Compensating people monetarily for injuries that have been done to them is an imperfect but valid way to try to right a wrong. If let’s say, a rich guy gets drunk, flips his car over, and slides into a school bus killing a kid, he would face both criminal and civil charges. If he was forced to pay a million dollars to the family that lost the child, that’s certainly not a fix since that money can’t replace a child’s life. However, it would at least be an acknowledgment that the rich guy in question had done something wrong to that family and it would be an attempt, albeit inadequate (most people wouldn’t trade the life of their child for any amount of money), to repair that injury as best as possible.

That makes sense.

Well, what if someone else, based on the fact that they’re the same race as the little girl, ALSO demanded that they be paid a million dollars? In addition, the million dollars wouldn’t come from the rich guy who was responsible, it would come from the whole community. Would that make sense to anyone? No? Well, what if I told you that ludicrous situation would make EVEN MORE SENSE than paying people reparations for slavery today? After all, if we’re being perfectly honest, we should acknowledge that slaves may have suffered terribly, but their ancestors benefitted TREMENDOUSLY from their suffering.