Reparations Daily (ish) Vol. 41
Would MLK accept a MacArthur Genius Award?
Happy Wednesday! The MacArthur Foundation released its annual list of awardees for its ‘Genius awards yesterday, with the most recognizable person (at least to me) being Ibram Kendi, for his work and writing about anti-racism. It is perhaps the most prestigious private award a person can be given outside of a Nobel Prize, as it comes with a $625,000 unrestricted check that the awardee is free to use however they wish.
I extend my congratulations to each awardee, particularly Ibram Kendi and the other Black awardees, who have pushed the conversation around racism forward, particularly as more and more white people look deeper into the issue. As I read through the list, a question popped into my head, ‘if he were alive right now, would Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have received an award by now?” The answer is an obvious yes. The question, which I explore in today’s Hot Takes section, is would he accept it?
Here’s some reparations-related news you might be interested in:
Updates on the task force in California exploring reparations at the state level as reported in this KPBS article.
This October, Maryland’s Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission will hold its first public hearing as detailed in this Times-News article.
As reported in The Hill, A representative for the conservative Billionaire Koch family called out bills banning the accurate teaching of history (commonly mislabeled by the press as anti-CRT bills).
According to this piece in ABC News, reparations were a topic at the UN general assembly — but not by those who would be paying.
With radical love,
Trevor
National News
New York Times: MacArthur Foundation Announces 2021 ‘Genius’ Grant Winners
New York Times: They’re White, Male and on Their Pedestals, for the Time Being
Yes! Magazine: 4 Ways Reparations Can Address Racial Inequality in Education
Nonprofit Quarterly: Closing the Racial Wealth Divide: A Plan to Boost Black Homeownership
Associated Press: Conservative Koch network disavows critical race theory bans
Politico: Will critical race theory be the new debate issue for 2022 elections?
Forbes: Critical Race Theory Bans Are Expanding To Cover Broad Collection Of Issues
American Prospect: The Right-Wing Attack on Racial Justice Talk
NBC News: 'Dear White People' creator says racism's 'evergreen' presence keeps series relevant
Local News
KTUL: Tulsa Race Massacre survivors in court for reparations hearing
KPBS: California Reparations Task Force Discusses Slavery, Housing Discrimination
Fox 40: Local man testifies in front of state’s reparation task force over wrongfully-taken land
Times-News: Nation’s first Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hold first public hearing in Allegany County
Atlanta Daily World: COVID increases racial wealth gap: Blacks own 22 cents for every dollar held by whites
Fox 6 Now: Critical race theory limits pass Wisconsin Assembly
International News
ABC: Reparations draw UN scrutiny, but those who’d pay say little
The Economist: Unpicking inequality in South Africa
The Globe and Mail: Racism was a cornerstone of the British Empire, including Canada. Reparative justice can help to right these wrongs
Hot Takes
Every year, the MacArthur Foundation takes a portion of its $7 billion endowment to award a cohort of 20-30 “exceptionally creative individuals with the potential for important work” and provide them with unrestricted financial support to the tune of $625,000. There’s no application, and those eventually awarded do not even know they are being considered. According to the foundation, the criteria for being selected is “exceptional creativity, as demonstrated through a track record of significant achievement, and manifest promise for important future advances.” If you’re interested, you can read more about the MacArthur Fellowship here and some myths about it that they debunk here.
Before I get into the question we’re exploring today; I want to name that three of the most notable Black people to be awarded the MacArthur Fellowship in the last five years have been Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and now Ibram Kendi, with Hannah-Jones and Coates. So, tell your kids to keep writing; it could pay off.
Kendi was awarded a Genius grant for “advancing conversations around anti-Black racism and possibilities for repair in a variety of initiatives and platforms.” Outside of ‘How to be an Anti-Racist,’ which sold over 2 million copies, he has created two centers focused on anti-racism (one at my alma mater, American University, and another at Boston University, which he currently oversees) and is now launching a news outlet in partnership with The Boston Globe called The Emancipator.
MacArthur started this fellowship in 1981, thirteen years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Dr. King was 39 years old when he was murdered, the same age that Kendi is now. Like Kendi, he advanced conversations around anti-Black racism and possibilities for repair in various initiatives and platforms.
Four months before he was assassinated, Dr. King announced to the press that the Poor People’s Campaign was to march on Washington, D.C., that April, to demand that Congress and the President take action to address poverty in the United States. Dr. King was assassinated in early April as the campaign was still in its planning stages.
One can assume that if Dr. King was not assassinated and he never took public office, he would’ve been awarded a MacArthur Genius grant. He did, after all, receive a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for “his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population.”
The award came with a $54,123 prize, which Dr. King said gave directly to the civil rights movement. Interestingly, $54,000 in 1964, would be $455,197 in 2021 dollars. So, we can assume that Dr. King would have done the same thing if he received a MacArthur grant.
When Hannah-Jones was awarded the grant in 2017, she jokingly said in this New York Times interview that she would buy the whole Gucci store and then say that she would throw a party for herself and try to keep inspiring other young Black journalists.
When Coates received his award, he said he was already considering new projects and that “when somebody makes this sort of investment in you, you’re called to do something great, so I’m going to try and do something great.”
Not much else is documented publicly on how Coates, Hannah-Jones, or many of the other “Geniuses” used their grant, and it’s frankly not any of my or anyone else business.
However, I find these questions interesting to talk about over happy hour and ponder on my morning walks. What would I do with $625,000? Would I pay off my student loan debt? Buy property? Or give it to the reparations movement?
What would you do?