Reparations are a different matter entirely. I’ve been against them, but not because I don’t think our society has no debt to repay to the descendants of slaves. Quite the contrary, I think there has been generational harm that we need to be aware of and try to make up for.

But reparations gives people the impression that the previous harm can be solved with money, which cheapens it a bit. Plus, there will be people who look at the reparations and say “Racism is over, we paid the bill, here’s the receipt”. The descendants of slaves don’t need a one-time payment, they need a society where everyone is truly equal. We’re not there yet.