reparations

“What Is Owed?” is a seven-part podcast exploring the history of reparations efforts, with new episodes every Thursday; the sixth episode was released this week.

Mayor Michelle Wu took another step toward reparations this week, announcing the group of academics and history experts who will lead research efforts into Boston’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and the city’s more recent history of discrimination.

mong many proposed initiatives to address the wealth gap, the idea of reparations generates significant interest and debate. The goal of reparations shouldn’t be just to compensate for slavery but also to mitigate ongoing discrimination. Here are the major reasons Black businesses, specifically, deserve reparations.

Legislation from state Sen. Liz Miranda would create a task force to consider reparations for the descendants of enslaved people in Massachusetts.

Members of the city’s newly formed Task Force on Reparations discussed recruiting a professional researcher to document and explain the history and impact of Boston’s role in the Atlantic slave trade.

After waiting more than 100 years, three survivors of the 1921 racial massacre in Tulsa, all centenarians, have once again been the victims of injustice.

The recently appointed members of the Boston Reparations Task Force now have the report commissioned by the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry (UUUM) to guide their inquiry on slavery in colonial Roxbury.

When the Boston City Council voted unanimously last week to establish a task force to study reparations for Black Bostonians they had to be concerned about something other than slavery. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts outlawed slavery in 1783, so the City of Boston has no liability for damages inflicted by slavery.

The Bay State Banner urges Gov. Charlie Baker to sign the law creating Emancipation Day. Even Boston City Councilors seem to be unaware that in 1783, Massachusetts became the first state to outlaw slavery.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley responded to constituent questions and concerns about student debt relief, Black maternal health, reparations and climate change at a Boston event on Oct. 19.

The Boston City Council last week unanimously approved a measure to “acknowledge, condemn and apologize for the role played by the City of Boston in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The notion that Boston should apologize for the slave trade is misguided. And to suggest that Boston might be at all liable for reparations is absurd.