Forty Acres and a Mule in the 21st Century

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4791140_Forty_Acres_and_a_Mule_in_the_21st_Century

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Forty Acres and a Mule in the 21st Century William Darity, Jr., Duke University

In general, a program of reparations is intended to achieve three objectives: acknowledgment of a grievous injustice, redress for the injustice, and closure of the grievances held by the group subjected to the injustice. Three types of injustices motivate a program of reparations for black Americans: slavery, the nearly century- long Jim Crow regime following Reconstruction, and ongoing discrimination. Inauguration of a reparations program on behalf of black Americans preferably will be undertaken via legislative action at the federal level, rather than by judicial fiat. Logistical issues addressed in the article include determination of the magnitude of the reparations bill and the criteria to be used to identify those eligible to receive reparations. The present day value of 40 acres and a mule can provide the foundation for the calculation of the magnitude of reparations owed to black Americans.

Three objectives can be ascribed to a program of reparations: acknowl- edgment, redress, and closure. Acknowledgment refers to the public rec- ognition of a grievous injustice committed by the institution or group that bears responsibility for it. This includes a formal apology. No such apology ever has been made by an official entity of the U.S. federal government either for slavery or for the Jim Crow practices that followed slavery within the nation’s borders. In contrast, Benin—once Dahomey—an African na- tion with a population of less than 5 million people has made an apology to African Americans for their ancestors’ participation in the sale of other Africans into slavery. The apology was delivered in 2003 by Benin’s am- bassador, Cyrille Ogcien (Associated Press, 2003). A more encouraging sign in the United States is the series of apologies for slavery and legal segregation issued by state legislatures, including those in Alabama, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia. Address correspondence to William Darity, Jr., Arts and Sciences Professor of Public Policy Studies, African and African American Studies, and Economics, Duke University Earlier versions of this article were presented at the South Africa-United States Civil Society Forum held December 9–11, 2003 at Duke University and the

Distinguished Invited Lecture at the Southwestern Social Science Association Conference in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 18, 2004. SOCIAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY, Volume 89, Number 3, September 2008 r 2008 by the Southwestern Social Science Association

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