An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

and/or the present. Second, the state must make credible commitment to do
things differently, to make substantial changes in its policy behavior, in the
future.” 19 We have to think in the short term and long term about what an
apology could do, including its benefits and potential harms.
On July 14, 2020, the city of Asheville, North Carolina, passed a
resolution supporting reparations for the Black community. The city council
members apologized, on behalf of themselves and the city, for the
enslavement, segregation, and incarceration of Black people. They highlight
all of the systemic forms of racism that have impeded Black peoples’
advancement in society. They also offer nine points that they hope would
lead to some form of systemic change. 20
In discussing the merits of this resolution, I don’t want to come off as a
hater (well, a little bit!). The resolution, while important, also highlights
some of the challenges of reparations discourse and practice. The focus on
homeownership and the possibilities of building wealth might help in the
short term, but what if capitalism is the problem? Are homeownership and
other opportunities to build wealth the goal? It’s too early to tell what might
come of it, though William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen’s book From
Here to Equality (2020) offers a practical guide to get the reparations plan
rolling, including a recommendation of $15–$20 trillion in total funding. 21
That brings up another question regarding reparations—the actual dollar
amount that qualifies as compensation? Black activists and scholars have
since the nineteenth century attempted to call for reparations for Africans
enslaved. 22 But what, really, is just compensation? Historian Daina Ramey
Berry argues that a variety of white people, from slave masters to doctors
who wanted to use Black bodies for experiments, valued enslaved Africans
in life and death. 23 Yes, there is a value to labor, but how much are Black
bones worth? Again, I know that’s not what reparations advocates are
seeking, but Black death must be a part of the calculations, and there is no
price for that.
Should we really desire to get compensation from a system built on
Indigenous dispossession and Indigenous genocide? I don’t think so. Even
if we did get reparations, we don’t want to then become neocolonialists,
engaging in all sorts of unspeakable human atrocities because we continued
a capitalist way of life.
I believe that the descendants of enslaved Africans deserve reparations.
The conversation around reparations is simplistic, however. For instance, in