How should America make reparations for slavery? Critics of reparations argue that there is no way to determine which Blacks should get paid. I agree. Reparation funds for slavery should not go to individual African Americans. No reasonable arguments are being made for individual Blacks to receive money as reparations for slavery. One big issue immediately would become who among the nation’s Black ethnic groups are African American? After all, Caribbean blacks are not entitled to reparations for slavery in America.

Reparations should go to the venerable, established, respected institutions and organizations that specifically serve the advancement of African Americans. Reparations should be paid especially to institutions and public organizations that uplift the Black communities of our country, especially in education. Reparations money should provide permanent financial support for historically Black colleges and universities. Reparations money should go into schools and libraries that serve Black communities, rural and urban and should be used to support scholarships for college and professional schools for African American students as well as for training in vocational and trade skills.

Reparations money should support programs for the rehabilitation of African American criminals and for their reintegration into their communities. The endemic and pernicious ramifications of slavery in American society cannot be overcome in a generation or two. Blacks were enslaved in America for over three centuries. It may well take as many centuries since the end of slavery, even with reparations, for true racial equality to be a reality in America.

Reconciliation for past racial wrongs will never be reached if the goal is to provoke guilt in whites. It will never be reached if the goal is to dismiss the wrongs of the past. Racial reconciliation will come when the goal of both whites and Blacks is mutual acceptance of each other, and of the past and its consequences.