America Should Pay Reparations to African Americans Essay Sample

The first African slaves were sent into the American colonies in 1619. From then, hundreds of thousands more were sent to the colonies, and eventually nation, to work as laborers for life. The millions of children surviving them today are still suffering at the hands of an imbalanced system. They deserve reparations to overturn this imbalance and make our society truly equal. Local governments and the federal government should issue reparations to descendants of slaves by reinvesting tax money into local resources, such as education, public transportation, healthcare, and utilities.

A very efficient and effective method for communities descendent from slaves to be repaid for the ill-treatment is to invest tax funding into their schools. Education has been widely used to hold back non-white communities. This strategy of supremacists over the years has resulted in chronic underfunding and underperformance of schools in the relevant communities. A clear way to resolve this disparity between schools is to reinvest tax money into the teaching staff and school materials. Many schools across the nation suffer from teacher shortages as well. On top of direct reinvestment into the schools, legislators could also flatten state governing investment rates for schools. Some schools are given less money per student than others. This is often split on the basis of local income. Conveniently for those who want to perpetuate racial divides, this also tends to result in schools that are majority white getting better funding.

This problem also exists with hospitals, with an added dimension. Inner-city hospitals struggle more than any others, which also tends to include more non-white communities. Thus, hospitals in African American communities tend to struggle more with their patient loads. This is especially glaring when the level of violent crime in many inner-cities is accounted for. Naturally, more violent crime in the city means that the hospital, as well as any other medical facility, will have to cope with a higher number of patients. However, many of these facilities are understaffed and underequipped. A proper mending of this, as it was for education, would be more proper and even investments into hospitals by governing bodies. From the angle of the individual, healthcare is extremely expensive. Between spotty insurance and outrageous rates for life-saving medications and treatments, many people simply can’t afford to take care of themselves. It is a continuation of a racist and classist system that needs to be rebalanced out of the favor of those in power. 

Reparations could also be made to African Americans through proper investment into public transportation, as well as local utilities. Public transportation is extremely lacking in the majority of the United States, especially in African American communities. Governments should bring these systems up to proper working as reparations to the people they are meant to serve. After all, transportation is an absolute necessity in today’s society. A person without a car cannot work as many jobs, and thus is likely to remain without a car for longer. It is an unnecessary negative feedback loop that should be stopped. Another important note is local utilities. Many are without proper electricity or water. Reinvestment into the infrastructure of these regions would do wonders for the quality of life of their constituents.

Some might suggest that cash repayment out to citizens is a viable route to reparations. The claim is that cash checks would be much more helpful to the citizens who would receive them than investing in public welfare. This does mean liquid cash in the pockets of these people. However, a cash payment at that scale could cause severe consequences in local economies. Public infrastructure and quality living are much more lasting investments. 

African Americans deserve reparations for what they went through as a people during slavery and the following periods of heavy persecution and destruction of personal property. The best way to go about issuing these reparations is investing in the public infrastructure and welfare of communities that suffered at the hands of those hard times. It’s cost-effective, efficient, and very long-lasting. It also allows for the relevant communities to have a hand in the specifics of their reparations, and to use them in the way they best see fit.