UCLA and the University of Cambridge faculty members shared academic and personal connections to modern and historical reparation efforts during an Oct. 24 panel.
The event was held at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Westwood and co-sponsored by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA International Institute, Department of Anthropology and the Center for European and Russian Studies. The one-hour event, which was co-hosted by UCLA faculty members Jason Sexton and Laurie Hart, invited the public to listen in and interact with panelists on contrasting perspectives.
Sexton, a sociology lecturer and visiting research scholar at California Center for Sustainable Communities, which is part of the IoES, said the idea for the event arose from personal friendships and had the goal of bringing different scholars together. Sexton added that the three panelists – Michael Banner, Marcus Hunter and Susan Slyomovics – published books related to reparations and thought that an inspiring and rewarding conversation would emerge from their meeting.
Hunter, a professor of sociology and African American studies and the Scott Waugh endowed chair in the division of social sciences, condemned America’s lack of reparations to Black people following the abolition of slavery. Hunter’s book, “Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation,” focused on utilizing imagination as a tool to understand a reality where ideal reparations do take place, he said during the panel.
Hunter – who coined the #BlackLivesMatter phrase in 2012, according to the Los Angeles Times – added during the panel that he believes discussion surrounding reparations for slavery relies on white people understanding that Black people have forgiven them for slavery, even with what he called a lack of accountability. Accountability, through reparations, will allow people to have the opportunity to move forward, he added.
Hunter said he believes the federal government has the resources to provide reparations, adding that the question lies in whether it will have the will, the need and the awareness to do so.
“We are allowing ourselves to realize that we are not the slaveholder, we are not the slave, we are the descendants of those people,” he said. “Thus, (we are) given a very, very historic opportunity to course correct in such a way that we will look back on that whole thing and say … how more beautiful we can make the world.”
Banner, the dean of Trinity College, Cambridge, said during the panel that being raised in an environment where racial prejudice was normalized inspired him to become involved in the fight for British reparations for slavery.
“I grew up a racist,” he said. “Everyone in my area did grow up a racist. It was just in my head.”
Britain’s past on slavery, abolition and reparations parallels that of the U.S., Banner said. He added that he believes the British viewed themselves as ahead for being able to legally abolish slavery in 1833.
When there is no recognition for mass casualties – like the three million people who died from a famine in Bengal in 1943 during Britain’s occupation of India, millions of people who died in World War II and countless people who died in slavery – people forget about it, he said.
Slyomovics, a distinguished professor of anthropology and Near Eastern languages and cultures, said during the panel that she was also personally impacted by reparations. Her mother and grandmother, who survived the Holocaust together, had opposing views on the necessity of reparations Germany began paying to Holocaust victims post-World War II, she added.
While Slyomovics’ grandmother accepted the compensation, she said her mother refused, calling it “blood money.” Slyomovics said she agreed with her grandmother, but added that she believes reparations are not enough to make up for the harm caused.
“When the victim becomes perpetrator … there is a moment where you really believe, historically, you can make a difference,” Slyomovics said. “But that moment not only has been lost – everything has gotten so much more, so much worse.”
Hart, a professor of anthropology, said she believes the panelists’s differing approaches to reparations raises the question of if repair is even possible.
“I would say that they would say there’s time, and that the world changes, and that there’s no recompense for what they experienced.” Hart said. “On the other hand, I think they would also say that they deserve recognition and that even if recompense isn’t repair, recompense is better than nothing.”
Sexton, who teaches Sociology 147A: Sociology of Crime, said he invited his students to attend the event for extra credit. Sexton added that he hoped his students observed how different perspectives came together in a collaborative way and drew parallels to their own class discussions on the social dynamics of crime.
“Everything’s not just about the future, it is about the past and dealing with the reality of things that have happened … in order to move forward,” Sexton said. “That is one of the things I think students are trying to figure out how to do as well.”
Francesca Brennan, a fourth-year global studies student who attended the event, said she learned how amends for past injustices can be made from each of the panelists’ definitions of reparations. While Hunter focused on reparations as a form of healing, Banner discussed it as a way to confront the past and Slyomovics highlighted the way reparations can impact intergenerational trauma and lessen the chance of a similar event happening again, she added.
Brennan added, however, that she disagreed with how financial reparations were discussed as the priority. She added that she hopes to see more emotional and psychological reparations for victims.
Monserrat Roldan Cisneros, a third-year sociology student, said her main takeaway from the panel was how scared people are about reparations and talking about the past. She added that she believes financial reparations are an effective way to make amends, but in cases like the U.S. granting land that once belonged to Native Americans, it raises the question of whether a country can return land they never had a legitimate claim to, she said.
“In order for us to a grow as a nation and just like as I guess as a school as well, we need to learn about the past, we need to learn about how we can do better for the future and talking about it is just one of the ways that can happen,” Roldan Cisneros said.
The real challenge in moving forward as a society lies in being able to face reality and acknowledge the truth without being afraid of it, Sexton said.
“We do need to work toward learning how to trust each other … how do we get past our myths of the fear of the other people,” Sexton added. “We need each other as a species.”
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