On Sept. 27, the United Nations Working Group for People of African Descent released findings concluding that it is due time for the U.S. to pay reparations to African-Americans.
The panel’s findings show that there is a direct correlation between slavery and present-day, police-involved shootings and psychological trauma caused by centuries of racial violence. In the video clip above, Chairwoman Mireille Fanon-Mendes of France says that the “transatlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity” and the U.S. must atone.
Fanon-Mendes adds “racial biases in the criminal justice system, mass incarceration … disproportionately impact African-Americans.”
Furthermore, the report states that “the legacy of colonial history, enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and inequality … remains a serious challenge. There has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent. Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching.”
While the panel did not explicitly suggest a dollar amount, they listed “a formal apology, health initiatives, educational opportunities … psychological rehabilitation, technology transfer and financial support, and debt cancellation” as forms of restitution.
