Reparation

It's back in the news:  how might reparation be made to the descendants of the slaves brought to America from Africa by European powers generations ago?

The analogy is raised with 'reparation' offered to Jews unjustly and cruelly treated by Nazi regimes.  However this example must present a much simpler task.  The people affected after WWII are clear and obvious.  The dilution of time is not so great.  The complexity of the injustice and the time period more straightforward to understand and define.

It is my view that reparation is necessary for a number of reasons.
1) I think it is important to mark the crime with a punishment.  The abusers are no longer individual people, but systems, and societies.
2) Charity is not enough.  Charity speaks of love and generosity, but it is also as if the bugler, in his/her benevolence, shares the spoilt of the crime with their victim.  'Charity' is positioned in a (sometimes 'unconscious)' position of power and control over their subjects.  This is a 'conservative' model of social control where power is retained by the victor.
3) Inequalities cross generations.  The insecurities imposed on a subjugated section of society last for generations, as witnessed by nearly all the ethnic statistics in America, and further a field.  Black Americas are poorer, have worse health, occupy more prison places, and achieve less in society.  They are also unfairly penalised by financial systems, paying more for insurance and credit.
4) Disadvantaged groups are politically nearly always minorities.  If they are not (as with women) they are a political minority .

This is also witnessed in the UK, but the statistics are not as stark, and the slap in the face is less severe.

Arguments against reparation are:-
1) How do we identify eligibility?  What if I only have one relative who was a slave, where as others will have many?  What about people who do not know their genealogy?
2) It has been shown that the culture of slavery was pervasive throughout society, and may white family, English Scottish, Welsh and Irish, were effectively slaves.  Should they be included in reparations?

For me the solution is political.  The key political actions that can be used as reparation are:-
1) Ensuring the education system is the same for all in society.  This means offering the same belief that all young people can be 'leaders' if this is their destiny.  This is a rationale for the abolition of private education.  As discussed with the guy who changed my gas meter, a Muslim who grew up next to Christchurch Spittlefields, even the Tories have a good range of powerful Muslims in their midst.
2) Political Radicalism.  What I mean by this is to create lasting shifts in power through universal changes in law and culture in favour of oppressed groups.  In the democratic system minorities will always be subject the will of the majority.  The only way to ameliorate this is to ensure that 'rights' are clear and defended.  This has been seen in counties like New Zealand/Aoterroa. Here laws about child protection and family law are designed to protect Maori culture and actually require the white majority to follow these practices too.  This however seems to be motivated by the problem faced by white controlled governments from disproportionate numbers of Maori children coming into state care.
3) A balance between Integration, and Self-Identification.  This is very tricky to achieve.  It's similar to the difference between the positions exposed Martin Luther King jr. and Malcolm X.  MLK, sort equality for all ethnicities in America, all being treated the same.  Malcolm X saw that this would not be possible, and sort equality though segregation and separate identity.  The state of Israel stands symbolically as the only country in the world where people of the Jewish faith are in a majority.  Thus the world can be molded to fit this communities needs.  Few other faiths can know what this feels like.  Similarly the advent of 'free schools' in the UK has allowed minority faiths to lead schools where their faith is the majority faith, and again the culture of the school can reflect this.  The challenge here is how can society define itself as 'integrated'?  It does this through shared interactions.  In most cities this is reflected in policies such as 'no ghettos' in public housing policy (though the rich can choose to live in ghettos.)  Shared community events, youth services (such as scouts/guides) 'Open' cultural experiences and shared local politics offer important contributions.  I actually do not believe in 'faith schools', and would choose for all children to mix together from all back grounds.  The greater the mixing, the less a culture can dominant.

Ultimately the issue of reparation is less to do with money, and more to do with values, attitudes and beliefs.  The money follows.   The biggest source of inequality in society continues to be inheritance.  The 'white world' continues to prosper from the 'fat of empire' and the advantage it continues to provide to people like me who work in the welfare state.