00:00Reparations.
00:01When you hear that word, what do you think of?
00:03Money?
00:04Compensation?
00:05An apology?
00:06Writing a wrong?
00:07Or maybe just, huh?
00:09The topic of reparations has come up a lot,
00:11especially in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election
00:15about America's original sin slavery.
00:18So what exactly are we talking about here?
00:22Simply put, reparations is the act of making amends
00:25for a wrong or an injury committed toward an individual
00:28or a group of people.
00:30Reparations for slavery is the idea that some form
00:33of compensation needs to be made.
00:35To the descendants of the 4 million Africans that were
00:38trafficked and enslaved in the United States.
00:40Now, I can already hear some of you say,
00:43but wasn't that over 200 years ago?
00:46And you are right, but that doesn't mean African Americans
00:50don't face repercussions from it.
00:52To this day.
00:54So this past June, Congress held its first congressional
00:57hearing to discuss Bill H.R. 40.
01:00H.R. 40 would authorize $12 million to study and develop
01:04reparation proposals.
01:05The study will focus on the appropriate remedies for slavery
01:09and discrimination.
01:11And the impact of these factors on living African Americans.
01:14The bill also considers a national apology
01:17from the U.S. government.
01:18Something that to date has never happened.
01:21Maybe the best way to say what we've been through,
01:23they should apologize.
01:25In due time, we do need an apology.
01:27Yeah, I think they should actually.
01:30Now, some of you might be thinking,
01:32it's about time.
01:33While others might say,
01:34why should we have to pay for something that happened so
01:37many years ago?
01:38Well, time to open your history books.
01:40And try not to fall asleep like you did in AP U.S. history.
01:43American slavery lasted almost 250 years.
01:48If you count the nearly 100 years of Jim Crow segregation
01:52that followed, then that means officially sanctioned
01:56racial oppression actually lasted over 300 years.
02:00This created a significant wealth gap between black and white
02:04Americans that still exist today.
02:07The federal government first considered it in 1865,
02:10when newly freed black people were promised up to 40 acres of land.
02:14Hence the bill named H.R. 40. Get it?
02:17Anyway, after President Lincoln was assassinated,
02:20this special field order was overturned by President Andrew Johnson.
02:24He decided to return the land to the planters who owned it instead.
02:29Like, dude, seriously?
02:30Fast forward to 1989,
02:33former Democrat Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan
02:36introduced legislation to discuss what reparations might actually look like.
02:41He introduced this bill every year for nearly 30 years.
02:46But despite his best efforts, it never went anywhere.
02:50Until this June.
02:51When the bill received its first ever Congressional Subcommittee hearing.
02:55Under the new sponsorship of Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee.
02:59Supporters of reparations believed it would not only help make amends for slavery and segregation,
03:04but also for its cruel and crippling legacy.
03:07But opponents of reparations believe America shouldn't be held responsible for her forefather's sins.
03:13One vocal opponent is Republican and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
03:18He told reporters,
03:20We've tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war,
03:24by passing landmark civil rights legislation.
03:26We elected an African American president.
03:28I mean, problem solved, right?
03:31Many supporters of reparations don't blame white Americans today for slavery.
03:36But they do recognize that years of oppression have prolonged this hierarchy.
03:40Where whites have privileges that people of color don't.
03:44Although there are people like Senator Bernie Sanders and former President Barack Obama,
03:49who oppose the idea that money alone can address slave reparations.
03:54They do support investing in marginalized communities.
03:57So, what do you think would be a just conversation for African Americans?
04:02Land.
04:03And our wealth.
04:04Money.
04:05An apology letter.
04:07That's it.
04:07More and more questions will be raised about how reparations would work.
04:11Who would benefit.
04:12And how it would be funded.
04:14But no matter which set of the conversation you land,
04:17we can all agree that this is one well worth having.
