Repair legacy of racism: Explore reparations in housing, education, entrepreneurship

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For the Opposing View, read Race-based reparations would be a step backward.

Wealth in America is undeniably divided along racial lines.

Consider that the 2019 Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances found that white families on average are eight times wealthier than Black families.

And that the U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2019, Blacks made up 13.2% of the nation's population but account for 23.8% of Americans who live in poverty. The poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites was 7.3%.

And that less than half (44%) of Black families own a home, which has long been a primary means for Americans to build wealth and pass it from one generation to the next. In contrast, nearly 74% of white families are homeowners.

Also undeniable is the fact that the wealth gap between Black Americans and white Americans didn't happen by chance. It is the direct result of:

►246 years of slavery in America.

►The federal government's failure to uphold promises for reparations made as slavery ended.

►77 years of Jim Crow laws that subjugated and segregated Black Americans from the mainstreams of education and employment.

►35 years of a federal housing policy called "redlining" that kept Blacks from obtaining mortgages in many neighborhoods, including the nation's new and growing suburbs.

And it was government, by and for the American people, that set and enforced these harshly discriminatory policies and laws.

Yes, the nation has made significant and important progress toward ending overt, legal discrimination, but America still has far to go not only to foster a fully just society but also to mitigate the lasting consequences of institutionalized racism.

Those are, again, undeniable facts.

How do we, a nation that strives for justice and equality, address the consequences of America's "original sin"?

For the past six months, USA TODAY Opinion has published a series of essays, videos and interactive graphics about reparations and the quest for racial justice. Led by project editor Eileen Rivers, the series has explored why reparations are owed and how they might work to close the nation's racial wealth gap.

As with every issue touching on race in America, the idea of reparations triggers passionate debates often centered on why today's generations should be asked to pay for historical abuses.

One answer is that tens of millions of Black Americans still suffer from the consequences of those abuses – which were (and in some cases, still are) instituted, sanctioned and enforced by government at all levels.

Other points of contention revolve around who would be eligible for compensation and what forms restitution would take. A bill now before Congress, HR 40, would establish a commission to study and help answer such questions. The commission also would consider a national apology for the barbaric institution of slavery in America.

Congress should not only authorize the commission but also instruct it to explore reparations specifically in housing, education and entrepreneurship, sectors that would help to close the wealth gap.

In the area of housing, reparations should take the form of federal vouchers that would help Black residents in formerly redlined neighborhoods, where investments historically have lagged, to raise the down payment for a home.

The nation also must invest more in affordable housing, and those developments need to be built not only in historically Black neighborhoods but also in wealthier suburban and urban communities that have been traditionally white enclaves.

Congress also should expand data included in credit ratings to include rental histories so that more Black people, who are disproportionately renters, could qualify for home loans.

On education, vouchers for Black families would provide students access to high-quality public and private schools that too often are out of reach to them because of income. Combined with affordable housing, education vouchers would go a long way toward ending the vestiges of America's separate and unequal education system.

School choice solutions must be accompanied by improvements for schools in lower-income neighborhoods. Low-performing schools should be supplied with federal grants to hire better teachers, upgrade buildings and lower class sizes. And low-income Black parents should receive grants to pay for school supplies.

Finally, to help build generational wealth, Congress should designate funds specifically to help Black entrepreneurs launch and sustain businesses. The Biden administration and Congress took an important step in that direction in November when the president signed infrastructure legislation that included a provision making the Minority Business Development Agency permanent. But more dollars must follow to close the wide gap in business ownership rates among Black and white Americans.

A report last year from McKinsey & Co. concluded that "healthy Black-owned businesses could be a critical component for closing the United States’ Black–white wealth gap, which we project will cost the economy $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion (in 2018 dollars) per year by 2028."

That last point is critical. Addressing the lingering consequences of racism and closing the wealth gap will benefit all Americans.

In "Caste," author Isabel Wilkerson writes that America is like an old house in need of repair: "We can never declare the work over. Wind, flood, drought, and human upheavals batter a structure that is already fighting whatever flaws were left unattended in the original foundation. When you live in an old house, you may not want to go into the basement after a storm to see what the rains have wrought. Choose not to look, however, at your own peril. The owner of an old house knows that whatever you are ignoring will never go away. Whatever is lurking will fester whether you choose to look or not."

The consequences of racist laws and policies have been festering for much too long in America. Generations of Black Americans have suffered, and continue to suffer, as a result.

It is time for repair.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff and the USA TODAY Network. Most editorials are coupled with an Opposing View, a unique USA TODAY feature.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Racism in America: How to repair damage inflicted for generations