Slavery reparations: How would it work?

W. Kamau Bell visits New Orleans to explore the topic of reparations on “United Shades of America” Sunday, August 16 at 10 p.m. CNN — If you feel like you’re hearing more about slavery reparations, it’s not your imagination. Last year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he opposed the idea, arguing “none of us currently living are responsible” for what he called America’s “original sin.” Others point out that slavery makes it almost impossible for most African Americans to trace their lineage earlier than the Civil War, so how could they prove they descended from enslaved people? Writer David Frum noted those and other potential obstacles in a 2014 piece for The Atlantic entitled “The Impossibility of Reparations,” which was a counterpoint to Coates’ essay. Simply put, when government spends money on complex programs, the people who provide the service usually end up with much more sway over the spending than the spending’s intended beneficiaries.” In a column for The Hill last year, conservative activist Bob Woodson decried the idea of reparations as “yet another insult to Black America that is clothed in the trappings of social justice.” He also told CNN he feels America made up for slavery long ago, so reparations aren’t needed.