Time to Pay Up! (cont.)
This is all about a huge crime– with no trial for the victims. Listen to Prof. Peter H. Schuck in his Dec 9, 2002 article from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law publication “Jurist”:
“Let us stipulate — because it is manifestly true — that American slavery was a horrendous crime and a moral abomination. Let us further stipulate that this crime had countless victims and that their descendants still experience adverse effects today, seven generations later. Finally, stipulate that our society subscribes to an ideal of corrective justice that recognizes a legal duty compelling wrongdoers to remedy wrongfully-caused losses and to surrender wrongfully-obtained gains.”
I would imagine that if I was a descendent of slaves, that I would be mad too. Who can blame them from harboring bitterness, resentment, anger, and marginalization? They share—generationally—in a horrific violation of humanity. No matter how much money that has been poured into the communities in the name of civil rights up until now, there has been no real trial—no real justice. And so a growing number of well meaning multi-racial folk are conspiring to come up with a way to finally frame this in judicial terms.
I am with the RM at this point. Let a real trial begin. Let’s really deal with the crimes. Let’s do the due diligence. Let’s find an objective Judge, give the victims voice—let’s finally have a fair judgment. It is time for justice. Here is what the leaders of the Reparations Movement hope to accomplish—bottom-line. How much reparation is justified? Well it depends on who you speak with. Some have calculated the amount to be in the trillions of dollars.
Here is my problem with the hopes of the RM as stated. In their zeal to do the right thing, they ironically are skipping the all-important trial and are going straight to the reparations portion of the penalty phase. In doing so, they are about to make a serious mistake. You can’t have a partial trial and expect the victims to feel that they have been finally treated with honor. There are elements of an objective trial that should not be overlooked.
Justice requires giving the victims real voice in the trial. If we are interested in real healing, in a context that is honorable to the victim’s families, then we must not skip this portion. People need the honor of speaking on their behalf, of giving emotive voice to their feelings related to the crime—to tell their stories. One by one, person by person.
Justice also requires a full enumeration of all crimes and restitution. What does that look like in this case? Can anyone objectively tell me how much value to put on a life? A life enslaved? A life and family destroyed? A life and family dishonored? Can someone calculate the opportunity cost losses for a individual kidnapped from their own land and livelihood? Is it more for those who were employed in their homes before they were kidnapped and sold? Is it less for commoners? More for young? More for old?
This is my biggest problem with the RM. Who says how much is due? Someone has to add up all of the things done to the slaves, their families, their descendents—add to that everything that was taken away— then put and objective reasonable price to it. That is the right figure that needs to be on the table. Can you imagine the calculations involved? Put a face in your mind of someone that you know. What would have to be paid and done, to reverse the multitude of crimes against them and their families for 200+ years—the violations, dishonorings, robberies, withholdings of honor, glory worth, value—etc.
How much? Well, the current Reparations proponents say that the figure could be in the hundreds of millions—or even trillions? This is unbelievable to me! I may be way off base here but I think that is way shy of the right amount—even for one individual! A single person, created in the image of the Creator God is worth far more than trillions of dollars. Ironically, do you see what we are doing? We obviously haven’t matured as a civilization and culture much from the slave days. We are still undervaluing life. In the 1800’s we valued life in the $100s of dollars. Today in the 100s of thousands. But it is still grossly devaluing men and women, boys and girls. Ironically, isn’t this way too close to the exercise done by the very institution that harmed them in the first place. Isn’t it just another form of a slave auction exercise—just a lot more money. Oh how those poor people must be rolling over in their graves. Now their memories are back on the slave block again— their value has at least gone up more than the inflation rate– but it is still far less than they are worth.
And let’s face it; does anyone really imagine that the wounds of the descendents of slaves will be cured by a big fat check in their pockets? So they go to the mailbox one day, get a check for $100,000 and now they are finally able and willing to let bygones be bygones? Doesn’t that cheapen their loss? Will cash lift them above the crimes committed? Will cold change free them of their histories of violations and the anger and bitterness that they have lived with? In other words, will all of this effort really be successful in fully making up for all of the crimes and violations that went down? I can’t imagine it!
The truth is that if we really wanted objective justice to be done, there is not enough money in the bottom line of all of Wall Street’s corporations— we could even toss in the entire Federal budget—and we still don’t even begin to pay back even one violation against one single person. If that is true, then this well-meaning exercise promoted by well meaning impassioned people will be in vain.
If our desire is for the African American community to feel like a real trial has taken place for all of the crimes against them and their ancestors—a real judgment by a real objective Judge, followed by objective appropriate punishment for the bad guys and full restoration for the victims— then I don’t think that we are fully on the right track.
Ultimately, if we want to honor the memory of those men, women, boys and girls who suffered due to the institution of slavery, real justice—full orbed justice must take place— not just more money thrown at the people. The scale of justice must be balanced.
To the person who asks, “What hope then do we have of accomplishing this?”, I respond, every hope in the universe. That is one of the major benefits of Christianity. There is indeed one in authority who alone has the deep pockets to really restore. There is a Judge who has the ultimate authority to give a fair trial to all parties. This is God Himself. Ultimately, the RM must throw itself on a much higher Judge than the Federal Court in Chicago, or even the Supreme Court. There can be a powerful present experience of that justice here and now by faith. When that occurs, individually and corporately, we will see some amazing societal changes take place. That is my hope as a Pastor. It is my experience that only then—after a real trial, can victims really forgive with honor. How dare we suggest that their forgiveness can be bought by a measly couple of trillion dollars.
Now having said that, here is where I buy into the reparation movement. There are a myriad of important things that we can do—and should do– to reach out to our fellow men and women, fellow-citizens of the United States of America which would be truly honoring to them in the way that we should have done to their forbearers. Wouldn’t it be of immense value to boldly and creatively invest in victim’s families and communities—putting time, effort, and creative capital in beefing up education at all levels, boosting access to health care and providers, intensifying law enforcement (police and courts), implementing and utilizing more of restorative justice methods and means, offering relational counseling, investing in arts, sports— hitting up some of the corporate defendants in the aforementioned lawsuits to partner with new urban business start-ups, to work with local and regional governments and developers to provide real-estate incentives for development and development, and most important of all, to network the current faith based organizations and initiatives (churches, Salvation Army, Crisis Centers, AA, etc.) at the same level that was done with Katrina reparations.
It is wrong headed to think that a people will be healed when bucks are tossed at them. Cash helps—it beats the alternative. But people change when they are actually honored and invested in.
The Reparation Movement questions should be better stated, “How can we as a people voluntarily and creatively finally really honor all people?” Forgiveness is not a function of cash out. That can only ultimately be another tragic victimization. There must be a trial. There must be justice finally! In that sense, Richard E. Barber is correct. It is time for justice to be paid!