Hear Me Out: Descendants Of Slaves Don’t Need Reparations

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… an archaeology of grievances.

In honor of the third Juneteenth being celebrated as a national holiday, it’s worth unpacking symbolic gestures like Juneteenth — and, as many states are finding out, like Reparations.

The movement to compensate the descendants of slaves is gaining more traction than ever before, in many parts of the country. Could this be our chance to clear a massive, lingering blight on our nation’s history? 

Our guest today argues no. Podcast host and columnist Coleman Hughes joins us to make the case that compensating the victims of slavery was something we should’ve done long ago – and now, it’s too late for it to be anything other than a problem.

 

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can now email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie

You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices