Reparations Movements

Reparations movements are movements initiated by individuals and groups seeking symbolic or material compensation and apology for unjust acts committed against them. Those involved in reparations movements seek to hold governments and institutions accountable for injustices that have negatively [Page 1215]impacted groups of people. Reparations movements are a form of retroactive justice; they are also a worldwide phenomena. The United Nations has attempted to create international norms by which deplorable acts should be accounted for by human rights violators. Two prominent examples of reparations movements in the United States are the African American reparations movement and the Japanese American reparation and redress movement.

African American groups seeking reparations have made claims that the institution of slavery, subsequent Jim Crow laws, and more contemporary persistent institutional discrimination has violated individual dignity, denied equal opportunity, and negatively impacted the potential of African Americans. However, African Americans have had limited success in their reparations movement. One barrier has to do with the difficulty of compensating individuals for pain that they were not directly exposed to, as such reparations could only compensate the descendants of slaves. The magnitude of slavery and the task of identifying how descendants have been adversely affected make such compensation difficult to effect. An additional obstacle in the African American reparations movement has to do with the lack of unity and cohesion based on the reparation sought. Some seek formal apology, others want financial compensation. African American activists have struggled to agree on unifying aspects and requests. Furthermore, numerous individuals and groups share responsibility: the U.S. government was responsible, because it did not constitutionally forbid slavery; governments in slave states were responsible, because they sanctioned and protected slavery; individual slaveholders were responsible for owning slaves; and those involved in the slave trade were also responsible.

A more successful reparations movement in the United States has been with the Japanese Americans who were denied their civil liberties, stripped of their dignity, and wrongfully contained in internment camps during World War II. The reparation and redress movement was successful in part because the Japanese Americans were able to clearly identify the United States government as the violator of their civil rights and liberties. Individuals in this movement were also highly organized, and they had congressional representation, including Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunage and Congressmen Norman Mineta and Bob Matsui. The Japanese American reparations movement also asked for a reasonable amount of financial compensation for survivors. Symbolic reparations were also requested and granted; these were formal apologies from the government to the Japanese American people for pain, suffering, humiliation, and loss.

Both the African American and the Japanese American reparations movements are based on righting past wrongs and each movement informs the other. Organization, timeliness, articulation of injustice, and articulation of the perpetrators of injustice all affect the movement's ability to obtain reparations. Furthermore, in terms of these two movements, the Congress established a precedent with the Japanese American reparation and redress movement that could ultimately affect the African American claim; the Congress only provided financial compensation for Japanese Americans who were still alive when the reparation law was passed. Even if families could prove that their deceased relatives were held in internment camps, they did not receive the financial compensation. This decision indicates that African American reparations movements could face additional legal obstacles.

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