Manning Marable on Reparations
Manning Marable writing about reparations for American slavery is not unexpected. He is, after all, one of the leading intellectuals of our time. Manning Marable writing about reparations for the corporate media is worth noting, not so much for what it means but for its sheer uniqueness.
All Americans should be engaging in serious debate about reparations for slavery, and the media has a proper role to play in facilitating such a debate. That such a debate is not happening, that almost no corporate media outlets take reparations seriously, is just one of the ongoing painful reminders that corporate media is — how else to put it? — mighty White, and that, in the case of White privilege, as in so much else, it takes care of its own.
Here are a few select quotes from Marable’s piece — offered to stimulate a conversation here about reparations.
The fundamental problem of American democracy in the 21st century is the problem of “structural racism”: the deep patterns of socioeconomic inequality and accumulated disadvantage that are coded by race, and constantly justified in public discourse by both racist stereotypes and white indifference. Do Americans have the capacity and vision to dismantle these structural barriers that deny democratic rights and opportunities to millions of their fellow citizens?
The disproportionate wealth that most whites enjoy today was first constructed from centuries of unpaid black labor. Many white institutions, including Ivy League universities, insurance companies and banks, profited from slavery. This pattern of white privilege and black inequality continues today.
White Americans today aren’t guilty of carrying out slavery and segregation. But whites have a moral and political responsibility to acknowledge the continuing burden of history’s structural racism.
A reparations trust fund could be established, with the goal of closing the socioeconomic gaps between blacks and whites. Funds would be targeted specifically toward poor, disadvantaged communities with the greatest need, not to individuals.