Another Comment on Reparations

I wanted to write a follow up blog to my previous blog on why it is still necessary today that we provide African Americans with reparations, most importantly in the form of an apology. In keeping with the idea of who should receive reparations, I came across an article in People magazine about a new book by Rebecca Skloot, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman who passed away in 1951 from cervical cancer. Scientists used her cells to create a revolutionary immortal cell line, called HeLa. The magazine's summary of the novel said that Henrietta's cells were put to extraordinary use: they were used to develop the polio vaccine, were the first cells sent up into space, and the first cells ever to be cloned. So many of our life-changing scientific discoveries as a country would not have been possible without these cells.

Yet while so many people benefited from Henrietta's cells, her family did not. They had no money and no health insurance. Later, in the 70's, when scientists went to track down her family, Skloot says, "[her] husband had a third-grade education. He thought they had part of his wife alive in a laboratory, they'd been doing tests... he didn't understand." Henrietta's family continued to struggle, most notably one of her sons becoming 150,000 dollars in debt after undergoing surgery.

To me, this another example of when reparations need to be due. In this case, I believe an apology and monetary reparations are necessary. To think that the the future of this family in 1951 could have been vastly different is extremely sad. And it is ironic that while Henrietta's cells were being used to fuel research and monumental discoveries that would help improve and educate the lives of others, her family was left disregarded, uneducated. I wonder how much Henrietta's family's race had to do with the scientists and governments decision not to compensate or help her family.

Like I said before, we can't go back and change the decisions that were made in the past. But hopefully, Rebecca Skloot's novel will bring light to the Lacks family's situation (Skloot has launched a foundation: www.henriettalacksfoundation.org), and reparations can be given to the descendants of her family, including health insurance, scholarships, and other monetary reparations. In this situation, I believe they are definitely due.

Reparations Still Necessary?

Today in class we discussed reparations for those who have been discriminated against, harmed, and enslaved in the past based on their race. This idea of trying to make amends for an injustice committed is something that I think is definitely necessary. We discussed countries paying reparations after wars (usually monetary reparations), and I'm pretty sure that the government has just recently begun to give reparations to those who have been wrongfully accused and imprisoned for murder, after being cleared by new DNA technology.

So shouldn't African Americans receive reparations then, too? Honestly, no matter how much we do, I don't think we can ever make up for what happened 200 years ago (and forward) in our country. But that doesn't mean we can't try. We can't go back in time and change the past, but what we can do is acknowledge that these atrocities took place, and issue an apology to all African Americans who have been enslaved and discriminated against. And I think the government could go further and mirror the way the Holocaust has been dealt with in the United States, regarding museums: we could rightfully honor the African Americans who suffered in slavery and under unjust laws with memorials and museums. It is important that everyone understands what happened, and that it is not denied or ever forgotten.

I believe that reparations are still necessary today. Just because time has passed does

not mean that it is too late for our government to take action. It's never too late to apologize.