Past Due: The African American Quest for Reparations

Diaspora has emerged as an important issue. A growing number of activists, scholars and political leaders, such as British M.P. Bernie Grant and U.S. Congressman John Conyers, have taken up the call for reparations. Organizations have been formed to press the issue, and a foundation for engagement with governments, particularly in Britain and (perhaps) the United States, is being laid. The issue of reparations is truly global and it has many dimensions moral, cultural, social, psychological, political and economic. In this article, I will focus chiefly on reparations as a matter of social justice for African Americans, but I am cognizant of the fact that the struggle for reparations is a global issue requiring a unified, international mobilization.