 5, 1974, approved an idea whose time is rapidly approaching the Uniform Crime Victims Reparations Act. The act is the product of a committee of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws for which I served as consultant and reporter over its three years of deliberations. The conference approved the act in 1973 and recommends adoption in all states. The act establishes a state-financed program of reparations to persons who suffer personal injury, and to dependents of persons killed, as the result of certain criminal conduct or attempts to prevent criminal conduct or apprehend the perpetrators. A specially constituted board determines, independent of any court adjudication, the existence of a crime, the damages caused, and the other requisites for reparations, except that a final conviction determines that a crime has occurred. Preponderance of the evidence is the standard used. Reparations cover economic loss--medical expenses, rehabilitative and occupational retraining expenses, loss of earnings, and the cost of actual substitute services

Reparations for Victims at the International Criminal Court: A New Way Forward?

Reparations at the International Criminal Court (ICC) raise victims’ expectations that they would have an avenue of redress in the face of domestic impunity. This article examines the purpose of reparations at the ICC, which notably move away from the international law state-centric modes of liability for reparations to more private law individual liability and even developmental or subsidiary responsibility when provided by the Trust Fund for Victims. At the crux of the debate on reparations at the ICC rests the challenge between delivering justice to victims of international crimes against the limited capacity and jurisdiction of the Court. To overcome these limitations and to better realise expectations of reparations at the ICC, this article explores the promise of transformative reparations in trying to widen the benefits of reparations beyond those victims who suffer crimes by a convicted person, as well as tackling the causes of such crimes. Likewise this article will posit the role of complementarity and state responsibility in filling the gap between expectations and possibilities of reparations. In concluding it will also examine future prospects and challenges of a separate reparations chamber

Reparations for Police Killings

After a fatal police shooting in the United States, it is typical for city and police officials to view the family of the deceased through the lens of the law. If the family files a lawsuit, the city and police department consider it their legal right to defend themselves and to treat the plaintiffs as adversaries. However, reparations and the concept of “reparative justice” allow authorities to frame police killings in moral rather than legal terms. When a police officer kills a person who was not liable to this outcome, officials should offer monetary reparations, an apology, and other redress measures to the victim’s family. To make this argument, the article presents a philosophical account of non-liability hailing from self-defense theory, centering the distinction between reasonableness and liability. Reparations provide a non-adversarial alternative to civil litigation after a non-liable person has been killed by a police officer. In cases where the officer nevertheless acted reasonably, “institutional agent-regret” rather than moral responsibility grounds the argument for reparations. Throughout the article, it is argued that there are distinct racial wrongs both when police kill a non-liable black person and when family members of a black victim are treated poorly by officials in the civil litigation process