The True Test of Change

History has a habit of repeating itself, but for Americas sake, lets hope tradition breaks

this time around. It is common for ideas to be passed down from generation to generation, as a

result, resisting change is apart of human nature. It is almost as if breaking a habit is equivalent

to stabbing yourself in the back. The Case for Reparations, an article written by Ta-Nehisi

Coates, reflects on the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and systematic racism in America; he argues

why African-Americans deserve reparations for the suffering our ancestors endured. Morally

speaking, a person cannot owe a debt based on the actions of their ancestor;in contrast,

impersonal institutions-such as the police force- can embody a combined guilt for the negative

acts associated with them.

To blame a group of people for the wrongdoings of generations that came before them

would be unfair; similarly, stealing the livelihood of an entire race for over 200 years without

any amends is unjust. American prosperity was built on two and a half centuries of slavery, a

deep wound that has never been healed or fully atoned for..(The Case for Reparations page 55).

This statement speaks to the confirmation that African-Americans should receive some type of

reparation. It is mind boggling to witness those who have the nerve to say forget about slavery

and stop living in the past when issues like white supremacy and systemic racism still exist.

Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of past racial terror

of lynching(Ishaan Tharoor); coating peanuts with chocolate still makes them peanuts, and

killing of blacks is all the same no matter what method you use. It is true society cannot blame

new generations for our history however you can fault them for keeping those same ideals alive.

In recent decades the police force has had a lot of unfortunate encounters with African-

Americans, too many that it is impossible to go unnoticed. Because of racial profiling,

stereotypes, and a zero tolerance for the race, police brutality among blacks is at its peak. In

Coates novel, Between the World and Me, he tells the story of a friend named Prince Jones who

was a victim of police brutality; according to Coates Prince was wrongfully accused of a crime

because he was black, and then lost his life. More often than not, police officers who commit

these crimes go unpunished, and this does a disservice to our community. When situations like

police brutality occur people look at the police force as one, but every cop is not the same. There

are those few officers that are disgusted with the acts of others and speak out against it. The only

shared guilt in impersonal institutions is between those who complete the hatred acts, and those

who do nothing to stop it.

In contrast to believing reparations will help our country move forward, there is the idea

that restitutions are not necessary. Kevin D. Williams, author of The Case Against Reparations,

argues that Coates purpose is not convincing enough to his readers; he justifies this by

stating,The people to whom reparations were owed are long dead; our duty is to the living

Williams statement is one sided and he forgets that African-Americans are still being negatively

affected by history. Take North Lawndale for example, a town victim to redlining and white

flight and as Coates puts it...on the wrong end of virtually every socioeconomic

indicator.Anyone who says that those who are owed restitutions are long gone are closed

minded and not looking at the bigger picture.

History is set in stone and cannot be altered, the only thing we can do is learn from it and

prevent the same events from happening. George Santayana once said, Those who do not learn

from history are doomed to repeat it,, and all of those people who do not learn from the

mistakes of their ancestors are setting themselves up on a timeless loop.