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Reparations Should Not Be Paid

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Reparations should not be paid, because they will be seen as a final payment. The general population would feel that reparations would be the ultimate closure, and that African-Americans are not owed further. Lawrie Balfour at the University of Virginia in 2005 stated that “the closure afforded by reparations means that no more will be owed to Blacks than is owed to any citizen under the law. Given the depth of societal denial about the significance and effects of slavery and the pervasiveness of antiblack racism, it is unlikely reparations alone could accomplish so much”. This means that while reparations will not ever be able to compensate for the full suffering of African-Americans, paying them to African-Americans will not completely put behind racism, and it is unlikely the problems that will still exist will be further addressed. This is supported by Glen Loury, director of the Institute of Race and Social Division at Boston University, who says there would only be a short term victory for African Americans. “It will undermine the claim for further help down the road, because the rest of America will say, ‘Shut up: You’ve been paid.’” This is harmful, because it allows other Americans to disregard and put behind the past. Additionally, any further problems that are still going to exist will be ignored, due to the perception that all the harm has been addressed and African-Americans have received compensation for these wrongs. Forgetting these problems can cause them
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