MHC Professors on Reparations to African Descedants for Slavery and Colonization

I interviewed four professors at Mount Holyoke College regarding the issue of reparations to African descendants for slavery and colonization. The professors supported the idea of reparations; however, they acknowledged that it is a hard topic to deal with.

                                                     Image adopted from Google Images

Samba Gadjigo, a French professor, explained how colonization harmed Africa. "At the economic level, colonization has set us [Africans] back, " he said. Africa lost most of its economic potential during slavery and unfortunately, it is hard to quantify the damages of colonization, which makes it hard to determine the amount of compensation to be made.

Gadjigo also argued that it might be hard to know the number of slaves that were taken from Africa; however,  it might be less challenging to quantify the amount of materials taken from Africa. “It might be much easier to calculate how many tons of copper or gold that has been taken from Africa," Gadjigo said. Through his examples, Gadjigo suggested that Western countries should first consider returning materials that can be seen and touched, such as artwork and archives.

During the interview, Holly Hanson, an Africana Studies professor suggested another form of reparation. “Colonialism and slavery created structures that continue to make life harder for people. So, the logical way to fix it would be to make structural changes,” she said. Some structural changes include funding higher education for Africa-Americans, lowering taxes, and establishing an affordable health plan.

Lynda Morgan, a History professor, also agreed that paying reparations might help eradicate social problems. Morgan believes that "If you try to eliminate poverty, then some problems that people deal with in the society will go. Problems that people try to racialize...," she said.

Even though paying reparations might seem like a good thing to do, people must be very careful not to cause more divisions between whites and blacks.  

“If we don't treat everyone equally, paying reparations might not improve things," Kim Dionne, an African Politics professor said.

During the interview, all professors emphasized the need for dialogue and Hanson said that "The real danger of reparations is that we don't want anyone to say 'I don't owe you that.' The ideal reparations will be someone saying that 'I have really benefited from what your ancestors did and I am willing to give you this much.' The ideal dialogue."

For more information about "Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide, check out Britain's Black Debt, a book that Hilary McD. Beckles recently released. A copy is available at Amherst College.