00:00Reparations.
00:01When you hear that word, what do you think of?
00:03Money?
00:04Compensation?
00:05An apology?
00:06Writing a wrong?
00:07Or maybe just, huh?
00:09The topic of reparations has come up a lot.
00:11Especially in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election.
00:15About America's original sin.
00:18Slavery.
00:18So what exactly are we talking about here?
00:21Simply put, reparations is the act of making amends for a wrong.
00:25Or an injury committed toward an individual or a group of people.
00:29Reparations for slavery is the idea that some form of compensation needs to be made.
00:35To the descendants of the 4 million Africans that were trafficked and enslaved in the United States.
00:40Now, I can already hear some of you say,
00:43But wasn't that over 200 years ago?
00:46And you are right, but that doesn't mean African Americans don't face repercussions from it.
00:52To this day.
00:54So, this past June, Congress held its first Congressional hearing to discuss Bill H.R. 40.
01:00H.R. 40 would authorize $12 million to study and develop reparation proposals.
01:05The study would focus on the appropriate remedies for slavery and discrimination.
01:11And the impact of these factors on living African Americans.
01:14The bill also considers a national apology from the U.S. government.
01:18Something that to date has never happened.
01:22Maybe the best way to say what we've been through, they should apologize.
01:25In due time, we do need an apology.
01:27Yeah, I think they should actually.
01:30Now, some of you might be thinking,
01:32It's about time.
01:33While others might say,
01:34Why should we have to pay for something that happened so many years ago?
01:38Well, time to open your history books.
01:40And try not to fall asleep like you did in AP U.S. history.
01:43American slavery lasted almost 250 years.
01:48If you count the nearly 100 years of Jim Crow segregation that followed,
01:53then that means officially sanctioned racial oppression actually lasted over 300 years.
02:00This created a significant wealth gap between black and white Americans that still
02:05exist today.
02:07The federal government first considered it in 1865,
02:10when newly freed black people were promised up to 40 acres of land.
02:14Hence the bill named H.R. 40.
02:17Get it?
02:17Anyway, after President Lincoln was assassinated,
02:20this special field order was overturned by President Andrew Johnson.
02:23He decided to return the land to the planters who owned it instead.
02:29Like, dude, seriously?
02:30Fast forward to 1989.
02:33Former Democrat Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan introduced legislation
02:38to discuss what reparations might actually look like.
02:41He introduced this bill every year for nearly 30 years.
02:46But despite his best efforts, it never went anywhere.
02:50Until this June.
02:51When the bill received its first-ever Congressional Subcommittee hearing.
02:55Under the new sponsorship of Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee.
02:59Supporters of reparations believe it would not only help make amends for slavery and segregation,
03:04but also for its cruel and crippling legacy.
03:07But opponents of reparations believe
03:09America shouldn't be held responsible for her forefather's sins.
03:13One vocal opponent is Republican and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
03:18He told reporters,
03:19We've tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war,
03:24by passing landmark civil rights legislation.
03:26We elected an African American president.
03:29I mean, problem solved, right?
03:31Many supporters of reparations don't blame white Americans today for slavery.
03:36But they do recognize that years of oppression have prolonged this hierarchy.
03:40Where whites have privileges that people of color don't.
03:44Although there are people like Senator Bernie Sanders and former President Barack Obama
03:49who oppose the idea that money alone can address slave reparations.
03:54They do support investing in marginalized communities.
03:57So, what do you think will be a just compensation for African Americans?
04:02Land.
04:03In our wealth.
04:04Money.
04:05An apology letter.
04:07That's it.
04:07More and more questions will be raised about how reparations would work.
04:11Who would benefit.
04:12And how it would be funded.
04:14But no matter what set of the conversation you land,
04:17we can all agree that this is one world worth having.
04:20I'm Emily.
04:21I'm Stephanie.
04:22I'm Shannon.
04:23I'm Astrid.
04:24And I'm Ashley.
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04:28We'll be back in here.
04:29Bye.
04:29Bye.
04:29Bye.
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