Real Life Reparations
The
idea of reparations isn’t just an abstract or academic one, and
this earthy tangibility makes it hard for a lot of people like me,
who are taught to worship at the altar of the academic, to fully
understand the idea. It's a lot easier to bury our discomfort safely
in academic discourse than it is to write a check. It
is
helpful
to read up on the topic to add intellectual support to the idea, and
you can do so here:
(https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/).
At the end of the day, reparations only became a personal and
practical philosophy after I firmly connected my own privileges and
life to the many benefits I’ve reaped from my debt-free education.
I
not only graduated from university debt-free but also from a graduate
program, which is the equivalent of 6 years of schooling and hundreds
of credits. Because I was debt-free after graduation, I was able to
1. Do AmeriCorps, 2. Do Peace Corps, 3. Work at a nonprofit, 4. Teach
abroad for 2 years, 5. Apply for Fellowships, 6. Afford Rent, 7.
Travel/go on vacation, 8. Work part-time for over two years, 9.
Accept lower-paying jobs that are good for my resume, 10. Have time
for volunteering, leisure, rest, 11. Form a savings. Being in possession of two degrees with no collateral student loan debt has opened up many doors, some
more obvious than others.
I
didn’t graduate debt-free due to any special effort of my own.
Unlike many of my friends, I never worked full time during either of
my programs; I had plenty of time to study and play. I graduated
debt-free simply because of the very generous financial backing from
my parents and grandparents. I was able to do everything I’ve done
through intergenerational wealth. Similarily to many white people,
I’ve been conditioned to extract and display my ‘specialness’
in all situations, and especially those that involve achievement. A
step towards reparations is acknowledging the collective experience
of many wealthy white folks and staying off the well-trodden
bread-crumb-strewn path of specialness; it’s about admitting to the
larger, systemic reasons that have led me to where I am today.
I
am incredibly thankful for the education I’ve received and my
debt-free existence. I can be both aware of this incredible gift and
also aware of the profoundly unequal situation that has left many
young people overburdened with student loan debt and often unable to
pursue the education that they’d like to. As the recipient of a
free education due to my class privilege and with little to no
current financial burdens, a simple act of reparations is to pay it
forward to individuals who hold student loan debt. I am currently
part of a team working on a pilot reparations project that aims to
pay back the collective loan debt held by about 10 black community
organizers from Minneapolis and other cities across the country. My
job is to find potential major donors, folks who can manage to
contribute several thousand dollars or more. At this point in the
journey, I’m seeing myself as a major donor, and am excited to be
able to contribute about $5,000 towards the fund at some point this
year. Although I’ll be in China, I’m going to attempt to remain
as involved as possible with this project as it unfolds.
There’s
a lot of opportunities to get involved in reparations movements;
there are exciting projects happening all over the states. Please
contact me if you are interested in learning more about the project
I’m supporting or if you’d like to give any amount.
Resources:
Thanks for doing this, Ilse!
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