Reparations May Be One Cure for What Ails Us
Anti-Imperialism You Can Try at Home Reparations May Be One Cure for What Ails Us By Mattea Kramer Robin Rue Simmons had been very curious about the truth of American life as a young person. But it was only after she finished high school, left her native Evanston, Illinois, and returned as an adult -- ready to buy a house in the historically Black neighborhood in which she grew up -- that she delved deep into her city’s history and fully understood the policies that had kept Black residents poor while enriching their white neighbors. Of course, this isn’t the kind of history that’s taught in school, even if today’s students do sometimes learn unsavory truths about the American empire. Local history is different, perhaps because it can be especially uncomfortable to examine how that empire’s economic plunder shaped our present-day communities. Yet experiencing such discomfort may b