JCRC Speaker Series: The Meaning of Reparations

Join us for an educational panel exploring the various forms of reparations and the way they might address systemic racism.

Economic inequality has been a prominent symptom of systemic racism in the United States since the abolition of slavery following the Civil War. Scholars have advocated for a variety of methods for reparations as an effective pathway to equity, and they have been used around the world to reconcile past atrocities. But what would American reparations look like in 2021?

Would they be payments to those directly affected, distributed under a program that explicitly acknowledges national responsibility to and for the affected communities, like Germany’s post-World War II payments to the nascent State of Israel? Or should reparations take the form of comprehensive job training, public works programs, forums for healing like truth and reconciliation commissions, and other social services that, some argue, would be more effective and less divisive?

Featuring:

• Dr. Stephany Rose Spaulding, Founder of the Truth and Conciliation Commission

• Dr. Jacob Flaws, Lecturer, Department of History, CU-Boulder

• Dr. Alfonzo Porter, Editor-in-Chief, Denver Urban Spectrum

• Dr. Aisha Rousseau, CRC Core Development Member of the SPIN/CHIC Free Lifetime Education Initiative

Moderated by Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, Rabbinic Scholar and Public Affairs Advisor, Jewish Federations of North America.

This is an educational event. Neither JEWISHcolorado nor the JCRC take a position on reparations.

The 2020-21 JCRC Speakers Series takes a close look at the experiences of Jews of Color and issues arising from systemic racism, such as the education gap and economic inequality. Watch more here.

Illustration credit: A Steep Climb, Quartz Media 2020