Reparations in Swarthmore?
To the Editor,
Many of us have participated recently in vigils or marches to protest police brutality and larger structures of systemic racism designed to oppress and exploit Black citizens of our country. (For those who don’t yet see this structural racism clearly, I would be happy to join you via Zoom or phone or email in reading and discussing some of the many books and articles that analyze our long national history of government programs, banking practices, policing and legal policies dedicated to maintaining racist boundaries.)
Many of us are also wondering what to do in practical terms to begin dismantling these structures of injustice. Some people are starting little collaboratives, in which they all commit to donating a significant portion of their income each month to groups working for Black liberation in one way or another. I see this as a privatized approach to reparations. Aaron Goggans makes a compelling case for this in his article, “The Case for Interpersonal Reparations”.
I think we also need a public, communal response in order to begin trying to redress a very public and communal wrong. A conversation in support of national reparations is just beginning to gain some strength. Ta-Nehisi Coates’s 2014 article in The Atlantic, “The Case for Reparations” is still a valuable entry in this conversation.
Perhaps this is a moment in which Swarthmore, a largely white, largely affluent small community, could demonstrate some leadership. At the recent Juneteenth celebration organized by Jeannine Osayande, Jean Terrell, Kim Durnell, and others, Jeannine reminded us that the existence of the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore means that Swarthmore has a history of segregation. Archival material printed in this paper and re-presented in a recent editorial also shows evidence of a long history of racism in the borough.
I propose that Swarthmore Borough undertake a process of public, economic reparations. A small per capita tax on all borough residents could generate a reparations fund. In consultation with the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore, our borough council could disburse those funds as educational scholarships, or grants in support of Black land or housing needs (as the Historically Black Neighborhood is faced with gentrification pressures), or some other response to Black community members’ needs.
I will be sending this proposal to the Swarthmore Human Relations Commission and to borough council member Sarah Graden, who is the council’s liaison to the commission. I invite you to join me and to lend your voice in support of some version of local reparations.
Betsy Bolton
Swarthmore
