On Reparations

Alan Cai

March 14, 2025

Reparations is a practice of compensating — typically through financial means — groups previously subject to injuries or injustices. The term has historically been applied to war reparations, where countries who lose armed conflicts pay sums to the victors as spoils. However, the practice has since then been used to voluntarily give compensation to oppressed communities or their descendants. Reparations as we understand it today chiefly pertain to the prospect of making amends to ethnic, religious, or national populations who have suffered at the hands of others and will be the main subject of this article.

Reparations are significant for society to rectify the wrongs of the past. Progress can not be achieved without recognizing the obstacles which have brought us to where we are today. And recognition without monetary backing is worthless; mere words can not undo generations of repression. Statements of apology must be supported by tangible financial contributions and a failure to do so not only devalues any attempts to make amends but in fact may damage those efforts by implying that such remarks were made not with genuine intent but as a diplomatic solution to keep dissent from proliferating. From a compensatory justice standpoint, the victims of historical oppression ought to be recompensed for their systemic hardships. Opponents may argue that the people receiving the funds did not experience the rights violations themselves and are not entitled to any such award. However, there ought to be no statute of limitations upon widespread human rights abuses. In other words, society can not simply wait for a persecuted generation to pass to free itself from the burden of delivering justice. While paying the posterity of such communities may not seem as scrupulous as having amended for the suffering generation, doing so nevertheless fulfills the duties our world is obligated to commit.

Finally, many objections focus on the practical perspective of doling out reparations. Opponents claim that giving an ethnic, religious, or national population money will not solve any problems, and may be directed to individuals in such groups who are already well-off and unfairly punish taxpayers for crimes they did not commit. To each of those, we respond that by no means is reparations intended to be the end-all-be-all solution to all underlying historical issues, the vestiges of which may persist to the present day. Nor does the compensation have to be so massive that it fundamentally tilts the scales of wealth distribution. Although such a consequence would be enviable long term, reparations are not intended to solve income inequality or anything — reparations are a statement, literally backed by money, of apology and nothing more.

It is time for our country and our world to have a serious discussion over the various reparations proposals and keep an open mind to the suggestions that are brought forth.