Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Reparations are a public health priority and could reduce health disparities and improve the economic position of Black Americans. Reparations are rooted in transitional justice, and examining public perceptions regarding reparations is important. The present study examines opinions on reparations, given that attitudes may have shifted in recent years due to increased national and international attention. The current study is a qualitative study of college students’ opinions on general reparations and reparations for Black descendants of chattel slavery. Results revealed that 83% (N = 322) of the participants supported general reparations on the closed-ended responses. From thematic analysis, five main themes arose in terms of support for reparations: (a) Fairness/Equity, (b) Repair Historical Harms, (c) Systemic Oppression and Racism, (d) Generational Wealth/Economics, and (e) Accountability and Acknowledgement. Of those who opposed general reparations, four themes emerged: (a) Oppression Occurred Long Ago, (b) No Direct Benefits, (c) Determinations of Reparations, and (d) Only Direct Descendants Should Receive. Of those who endorsed general support for reparations, 94% (n = 304) supported reparations for Black American descendants of chattel slavery. Findings suggest possible generational differences in perspectives and opinions on reparations, which can inform future research and policy.

Keywords

justice policy public opinion reparations restorative justice

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abe

(2020). Beyond cultural competence, toward social transformation: Liberation psychologies and the practice of cultural humility. Journal of Social Work Education, 56(4), 696–707. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2019.1661911

Aulette

Langley

Aulette

(2004). Finding strategies for winning reparations for African Americans. Race, Gender, & Class, 11(4), 184–199.

American Psychological Association. (2021). Apology to People of Color for APA’s role in promoting, perpetuating, and failing to challenge racism, racial discrimination, and human hierarchy in U.S. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-racism-apology.pdf

American Psychological Association. (2023). Report on an offer of apology, on behalf of the American Psychological Association, to First Peoples in the United States. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/indigenous-apology.pdf

American Psychological Association. (2024). Individual, collective, and intergenerational trauma recovery: Considering the restorative roles of restitution and reparations. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-trauma-recovery.pdf

Azibo

D. A.

(2008). Psychological Africanity (racial identity) and its influence on support for reparations. The Journal of Negro Education, 77(2), 117–130.

Banfield

J. C.

Ross

Blatz

C. W.

(2014). Responding to historical injustices: Does group membership trump liberal-conservative ideology? European Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 30–42. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1990

Bassett

M. T.

Galea

(2020). Reparations as a public health priority—A strategy for ending Black-White health disparities. New England Journal of Medicine, 383(22), 2101–2103. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2026170

Bonam

C. M.

Nair Das

Coleman

B. R.

Salter

(2019). Ignoring history, denying racism: Mounting evidence for the Marley hypothesis and epistemologies of ignorance. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(2), 257–265. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617751583

10.

Bostick

D. N.

Henry

C. M.

Brown

L. C.

(2021). Exploring Black graduate women’s perceptions of student loan debt. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 15(1), 73–85. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000341

11.

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

12.

Braun

Clake

(2016). (Mis)conceptualizing themes, thematic analysis, and other problems with Fugard and Potts’ (2015) sample size tool for thematic analysis. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 19(6), 739–743. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2016.1195588

13.

Brightman

Lenning

McElrath

(2015). State-directed sterilizations in North Carolina: Victim-centredness and reparations. British Journal of Criminology, 55(3), 474–493. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azu082

14.

Bulhan

H. A.

(2015). Stages of colonialism in Africa: From occupation of land to occupation of being. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 239–256. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.143

15.

Caflisch

(2020). “When reparations is felt to be impossible”: Persecutory guilt and breakdowns in thinking and dialogue about race, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 30(5), 578–594. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481885.2020.1797402

16.

California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans. (2022). California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans: Interim Report. https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/full-ca-reparations.pdf

17.

Campo

Mastin

Somjen Frazer

(2004). Predicting and explaining public opinion regarding U.S. slavery reparations. Howard Journal of Communications, 15(2), 115–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646170490447593

18.

Coates

(2014). The case of reparations. In Coates

(Ed.), We were eight years in power. One World.

19.

Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, S. 40/H. R. 40, 118th Cong., 1st Sess. (2023).

20.

Craemer

(2015). Estimating slavery reparations: Present value comparisons of historical multigenerational reparations policies. Social Science Quarterly, 96(2), 639–655. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12151

21.

Craemer

(2018). International reparations for slavery and the slave trade. Journal of Black Studies, 49(7), 694–713. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934718779168

22.

