How Will President Biden Handle the Rosewood Centennial in 2023?

President Biden didn’t mention reparations at the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre for a reason

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

Last week was the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa massacre. In 1921 a white mob destroyed a prosperous black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Thirty-five blocks were burned to the ground and historians estimated 300 black people were killed. President Biden visited Tulsa, met with the last three survivors, and gave a speech. Biden discussed policy initiatives that would help black Americans build generational wealth in order to narrow the racial wealth gap.

Afterwards, critics pointed out Biden didn’t mention reparations. The critics were correct, but also incorrect. According to Professor Trevon Logan, an expert on economic reparations, there are different definitions of reparations used by reparation experts.

1). There are reparations for enslavement due to descendants of slaves.

2). There are reparations for post-emancipation oppression and economic exclusion of African-Americans that continue to the present.

Now, when definition two is combined with the fact that advocates for reparations have always indicated that reparations do not have to be direct cash payments…