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One way to pay reparations owed to Black folks would be through government funding.
Just as the Japanese-American Claims Act of 1948 and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 funded reparations to Japanese internment camp survivors, federal, state, and local legislatures can allocate funds to make reparations happen for us too.
Another funding source is through private institutions.
In 2019, Scotland’s Glasgow University created a scholarship program specifically for the descendants of enslaved Africans who attend the University of the West Indies to receive reparations by way of free educational opportunities.
Some individuals are even stepping up to contribute to the final bill.
Georgetown University students agreed to a $27.20 per semester charge so that a reparations fund could comfortably support scholarships for the descendants of enslaved Africans that helped build the school.
And since we know money won’t make everything right, look at what Chicago did for torture victims of Commander Jon Burge and those carrying out his orders back in 2015.
The city agreed to finance a Torture Justice Center to provide counseling to survivors of police brutality, build a public memorial, and weave lessons about the case into the public school history curriculum.
Since there are countless ways to make amends for the wrongs of the past, we don’t want to hear that lame “we can’t afford it” excuse.