The commission would then make recommendations to Congress on appropriate remedies to redress the harm inflicted on living African Americans. "I chose the number of the bill -- 40 -- as a symbol of the 40 acres and a mule that the United States initially promised freed slaves. Since this promise was never fulfilled, the seriousness and devastation that slavery had on African American lives mandates that the issue be discussed," says Conyers. contact: 202-225-5126

B. COUNT CHICAGO IN
Chicago Alderman Dorothy Tillman (3rd Ward, Chicago) was the chief sponsor of a slave reparations resolution approved 46-1 by Chicago's city council this spring, supporting Congressman John Conyers House Bill calling for the formation of a Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans. This spring, Tillman wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton urging him to support "the position that America owes a major debt to the descendants of African American slaves." She continues, "Slave owners and other white people were able to accumulate wealth and reap benefits that were denied to slaves. This wealth and privilege was passed on to their descendants, while slaves had only poverty to bequeath to their descendants. The issue of reparations must be put on the table!" Other cities passing similar resolutions include Dallas, Detroit, Cleveland and Washington. contact: 773-373-3228

C. QUESTIONS OF EVIDENCE
Two cases often cited in support of reparations for slavery are the reparations paid to Holocaust survivors for lost wages and lost assets at the hands of the Nazis and the land reclamation suits of Native Americans, said Wayne Durrill, UC associate professor of history who specializes in the history of the South, the Civil War, and slavery and emancipation. The difference between those cases and the slave reparations issue is how to prove which individuals were harmed, he says. "I would like to emphasize that there is no question that great damage was done to African Americans and that reparations are due," he said. "But there is a practical dilemma of specific evidence." In both the cases of the Holocaust and Native Americans, there were very specific records of the objects and property that were taken away or treaties broken, he says. But in the case of slavery, there are few specific records about who labored and for how long. "A general claim of reparations would be easy to demonstrate, but specific claims for reparations would be very difficult," he says. contact: 513-556-1961

3. CAN MONEY RIGHT WRONGS?
A. CONSIDERING THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACT
Eric Jackson, UC adjunct professor of humanities, teaches courses on the history of civil rights as well as African American history. Jackson says the proposed legislation is a positive in that it will generate discussion about the issue of race in the United States, but says the proposal will not be passed by lawmakers. "From an economic perspective, it would destroy the economy. It's not like the reparations resulting from the Japanese American internment camps. This proposal would involve millions and millions of people." Jackson says the discussions over the legislation could intensify conflicting feelings between the races, but says other symbolic gestures are not the answer. In addition, he cautions that a presidential apology for slavery will let Americans merely wash their hands of "the complex nature and impact of the enslavement of African Americans in the United States." contact: 513-661-2452

B. REPARATIONS: NO SOLUTION
Joseph Takougang, UC's director of the African studies certificate program, takes a strong stand against the reparations proposal. "I am absolutely against the idea of reparations," says Takougang, a first-generation naturalized U.S. citizen and native of Cameroon. "I have three reasons I am opposed. First, who are you going to give it to and leave out? How much is going to be enough? No amount of money can compensate the torture, the harsh conditions that slaves went through. And three, it will energize a lot of people who will say we have already paid for the evil of slavery and pretend the issue of racism has been solved."

Instead of financial compensation, he would rather see a change in people's attitude -- to see people as equals rather than one group superior to another. In Africa, there is also debate over whether to seek reparations from Europe for slavery, he said. contact: 513-556-0355

C. SOMETHING OWED
Angelene Jamison-Hall, UC professor of literature in the African American studies department, says she thinks "some form" of reparations should be made to the descendants of slaves. "Just what that is should be open to honest debate. This is not a simple matter; however, one thing is a fact -- African Americans experienced many years of slavery, during which time much of this country's economy was based on slave labor. Slavery must never be forgotten, it is a major part of our history, and government officials need to keep that in mind."

D. LET THE DEBATE BEGIN
Although monetary reparations can in no way compensate for the more than 300 years of African American enslavement, 100 years of segregation, the more than 3,000 mob lynchings of blacks and decades of discrimination against African Americans, UC professor of history Herbert Shapiro, an expert on white violence against blacks, suggests that a discussion about reparations could be constructive. "The most effective form of reparation would be for the Untied States to really make a much more whole-hearted commitment to eliminating all of the vestiges of racism, segregation and discrimination that remain in our society," said Shapiro, who participated in civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s and '70s and is the author of "White Violence and Black Response: From Reconstruction to Montgomery." It would be most constructive if the U.S. government and all our institutions "could undertake a study of what a program of reparations might do," Shapiro says. contact: 513-556-2138



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