Darby

(2010). Reparations and racial inequality. Philosophy Compass, 5(1), 55–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2009.00268.x

23.

Darity

Jr.

W. Mullen

A. K

. (2020). From here to equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the twenty-first century. University of North Carolina Press.

24.

Darity

Jr.

W. Mullen

A. K.

Slaughter

. (2022). The cumulative costs of racism and the bill for Black reparations. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36(2), 99–122. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.36.2.99

25.

Dawes

(2001). Psychologies for liberation: Views from elsewhere. In Christie

D. J.

Wagner

R. V.

Winters

D. A.

(Eds.), Peace, conflicts, and violence: Peace psychology for the 21st century (pp. 295–306). Prentice Hall.

26.

Dawson

M. C.

Popoff

(2004). Reparations: Justice and greed in Black and White. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 1(1), 47–91.

27.

French

B. H.

Lewis

J. A.

Mosley

D. V.

Adames

H. Y.

Chavez-Dueñas

N. Y.

Chen

G. A.

Neville

H. A.

(2020). Toward a psychological framework of radical healing in communities of color. The Counseling Psychologist, 48(1), 14–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000019843506

28.

García-Godos

(2020). Reparations. In Simíc

(Ed.), An introduction to transitional justice (pp. 193–217). Routledge.

29.

Hudgins

Benson

Carr

Simington

Walker

Cruz

Hutchings

Lewis

Ostfeld

M. C.

Young

Jr.

A . (2024). Crafting democratic futures: Understanding political conditions and racialized attitudes toward Black reparations. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 10(3), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2024.10.3.03

30.

Isobel

McCloughen

Goodyear

Foster

(2021). Intergenerational trauma and its relationship to mental health care: A qualitative inquiry. Community Mental Health Journal, 57(4), 631–643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00698-1

31.

Jones

V. N.

McElderry

C. G.

(2023). Social work and reparations: Applying a restorative justice approach. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 32(2), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2021.19499774

32.

Jones

V. N.

McElderry

C. G.

Conner

L. R.

(2022). Social workers’ attitudes toward reparations for African American descendants. Journal of Social Work, 22(4), 1031–1055. https://doi.org/10.1177/14680173211037245

33.

Jones

V. N.

McElderry

C. G.

McNary

M. L.

Dotson

C. L.

Frazier

(2023). Social work advocacy for Black reparations. Social Work & Policy Studies: Social Justice, Practice, and Theory, 6(1), 25–48.

34.

Kraus

Vinluan

A. C.

(2023). Reminders of Japanese redress and Asian American support for Black reparations. Communications Psychology, 1, 33. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-023-00033-w

35.

Lumivero. (2023). NVivo (Version 14). https://www.lumivero.com

36.

Martín-Baró

(1994). Writings for a liberation psychology. Harvard University Press.

37.

Mazzocco

P. J.

Brock

T. C.

Brock

G. J.

Olson

K. R.

Banaji

M. R.

(2006). The cost of being Black: White Americans’ perceptions and the question of reparations. Du Bois Review, 3(2), 261–297. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X06060206

38.

McCarthy

(2004). Coming to terms with our past, Part II: On the morality and politics of reparations for slavery. Political Theory, 32, 750–772. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591704268924

39.

Michelson

M. R.

(2002). The Black reparations movement: Public opinion and congressional policy making. Journal of Black Studies, 32(5), 574–587. https://doi.org/10.1177/002193470203200505

40.

Mueller

J. C.

(2023). Does the United States owe reparations to Somalia? Race & Class, 65(1), 61–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/03063968231155358

41.

National African-American Reparations Commission (NAARC). (2024). NAARC supports comprehensive reparations: Comprehensive reparations for Black America primer. https://reparationscomm.org/naarc-news/press-releases/comprehensive-reparations-for-black-america-primer/

42.

Nelson

(2016). The social life of DNA: Race, reparations, and reconciliation after the genome. Beacon.

43.

Nelson

J. C.

Adams

Salter

P. S.

(2013). The Marley hypothesis: Denial of racism reflects ignorance of history. Psychological science, 24(2), 213–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612451466

44.

Nelson

J. P.

Davis

T. B.

Atkins

(2017). Reporting and reparations: News coverage and the decision to compensate the forcefully sterilized in North Carolina. Studies in Media and Communication, 5(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.11114/smc.v511.2075

45.

