From Slavery to Genocide: The Fallacy of Debt in Reparations Discourse

This paper analyzes the failure of the 'Reparations for Slavery' movement within the African American community over the past century. It argues that the association of reparations with a "debt" has complicated the ability to win legal arguments for reparations. The author asserts that a stronger legal case can be made by arguing that the Jim Crow era constituted a form of genocide as defined by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, and that a potential reparations claim made on this basis can overcome the obstacles that have thus far defeated previous reparation law suits.