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Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing a
Reparations Task Force to develop a Black Reparations Agenda.
Tio Hardiman, executive director of Violence Interrupters, says
the time for more talk has long passed.
“I’m thinking about organizing another shutdown of one of the
major streets in Chicago to really bring more attention to the
reparations struggle,” Hardiman told The Center Square. “It
appears that everybody has received some sort of resources or
benefits except African American people.”
DePaul University Professor of Philosophy Jason Hill said it
will be a challenge for the mayor to put reparations policies in
place.
“Like I’ve said, reparations are very, very difficult unless you
can ostensibly point to someone who has suffered real damage,”
Hill said.
Hill said there are a lot of variables besides slavery that
contribute to disparities between and among the races.
“The reparations program presupposes that there is a monocausal
factor phenomenon called ‘residual effects of slavery’ that
account for all the disparities between the races, and I think
that’s a very faulty line of reasoning,” Hill said.
Johnson said his administration will work with allies to rectify
decades of deliberate disinvestment in Black communities.
Hill said an argument for reparations could be made in specific
cases.
“If you can actually point to people who are individuals who
were the victims of housing discrimination, redlining, then I
think reparations are in order,” Hill said. “But to just have
this sort of mass, reparative justice scheme for all Black
Americans is a logistical nightmare, and I think there are
ethical problems to it.”
Hill is the author of five books, including “What do White
Americans owe Black People: Racial Justice in the Age of
Post-Oppression.”
Glenn Minnis contributed to this
report.
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