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The Second Step Toward Restorative Justice for Native Americans and African Americans Is Community Engagement

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Erik Devereux
August 1, 2019

This is the third in a series of columns related to achieving restorative justice for Native Americans and African Americans who are living with the pervasive, negative consequences of crimes against humanity perpetrated against their ancestors during the foundation of the United States (to read the previous column in this series go here). I am writing this column as the contest to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee is heating up over maters of racial equity and, for the first time in my life, there is a serious conversation occurring across the country about issues of reparations.

Amidst all of this foment, various economists have attempted to estimate the value of the involuntary capital donation that enslaved persons of African origin made to the United States from the 1600s until 1865. You can read a survey of these estimates in a recent New York Times article. It is telling in their own right that all estimates range in the many trillions of dollars, eliciting responses from among many members of congress and some erstwhile presidential candidates that the United States simply cannot afford the bill for slavery and its consequences. It turns out to be expensive to pay for the foundation of a house you originally built on for free and then forgot about those killed to “donate” the land underneath it and the slaves who “donated” their labor to build it.

What I bring to the attention of the readers of PA Times is that reparations will have to be a process, not an event. That process is in dire need of a new governance structure that goes well beyond the proposal in H.R. 40 to establish a congressional commission on reparations. If the country is serious about restorative justice, first it must get serious about community engagement. This is why I am not discussing dollar values when there simply is no credible process under consideration for bringing the African American and the Native American communities into a conversation about what forms of reparations will meet their longer term needs. The recent intense focus on dollar amounts has completely pushed aside the question of whether reparations is more than transforming crimes against humanity into paychecks.

Before I turn to thoughts about governance in the context of reparations, I note that writing cheques on the order of $20,000 to $100,000 to every eligible person may not be the best intervention for long-term improvement in the lives of African Americans and Native Americans. The rather sordid results on the lives of those winning huge state lottery pay-outs is one indication of potential trouble. Another issue has been raised recently by assessments of reparations paid to Japanese Americans who were held in concentration camps during World War Two: At the end of the day, those payments created a public relations “cover” for the United States Government but did little to undo the tragic consequences of that policy. Before we reach for the public checkbook, we need to engage the communities affected about their perspectives and their ideas and input about achieving real positive improvements in their lives.

My number one question about governance is: Why is the United States struggling to recognize the importance of a broader level of community engagement? I think the sad answer is that racism related to the oppression of African Americans and Native Americans is so baked into the fabric of our polity that we forget that these are real people with real experiences and authentic perspectives that need to be heard on their own terms, not the terms set by politicians in Washington or academic economists of any stripe. Just recognizing such racism and moving beyond it would be a major step toward restorative justice. We need a truth and reconciliation process more than we need clever econometric estimates of the work performed by enslaved persons of African origin or the valuation of the land taken away from the Native Americans. We need to recognize that many within the African American and Native American populations crave to be recognized as equal citizens and equal partners in the American narrative.

Undoing the legacies of slavery and the Native American genocide will be the single most important public policy process in the history of the United States and a landmark achievement worldwide. To get to that promised land, we will need to develop a very deep and broad system of community engagement that reaches down to the very local level everywhere in the United States, and gives voice to as many persons as possible including those other than African Americans and Native Americans. There will be unexpected diversity in the views expressed. It will take time for those diverse voices to be heard and appreciated and accommodated. It will be expensive and time consuming to operate a system of community engagement that never has been attempted at this scope in United States history. It will completely transform the very fabric of our democracy just to make the attempt.

Based on current indications of the sad state of our democracy, we need to do this right away.


Author: Erik Devereux has worked for 25 years in the public policy and management field. Erik currently is an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations and to higher education and teaches applied policy analysis at Georgetown University. He has a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Political Science, 1985) and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin (Government, 1993). Contact Erik at [email protected].

 

 

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One Response to The Second Step Toward Restorative Justice for Native Americans and African Americans Is Community Engagement

  1. Erik Devereux Reply

    March 16, 2021 at 2:46 pm

    This email from the president of Georgetown University, is an excellent example of the community engagement envisioned in my essay.

    —————————————————

    March 16, 2021

    Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:

    It is with profound respect that I write to share with you the news of the creation of a new Foundation to support the educational aspirations of Descendants of Jesuit slaveholding and racial healing efforts in the United States. The Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, announced last night in The New York Times, was established through a dialogue initiated by Descendant leaders, representing the GU272 Descendants Association as well as other Descendant groups.

    In 2018, leaders of the Descendant community, the Society of Jesus, and Georgetown engaged the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for its support in developing a dialogue process to establish a shared vision for reconciliation. Over the course of these next few years, this Dialogue proceeded through a series of convenings held at Southern University in Baton Rouge and at Xavier University of Louisiana.

    Guided by the principles of the Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation program, the Dialogue focused on Jesuit slaveholding across North America and the role of enslavement and forced labor of people of African descent in the development of the Society of Jesus in the United States. This includes the benefit we received at Georgetown and our participation in the institution of slavery.

    Throughout this process, we have been guided by leaders in the Descendant community, who sought unity among Descendants as well as a shared path toward reconciliation.

    We have honored a commitment that we made years ago in meeting the Descendant community—that, as we proceed, we would find ways to proceed together, in collaboration and partnership. It became clear through the Dialogue process that the establishment of a shared vision for a Foundation was a first priority for Descendant leaders in the steps toward reconciliation. We sought to honor this commitment to dialogue between the Descendants and Jesuits and to provide support as we engaged in the work of confronting historical and present-day aspects of the history of enslavement and the lived experiences of members of the Descendant community. The work and dedication of the participants in the Dialogue has been extraordinary—especially the Descendant leaders who have guided the work. Their vision, centered on Descendant aspirations and educational attainment, has grounded these conversations in important ways.

    Over these many months, we have been in regular communication with Descendant leaders, working to align our University’s activities with the vision of the Dialogue. Our University’s engagement has been led by Joseph Ferrara, Vice President and Chief of Staff, and we have had a number of colleagues participate at important points throughout this process. I wish to especially thank Rosemary Kilkenny (L’87), vice president of institutional diversity and equity and chief diversity officer; Adanna J. Johnson, associate vice president for student equity and inclusion; and Rev. David Collins, S.J., associate professor and director of doctoral studies for history, for their leadership and the time they spent in support of this Dialogue.

    Georgetown was honored to provide $1 million in funding to support the planning and assistance necessary to create the framework and structure for the Foundation, and we look forward to supporting and partnering with the Foundation moving forward.

    We now have the conditions in place for us to accelerate Georgetown’s work on a related effort which will further our community’s engagement with Descendants. In October 2019, following a student referendum, Georgetown committed to contributing $400,000 a year to support community-based projects to benefit the Descendant community. While this effort is distinct from the new Foundation, the Foundation was an important first step in building the trust and partnership that will enable us to establish an enduring framework for engagement between the Georgetown community and the Descendant community. Our aim, working with members of our community and the Descendant community, is to provide our first grants this year.

    It is with hope and gratitude that we begin this next phase of our work in partnership with the Descendant community and the Society of Jesus, as we continue to grapple with and respond to the enduring legacies of the enslavement of people of African descent.

    Sincerely,

    John J. DeGioia
    President, Georgetown University

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