American Notes RACE

It is a peculiarly American idea that the social injustices of the past can be mollified with cash and property payments. In 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Federal Government to pay some $122 million to eight tribes of Sioux Indians to make up for the illegal seizure of their tribal lands in 1877. Two years ago, Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II were awarded checks for $20,000. Now some African Americans want cash compensation for the slavery their ancestors endured. "We call for reparations," declared a resolution passed at the African-American summit in New Orleans last week. "If they are good enough for the Japanese Americans and Native Americans, they are good enough for those of us who worked for hundreds of years unpaid."

The reparations idea is not a new one, but it has gathered some momentum since the Detroit city council last month asked Congress to establish a $40 billion education fund for the descendants of slaves. While the idea has a surface plausibility, its proponents might have overlooked important historical distinctions. Recent payments to Native Americans are the result of acknowledged violations of U.S. law, and the Japanese Americans who received compensation for their internment were the victims themselves, not their descendants.