Black Americans Owe Reparations to White Americans
Congresswoman Summer Lee calls on the federal government to provide reparations, paid for by White Americans, to descendants of enslaved Black families. She accuses the U.S. government of moral and legal obligations to address the harms of slavery and its lasting impact on Black Americans. This is a despicably racist resolution that aims to divide Americans against each other on the basis of skin color and envy. Lee’s fundamental assumptions are deeply flawed and based in greed and stirring up trouble for political gain. Not only don’t reparations from White Americans to Black Americans “heal the wounds of slavery,” which ended (through the deaths of hundreds of thousands of White Americans) over a century and a half ago, but it completely undermines social and economic equity. By the very concepts Ms. Lee employs, the actual reparations should be from Black Americans to White Americans, as Black Americans today enjoy a huge social and economic advantage over Black Africans from whence they came.
Economic Disparity and the Value of U.S. Citizenship:
In 2024, Black Americans earned an average personal income of $52,000, which is 29.7 times higher than Black Africans’ $1,750. Even in higher-income African countries like South Africa ($6,270), Black American income is 8.3 times greater.
The value of American citizenship, based on what people spend to attain it, averages $28,870 for common immigration pathways (e.g., family-based, employment, diversity visa, asylum), excluding the EB-5 investment route ($1,080,875). This includes USCIS fees ($2,000–$6,500), legal fees ($2,000–$10,000), relocation ($3,000–$5,000), and opportunity costs ($5,000–$20,000).
Black Americans, as native-born citizens, inherit this $28,870 value without paying the “entry fee” immigrants incur. Citizenship grants access to a U.S. economy with a GDP per capita of ~$85,000 (2024), enabling earnings far exceeding African levels. This quantifiable benefit underscores the economic advantage of U.S. residency.
Citizenship as a Proxy for Lifetime Economic Gain:
The $28,870 cost of citizenship is a fraction of the lifetime income gain from living in the U.S.. A Black African earning $1,750 annually would need 16.5 years to earn $28,870, while a Black American earning $52,000 recoups this in under 7 months. Over a 40-year career, the income difference yields a $2,010,000 advantage for Black Americans.
U.S. citizenship unlocks access to jobs, education, and markets unavailable in most African economies, which face challenges like limited industrialization or political instability. Black Americans benefit from this premium without the financial or personal risks immigrants face (e.g., smuggling fees, legal delays).
This inherited advantage, valued at $28,870 and potentially millions over a lifetime, is tied to the U.S. system’s historical development, warranting acknowledgment or repayment to those who built it.
Historical Contributions and Western Civilization’s Role:
The U.S. economy and its infrastructure—roads, schools, industries—were shaped by White Americans, drawing on traditions from Western Civilization. These include:
Infrastructure and Innovations: The U.S. inherited engineering and scientific traditions from Europe, particularly Britain and Germany. The Industrial Revolution (18th–19th centuries), rooted in British innovations like the steam engine, informed U.S. railroads and factories. By the 19th century, White American entrepreneurs like Vanderbilt and Carnegie expanded these, creating transportation and industrial networks that drove prosperity.
Education: The U.S. university system drew from European models, like Oxford and German research universities, emphasizing inquiry and innovation. White American leaders established institutions (e.g., Harvard, MIT) that trained generations, equipping Black Americans with skills for high-earning jobs.
Ambitions and Values: Western Enlightenment ideals—individual liberty, property rights, and meritocracy—shaped U.S. ambition. British common law and French political philosophy influenced the U.S. Constitution, fostering a stable system that encouraged entrepreneurship and growth, benefiting all citizens.
Economic Systems: Capitalism, refined in Europe through mercantilism and Adam Smith’s theories, was adapted in the U.S., creating a dynamic market economy. White American industrialists and policymakers built on this, establishing banks, trade networks, and corporations that underpin the $85,000 GDP per capita.
A pivotal contribution was the abolition of slavery through the Civil War (1861–1865). Slavery was invented by Black Africans thousands of years ago and they facilitated the transatlantic slave trade. White Americans, primarily in the Union, fought to end slavery at immense cost: approximately 360,000 Union deaths (including ~317,000 White soldiers) and economic expenditures of ~$5.2 billion (equivalent to ~$150 billion in 2024 dollars). This sacrifice, led by White American leaders like Abraham Lincoln, secured freedom for Black Americans, enabling their integration into the U.S. economy and access to citizenship’s benefits. White Americans were never repaid for this gargantuan gift to Black Americans.
These Western-derived systems and abolition efforts, implemented by White Americans, created the conditions for citizenship’s $28,870 value. Black Americans access schools, healthcare, and markets built on this foundation, enabling their $52,000 average income (and many well in excess, including millionaires and billionaires). Government programs, like public education, historically funded by a White-majority tax base, further support this prosperity. White Americans even elected a Black American as president.
Reparations as Gratitude for Inherited Citizenship:
Black Americans’ inherited citizenship, valued at $28,870 and enabling a $2,010,000 lifetime average income advantage over Black Africans, suggests a debt to the system’s architects -- White Americans who drew on Western Civilization’s legacy. Reparations could acknowledge this benefit.
Non-monetary reparations might include community service, advocacy for national unity, or public recognition of the U.S. system’s Western roots in enabling prosperity. For example, Black Americans could lead initiatives celebrating the pride and economic opportunities tied to American citizenship.
Economic contributions, such as extra taxes or investments in shared infrastructure, could reflect gratitude for the inherited value of citizenship, mirroring the $28,870 others pay to access the system.
This is of course all very tongue-in-cheek, as it would be ridiculous to obligate citizens today for some imagined disparity created by their ancestors 160+ years ago. We’re all born as free citizens in this country, given the same opportunities as everyone else, regardless of skin color or ancestry. But it’s worth making this absurd argument to point out the absurdity of the contra-argument of reparations to Black Americans. All Americans are getting very tired of the victimhood mentality purveyed by the racist left. And there’s a great Black Fatigue being felt across the country as we’re all invited to feel perpetual pity, guilt, and obligation to the supposedly oppressed Black Americans such as Congresswoman Summer Lee, who is no doubt suffering poverty, fear, and subjugation due to her skin color and ancestral burdens. It’s not like she was afforded the opportunities to attain Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Juris Doctor degrees, election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and election to the U.S. Congress… oh, wait, she did. It’s not like this poor Black woman can command billions of dollars to her district and accumulate millions of dollars in net worth for herself… oh, wait, she did. Maybe she could share some of that money with the poor White Americans in her district whose ancestors fought for her freedom and prosperity after all. As an avowed Democratic Socialist, it’s not right for her to greedily accumulate money for herself anyway.
References
Foner, E. (2019). The second founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction remade the Constitution. W. W. Norton & Company.
McPherson, J. M. (2003). Battle cry of freedom: The Civil War era. Oxford University Press.
Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the 21st century. Harvard University Press.
Smith, A. (1776). An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. W. Strahan and T. Cadell.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). Employment situation summary: Third quarter 2024. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). Income in the United States: 2022. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (2024). Fee schedule. https://www.uscis.gov/forms/our-fees
World Bank. (2023). GDP per capita (current US$): Sub-Saharan Africa. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=ZG