Salim Muwakkil proposed what seems at first glance to be a just solution to the problem of compensating African-Americans for the injustices inflicted on their ancestors (Commentary, Aug. 3). But upon analysis, his solution dissolves into thin air because, like other such proposals, it never tells precisely who would be eligible for the benefit.
First of all, the documented genealogy of African-Americans before the Civil War is virtually non-existent. Few slave owners maintained the kinds of records that would make it possible to trace lines of ancestry. For the vast majority of African-Americans, no records exist prior to the passage of the post-Civil War anti-slavery amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Also, the United States cannot be held responsible for actions committed by the British Empire in the period between 1604 and 1783, during which there was no such entity as the United States.
Another serious problem arises when we consider black Americans whose ancestors came to the United States of their own free will, such as Caribbean and Latin American blacks and emigres from modern African countries. Surely Mr. Muwakkil does not favor paying them anything.
Then we come to the people of mixed parentage. What ratio of African to non-African ancestry would Mr. Muwakkil include in his compensation formula?
All these objections aside, my main criticism of Mr. Muwakkil’s proposal is that many ethnic and racial categories of Americans have been subjected to harmful discrimination since the United States became a nation. But once one ethnic/racial category is singled out for compensation, all the others are supplied with a precedent. The result, as any Alaskan will tell you, is administrative chaos and the sharpening of hostilities rather than their demise.
Compare this with the compensation given the Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. This injustice was clearly recorded so that when the long overdue legislation rectifying this wrong occurred, no one had the slightest doubt who was eligible, and little or no hostility toward the beneficiaries was aroused.
Do we have a problem with racism in America? Yes, we do. But Mr. Muwakkil’s solution is no solution at all.
