Reparations Daily (ish) Vol. 66
Repairing the Whole: How Reparations Can Address Physical and Mental Health
Happy Wednesday! I had to take a break from the newsletter to finish some other pieces.
But, I’m pleased to share my newest article for Nonprofit Quarterly titled Repairing the Whole: How Reparations Can Address Physical and Mental Health, which is also the subject of today’s Hot Takes section.
The idea for the piece was inspired by a recent National Coalition of Black for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) report that details how transgenerational transmission of trauma affects Black people. Today’s Hot Takes section highlights a few excerpts from the NPQ article.
It’s been a while, so here’s a longer list of some news you might want to check out today:
The Baltimore Sun apologized for its role in promoting policies that oppressed Black people in Maryland. It’s quite the read, and although I’m from Maryland, I learned a lot.
Relatedly, one of my favorite writers, Wesley Lowery, penned this piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer and its journey to become an anti-racist publication.
As reported by The Washington Post, Gary Chambers, a U.S. Senate candidate from Louisana, released a campaign video where he burns the Confederate flag, and I love it.
National Geographic published this amazing piece of writing earlier this week about a Black family who had their land taken by the state of California.
Grio’s Acting Up podcast dove into the upcoming documentary Descendant, which was acquired by the Obama’s production company and will be available on Netflix in the coming weeks.
With radical love,
Trevor
National News
Nonprofit Quarterly: Repairing the Whole: How Reparations Can Address Physical and Mental Health
Washington Post: A U.S. Senate candidate smoked marijuana in his last campaign ad. This time, he burned a Confederate flag.
The Grio: Team behind Sundance doc ‘Descendant’ on the Clotilda, diving into Black history and more
NPR: George Takei got reparations. He says they 'strengthen the integrity of America'
Yahoo! News: Sounds of Blackness talk about reparations, ‘Optimistic,’ being more than just a gospel group
News 10: 25 years later, Legion of Christ victims seek reparations
Washington Post: Jewish lawmaker denounces bill banning critical race theory: ‘I cannot accept a neutral, judgment-free approach’
Hollywood Reporter: John Oliver Addresses Debate Over Teaching Critical Race Theory in Schools: “Very Loud and Very, Very Dumb”
Salon: GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel makes bizarre claim about slavery during debate
Star Tribune: Abolition newspaper revived for nation grappling with racism
Deadline: Jeffrey Wright Honors “Undercelebrated” Frederick Douglass With Trio Of Projects
Regional News
Philadelphia Inquirer: Black City. White Paper.
National Geographic: This family lost their land to a California state park
Evanston Roundtable: Former Evanston resident featured in PBS special on local segregation
KQED: How Japanese Americans in the Bay Area Are Carrying Forward the Legacy of Reparations
KGOU: Tulsa Representative hopes to enhance Race Massacre descendant scholarship program
WESA: From reparations to cooperative housing, Pittsburghers share ideas with Gainey’s transition team
Tennessean: Tennessee Republican leaders renew critical race theory crusade, target universities
Washington Post: A recent incident highlights Utah’s long and troubled history of racism
CNN: This Georgia county is one of many Black communities erased by White mob violence
Citizen Times: Asheville natives, professors, businesspeople. Who will lead historic reparations process?
USA Today: Racial justice: Iowa's only Black-owned bank would combat discrimination, increase equity
Colorado Sun: A new fund seeks to close the racial wealth gap by helping Black families purchase homes in metro Denver
Gothamist: Newark City Council urges support for a state task force on reparations
KPIX: Coyote Creek Flood Victims Still Without Reparations 5 Years Later
WGAL: Clarified: Are reparations needed today?
New Jersey Monitor: Reparations are possible — they happened for Asian Americans
Sacramento Observer: Calif. Reparations Task Force: This Week’s Mtg Will Honor Movement’s History
Citizen Times: Asheville City Council delays Community Reparations Commission selection
WHYY: New Jersey has struggled for centuries to talk about reparations. Can that change in 2022?
Book Club Chicago: UChicago Students, Nearby Residents Demand University Give $1 Billion In Reparations To South Side Neighborhoods
Star Tribune: Community conversations kick off project to restore Native story of St. Anthony Falls
USA Today: Charleston wharf where 100,000 enslaved Africans were imprisoned to become a museum
International News
Dutch News: Utrecht apologises for slavery role, will pay for name changes
Hot Takes
Excerpts from the Nonprofit Quarterly article, ‘Repairing the Whole: How Reparations Can Address Physical and Mental Health.’
Can Reparations Heal?
Just as educators cooperated in carrying out genocidal policies through their participation in residential schools (in the United States, as well as in Canada), the medical industry has its own sorry history. For a long time, many in that field justified racial health disparities through racist and mythical biological arguments that claimed Black people were inherently inferior to white people. This US mental model was thoroughly used throughout the antebellum period and beyond. It is the root of the early 20th-century eugenics movement that led to the sterilization of thousands of Black people and was a source of inspiration for Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and South African apartheid.
The notion that the medical industry has played a role in strengthening white supremacist theories and fortifying a racial caste system is one that I don’t believe many can argue with. The question at hand remains: what do reparations look like within a health context?
Reparations and Trauma
Large-scale trauma affects people in multiple ways, explains Dr. Yael Daniel, a prominent researcher in the field of intergenerational trauma and founder of the International Center for the Study, Prevention, and Treatment of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma. It only makes sense then that our solutions are also multifaceted.
A trauma-informed framework must be applied to any reparations effort to ensure that we are creating a sustainable social policy that uproots the tenets of white supremacy. This approach, according to experts, should go seek to go beyond broad notions of trauma and address specific sociopolitical and economic drivers. Trauma-informed care within a context of reparations means employing a holistic focus not only on the economic impact of the legacy of slavery but also its psychological and health impact.
Increasing Black Wealth to Improve Black Health
In 2016, the typical white family had nearly ten times the amount of wealth of the average Black family. “Power, money, and access to resources—good housing, better education, fair wages, safe workplaces, clean air, drinkable water, and healthier food—translate into good health,” according to Harvard researchers.
Those who live in poverty have less access to healthcare, lack of healthy nutritional options, are more likely to be uninsured, face higher threats of eviction and homelessness, and are concentrated in jobs that since the onset of the pandemic have put them in positions more likely to contract COVID-19.
Since health outcomes are so inextricably linked to income and wealth, increased economic power by means of a reparations package that seeks to close the racial wealth gap would target the structural health issues that Black people face. Increased wealth for Black Americans would mean more discretionary income to devote resources to healthier food options, preventative health screenings, and mental wellness programs.
As noted by the Harvard researchers, efforts to provide better health care in a “population that lacks access to essential resources for health are bound to fall short.” Therefore, to address the structural inequity within the healthcare system, we must take an explicit racially conscious approach rather than a racially blind one.
Acknowledgment of Harm
An admission that harm was done is one of the first needed steps on the road to racial repair. While it has had its critics, acknowledgment of past wrongs to those who were harmed by them was a core component of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Accepting responsibility for harm that was caused is a necessary step in a reparation process by creating the space for the responsible party to admit wrongdoing, and the harmed party to have the choice to start a healing process.