Wondering How Much?

Often the first question people have when they start thinking about micro-reparations is how much to give. What and how you give are deeply personal decisions, but as you deliberate, we suggest  you think about your wealth—that’s the difference between your assets (e.g., home, 401k, savings) and your debt— as well as your income.

Intergenerational wealth, the foundation of which was provided to many White Americans and denied from people of color by explicitly racist public and private policies, has become the driving force of inequity in our country. The roots of this problem stretch all the way back to our founding. Academics and economists have developed models estimating what it would take to more equitably distribute wealth across racial groups in the United States. Focusing on historical exploitation of the enslaved, one scholar estimates that the value of labor by enslaved people would be worth between $14.2 and $17.7 trillion today. But inequity accrues from more than our nation’s history of slavery and genocide.  Contemporary forms of discrimination, like redlining and workplace discrimination, have combined with our nation's history to shape how wealth has (or hasn’t)  accumulated over time. To even the racial wealth gap in the U.S., another set of scholars, William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen, estimate that each descendant of slavery is owed $267,000.

Ultimately, it is impossible to fully quantify what communities of color have lost, through histories of enslavement, colonization, genocide, or discriminatory  immigration policies. Your micro-reparations, however, will begin not only to provide redress, but a path toward racial healing and a future where we can all thrive. 

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