Repairing the Damage

In a recent essay at Law & Liberty, Harvard historian James Hankins proposes a different kind of reparations for African-Americans: reallocating federal higher education funds to vouchers for K-12 schools. This, he argues, will do far more to help African-Americans succeed than cash payments in restitution for historic slavery and discrimination. Although the proposal may not be politically feasible, Hankins is at least on the right track. Any attempt to redress wrongs ought at least to avoid making problems worse. It must be aimed at actual reparation—repairing the damage. 

Hankins rightly points out the insurmountable practical difficulties with reparations schemes—“by whom? to whom? and how much?”—a point I’ve made previously. But he also recognizes that government payments—as many welfare programs are—have not done much to improve the economic status of African-Americans. Despite massive government spending in our nation’s largest cities, black neighborhoods remain disproportionately troubled by crime, poverty, and family dysfunction. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that all of this is the effect of white turpitude: first slavery, then legal oppression, then informal discrimination. Will simple cash reparations actually repair the damage? The track record is not good. 

Hankins searches for a better approach. These same troubled places, he writes, “hold the largest untapped reservoir of talent in America: badly educated African Americans. If we could find a way to improve how these young men and women are educated, we could reduce the poverty gap quickly and dramatically improve social relations in America.” Other than being budget-neutral by using funds currently directed to subsidizing college loans and other “middle class entitlements,” the details of the plan remain vague. Will the voucher program be offered to black families only, or more broadly to all of those in need? Will vouchers be unencumbered, free to be used at private schools or home schools as well as public and charter schools? 

Whether the voucher proposal stands up to scrutiny or not, it at least sends the conversation down the right path by asking a critical question: What will actually help black Americans, as opposed to simply making everyone feel better by defusing black anger and assuaging white guilt? It’s understandable that many African-Americans view the federal government as the guarantor of their rights and a key factor in economic success. From Emancipation to Reconstruction through the Civil Rights era, local and state governments have often stood in the way of racial equity while the federal government promoted it. But it’s important to recognize the ways in which this historical juxtaposition has been turned upside down. The Great Society welfare programs inaugurated by Lyndon Johnson have not been a boon to black economic advance; arguably, they have stunted it by incentivizing dependency and family breakdown. Heavy government taxation and regulation impede innovation and the resulting economic progress, a failing that affects African-Americans as it does all Americans. 

There is much damage to repair from the legacy of racism and discrimination in our history. Government policy can help by securing property rights and equal treatment under the law. When it goes beyond that, the efficacy of its efforts is doubtful.