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The original was posted on /r/neutralpolitics by /u/nosecohn on 2023-05-23 17:17:43+00:00.

In transitional justice, reparations are measures taken by the state to redress gross and systematic violations of human rights law or humanitarian law through the administration of some form of compensation or restitution to the victims.

Recently, there’s been renewed discussion of paying reparations to the descendants of Black slaves in the United States. Earlier this month, a California task force approved recommendations that would apologize and pay reparations to Black residents for the discrimination they have faced. If passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, some economists have projected the state could owe upwards of $800 billion, or more than 2.5 times its annual budget.

There is some history to support reparations. Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in World War II later won an apology and compensation from the Federal government and some of them now support reparations for Black Americans. Between 1946 and 1978, the Indian Claims Commission paid $818 million to Native American tribes to address their grievances against the United States. In 2006, a collection of groups in Canada agreed to a $2 billion settlement package for the estimated 80,000 survivors of the Indian Residential Schools program.

• What are the pros and cons of a government paying reparations to groups that have faced historical discrimination, oppression, and/or victimization?
• Have previous efforts at reparations had the desired effect of redressing grievances and improving the lives of groups who were historically wronged?
• In cases of mixed families, lost records, and Black Americans whose families emigrated to the US long after slavery, how do we determine eligibility for reparations due to slavery?
• What alternatives to reparations have been explored and how did those turn out?