Check out my latest Letter To The Editor in the Philadelphia Tribune!
Reparations for all
I keep seeing calls for reparations for slavery. Unfortunately, in America, almost every group has suffered some uncompensated injury. From the Salem Witch Trials to the systematic slaughter of Native Americans and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, even the harm of Jim Crow laws, race riots and segregation. And what about the treatment of child workers and immigrants before labor unions appeared?
There is much to atone for. We can compensate for these crimes with cash because their effects are still rippling across cities and towns throughout the U.S via inequality. African Americans are around 12% of the population, but only possess 2.5% of the country’s wealth.
These cash payments remind me of a program that is being tested in different cities: Universal Basic Income (UBI), a stipend to raise people out of poverty. UBI participants spent the money on basics, like food, home essentials and utility bills. If that’s what that cash goes to, that’s a clear sign that the current programs we have need to be extended so that these basic items are within reach for all Americans. We can give everyone a SNAP card. We can provide utility assistance to everyone. We can even provide health care to every American.
It’s time to strategize on how to take care of people using the collective power of government. We can, with thought and work, provide a better future for every American. That would honor our ancestors’ struggles.
Jayson Massey
Philadelphia
