Discussion Questions

Statistics reveal that the typical Black family has only 10% of the accumulated wealth that the typical White Family has. Do you think the prior enslavement of Black people and racist policies are the cause of this disparity?
Many Black and Indigenous youths do not have education and employment opportunities on a par with those of White youths. What policies and programs could be adopted to remedy these disparities?
There is often a tendency for White people to view Black males as a physical threat. What is the basis of this fear and what policies could be adopted to reduce this tendency of White people to react with fear?
In his book, “How to be an Antiracist” author Ibram X. Kendi reports that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. opposed the busing of Black children to White schools in the 1950’s, quoting Dr. King as stating in 1959, “White people view black people as inferior…People with such a low view of the black race cannot be given free rein and put in charge of the intellectual care and development of our boys and girls.” Do you think White people have lower expectations for the intellectual achievement of Black students than they have for White students? Would more funding and support for predominately Black schools and Black teachers advance the cause of antiracism?
“Harmless White fun is Black lawlessness,” is another poignant quote from the important book, “How to be an Antiracist.” Our police officers, prosecutors, and judges appear to have a tendency to afford White youths more leeway and lenience for youthful indiscretion than they do Black youths. Are there policy solutions to reduce or eliminate this tendency?
What are the challenges and opportunities associated with the payment of reparations to Black people and Indigenous people? For historical background information and an in-depth consideration of this question, please read "If True Justice and Equality are Ever to be Achieved in the United States, the Country Must Finally Take Seriously What it Owes to Black Americans" by Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, June 28, 2020.
Also see, "America's Enduring Caste System," by Isabel Wilkerson, The New York Times Magazine, July 5, 2020.
**And now the book by Ms. Wilkerson, “Caste, The Origins of Our Discontents.” “It should be at the top of every American’s reading list,” Chicago Tribune.
“Racism Impoverishes the Whole Economy,” by Lisa D. Cook, The New York Times, Sunday, November 22, 2020.
“A Christian Vision of Social Justice,” by David Brooks, The New York Times, Friday, March 18, 2021 (“…to cast racism as a sin is useful in many ways. The concept of sin gives us an action plan to struggle against it: acknowledge the sin, confess the sin, ask forgiveness for the sin, turn away from the sin, restore the wrong done. If racism is America’s collective sin then the tasks are: tell the truth about racism, turn away from racism, offer reparations for racism.”)
“Christians Must Fight Systemic Racism,” by Esau McCaulley, The New York Times, Monday, July 19, 2021 (“Many fear that Christians who speak out against racism want to tear down America. That is not true; we are the fools who believe that America might better embody its ideals for all people. We are the people of hope. We don’t want destruction of any good thing; we want justice. Let us set aside this tired drama and fearmongering distracting us from real issues. The lines are stale and the plot predictable. Let’s instead write a different script and possibly a more just future for everyone.”)
For much information and discussion, see the Smithsonian Institution’s project, “Our Shared Future: Reckoning With Our Racial Past” at www.oursharedfuture.si.edu (“Confronting race and racism is difficult, but necessary work. The Smithsonian strives to amplify your voices in our commitment to building a more equitable path toward our shared future.”)
One thing we should all be able to agree upon is that it is very difficult to discuss issues about race and forthrightly face the stark and painful legacy of slavery and Jim Crow oppression that is a big part of the history of this country. It is only natural that White people and Black people alike would prefer to avoid the subject entirely, White people to avoid any connection with the oppressors, and Black people to avoid the recognition that there is a lower caste status that follows them into the present day.
Yet recent events plainly reveal that we will never achieve racial harmony and peace in this country until we openly address the toxic history and take significant, meaningful steps to purge the taint and repair the damage caused by this painful history.
White people have spent the past 400 years trying to minimize, ignore, or deny the pernicious effects of slavery, first to maintain the institution as somehow reconcilable with our religious and civic values, and thereafter to ignore or deny that its lasting effects require remedial action.
This impulse is understandably strong. It is difficult to face the harsh realities of slavery, and it is only natural to want to avoid any out-of-pocket cost to repair the damage. And of course, for the past 400 years, the problem has been one predominately borne by Black people, not White people.
But we must now recognize that this is a problem that affects all of us and one that all of us will benefit greatly from finally addressing. We must recognize that, like the COVID virus, the problems stemming from racial injustice and inequities are not going to magically disappear.
Yet for each indication that we have finally crossed the threshold of understanding the need for meaningful change, there is a countervailing effort to continue the old, failed program of avoiding the issue. The recent willingness to recognize the glorification of the Old South and its Civil War soldiers as a harmful and misguided glorification of the old slave culture and the perpetuation of the lower caste status of Black people, is now met with the charge that this rather basic reckoning with reality represents a Marxist plot to discredit the entire American experiment in self-governance and discredit all of our institutions as tainted by the original sin of slavery. It should be obvious that this is yet another attempt to make believe that the problem of racial injustice and racial disharmony will magically disappear if we can only get through this rough patch and return to the good old days when we just ignored the problem.
There is nothing Marxist or anti-capitalist about recognizing that our country will benefit from finally owning up to the devastating and lasting effects of slavery and years of discriminatory treatment of Black people. The fact that slavery was a part of the culture when the country was founded does not invalidate or taint the aspirations that formed the foundation of our society or discredit the fundamental features of our democratic institutions.
No doubt, the idea of paying reparations to Black people is fraught with difficulties. To start with, a cold tallying up of the price for lost wages, lost lives, lost opportunities, and pain and indignities suffered, would result in a dollar amount that would be impossible to repay. But we must hold fast to the realization that the problem must be addressed and hold fast to the vision of the better, more perfect union that we can achieve by finally addressing the problem in a meaningful way.
What is needed is a vision of the better world this will be if we can achieve true racial justice and harmony. An America with true racial harmony would be a much more peaceful, productive, creative, and essentially pleasant place to live—and facing and solving this age-old problem will restore our country to the role of a beacon for world progress that our founders intended it to be.
There is no getting around the fact that relations between White people and Black people are affected by these harsh historical realities. Depending on the circumstances of the encounter between a White person and a Black person, it is quite likely that, mindful of this history, the White person will conjure up a vision of the Black person as someone who is likely to be angry about this mistreatment and exclusion from the material benefits of our society, is distrustful and resentful of White people, and feels like he or she has no real stake in preserving our laws and institutions. We must find a way to replace this vision with a vision of a Black person who is likely to be satisfied that his or her contributions to our society and culture in the face of all this ugliness have been finally recognized in a meaningful way, whose contributions under these conditions have endeared him or her to the nation, and who has finally achieved a status in society that recognizes his or her valued place and stake in our society and its institutions.
A good start toward reconciliation would be an all-out effort to ensure that all young Black people have decent employment. To achieve this, we could provide federal funding to all predominately Black schools, provide college or trade school tuition for all Black youths, establish a fund to provide grant money up to $50,000 to qualifying Black entrepreneurs—all backstopped by the grant of public franchises to Black people to ensure quality employment for all Black people. We could set aside the United States Postal Service, Amtrak, and all public transit systems in the country as Black franchises, to be run and staffed by Black people—not as compensation, but as gifts in recognition and gestures toward reconciliation. White people currently employed in these enterprises could remain employed, but it would be understood that Black people will run the operations and Black people will be favored for all new hires.
This might work and be affordable.