Harris has apparently said that she would support reparations. The question for today is, would she be entitled to receive payments?
Let’s review her background. Her father is a Jamaican of African descent who immigrated here in the 1960’s to study economics. Her mother is an Indian who also immigrated in the 1960’s. Both of her parents were professionals. Although her parents divorced when she was young, she appears to have had a fairly comfortable childhood. Today, after graduating from law school and winning three different public offices, she is a US Senator running for president, and her family has plenty of money.
Her story illustrates the following issues with reparations:
- SINCE SHE IS HALF INDIAN, WOULD SHE QUALIFY FOR PAYMENTS? As I noted yesterday, the reparations bill would have to create some legal standards for how “African-American” you are in order to receive payments. Would half be enough? I would imagine that the system would fall back on old standards from the Jim Crow days, which should make everyone uncomfortable.
- HER PARENTS CAME HERE VOLUNTARILY. WOULD VOLUNTARY IMMIGRANTS QUALIFY? Logically, no, and cases like this point out potential problems of administration.
- SHOULD SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE WHO GREW UP AFTER THE DEMISE OF JIM CROW BE ENTITLED TO PAYMENTS? Harris probably felt the sting of racism at points in her life, but did it really cost her any money? I would guess not. She is probably a lot wealthier than I am. People in her position should not qualify for reparations.
As you can see, the administration of this program would be a nightmare. Tomorrow, it gets worse, when I discuss how to compute the amount of the payments.