BALDWIN: ENSLAVED AFRICAN LABOUR BUILT U.S.

Reparations to Africans have long been a contentious issue. In this clip from a 1965 debate between author James Baldwin and US conservative writer William F Buckley at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, Baldwin paints a picture of how, through forced labour, Africans played a crucial role in building US wealth. The economic prosperity of the United States during its early years was inextricably tied to the institution of slavery, as the labour of enslaved people contributed to building industries such as agriculture, finance, textiles, and mining. The wealth generated through centuries of free labour laid the groundwork for the economic development and industrialisation that characterise the United States today.

The legacy of slavery—compounded by subsequent discriminatory practices, such as Jim Crow laws and 'redlining' neighbourhoods to mark areas meant for Africans—has prevented equal access to education, employment, and housing opportunities. That is why many say reparations are a means to acknowledge and address the systemic injustices that have hindered Africans' economic and social progress in the United States. The consequences of these policies manifest today in higher incarceration rates for Africans, as well as a household wealth ratio of 20 to 1 between white people and Africans.