Officer

L. H.

Williamson

S. H.

(2022). Annual wages in the United States unskilled labor and manufacturing workers, 1774-present. Measuring Worth. https://www.measuringworth.com/uswage/

46.

Page

J. M.

King

(2022). Truth and reparation for the U.S. imprisonment and policing regime. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 19(2), 209–231. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X21000357

47.

Pew Research Center. (2022). 77% of Black Americans—compared with 18% of White Americans—support reparations for descendants of enslaved people. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/11/28/black-and-white-americans-are-far-apart-in-their-views-of-reparations-for-slavery/ft_22-11-09_reparations_1/

48.

Qualtrics Labs. (2023). Qualtrics. https://www.qualtrics.com

49.

Ray

Perry

(2020). Why we need reparations for Black Americans. Policy 2020. https://brookings.edu/policy2020

50.

Reichelmann

A. V.

Hunt

M. O.

(2022). White Americans’ attitudes toward reparations for slavery: Definitions and determinants. Race & Social Problems, 14(3), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-021-09348-x

51.

Reichelmann

A. V.

Rooso

J. M.

Hughes

(2022). Racial identity, reparations, and modern views of justice concerning slavery. Public Opinion Quarterly, 86(S1), 547–575. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfac018

52.

Rhodes

J. H.

Nteta

T. M.

Hopkins

Wall

(2024). Why reparations? Race and public opinion toward reparations. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of Social Sciences, 10(3), 30–48. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2024.10.3.02

53.

Richeson

J. A.

(2020, September). Americans are determined to believe in Black progress. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/the-mythology-of-racial-progress/614173/

54.

S1163A, Establishes the New York state community commission on reparations remedies, 2023, 2023-2024 Legislative Session, (NY. 2023). https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2023/S1163A

55.

Samuels

(2020, April 3). Rosewood massacre reparations: How a scholarship helped—and didn’t help—descendants of victims of the 1923 Rosewood racial massacre. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/rosewood-reparations/

56.

Sangalang

C. C.

Vang

(2017). Intergenerational trauma in refugee families: A systematic review. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 19, 745–754.

57.

Sharpe

(2021, April 29). UMass Amherst/WCVB poll finds nearly half of Americans say the federal government definitely should not pay reparations to the descendants of slaves. University of Massachusetts Amherst News & Media Relations. https://polsci.umass.edu/toplines-and-crosstabs-april-2021-slavery-reparation-payments-blm-and-dc-puerto-rico-statehood

58.

Singh

M. N.

Roberts

M. C.

McKinney

W. S.

Kelly

Ortega

Doyle

Tampke

E. C.

(2023). Advocacy as a professional competency in psychology. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 17(4), 414–422. https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000450

59.

Soled

D. R.

Chatterjee

Olveczky

Lindo

E. G.

(2021). The case for health reparations. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 664783. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.664783

60.

Sriprakash

(2022). Reparations: Theorising just futures of education. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 44(5), 782–795. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2022.2144141

61.

Starzyk

K. B.

Ross

(2008). A tarnished silver lining: Victim suffering and support for reparations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(3), 266–380. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207311280

62.

Stenson

A. F.

van Rooij

S. J.

Carter

S. E.

Powers

Jovanovic

(2021). A legacy of fear: Physiological evidence for intergenerational effects of trauma exposure on fear and safety signal learning among African Americans. Behavioural Brain Research, 402, 113017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2020.113017

63.

Stern

A. M.

Novak

N. L.

Lira

O’Connor

Harlow

Kardia

(2017). California’s sterilization survivors: An estimate and call for redress. American Journal of Public Health, 107(1), 50–54. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303489

64.

Ten Point Program for Reparations for African Americans in the United States. (2014). Journal of Black Psychology, 40(5), 483–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798414550775

65.

The Associated Press. (2024). Brazil, confronting calls for reparations, grapples with slavery’s painful legacy. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/brazil-reparations-blacks-slavery-legacy-racism-rcna136334

66.

Yehuda

Bell

Bierer

L.M.

Schmeidler

(2008). Maternal, not paternal PTSD is related to increased risk for PTSD in offspring of Holocaust survivors. Journal of Psychiatry Research, 42, 1104–1111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2008.01.002

67.

Younis

(2019, July 29). As redress for slavery, Americans oppose cash reparations. Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/261722/redress-slavery-americans-oppose-cash-reparations.aspx

Changing Support for Black Reparations: A Qualitative Study of College Students’ Perceptions

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References