Harvard profs argue Biden admin well-positioned to give ‘reparations’ to black Americans

Academics Linda J. Bilmes and Cornell William Brooks, both professors at Harvard, wrote the paper on how models for reparations would be done in the US based on other programs and wrote about the implications of reparations. Bilmes and Brooks claim that the federal government, “already has the norm, precedent, expertise, and resources to provide reparations to black Americans.”

Adding in the paper, the academics cited how President Joe Biden "pledged to cover all uninsured deposits, assuring Americans that 'no losses will be borne by the taxpayers'" when the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in March 2023. The authors from Harvard wrote that this was a sign that the federal government already has "arrangements to help pay for the wide system of reparatory compensation."

They also cited Native American reserve lands as a compensatory program that would be comparable to the process of reparations for black Americans who are descendants of slaves. Other programs listed included payments to Jews from the Holocaust and Japanese who were put into internment camps during World War II. "US laws and rules governing compensation programs show that Congress has long sought to provide some measure of restitution, compensation, and rehabilitation to those who have suffered harms that are largely beyond their control," the paper said.

The authors claimed that many of the problems today facing the black community can be traced back to slavery, and cited the year 1619 as the starting point, perhaps in reference to the 1619 Project from Nicole Hannah Jones.

In the paper's conclusion, it was recommended to the Executive and Legislative branches of the US to "convene a national commission to study and propose a scheme of federal reparations, authorized by an Executive Order or federal legislation." This would "use the breadth, variety, and diversity of reparatory compensation programs to develop a reparations program that addresses of the full range of racial harms, including specifically the racial wealth gap."

It concludes, "This article makes it clear that the norm, precedent, and federal expertise are in place to make reparatory compensation a reality for black Americans—now."