Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 1

Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer

Final Exam: U.S. Slave Reparations

1. Executive Summary

This proposal outlines how reparations if made through the form of investments in
modern society are able to be paired with cultural diplomacy to create substantial
outcomes in oppressed communities, both historically and today. Reparations will
always have a tie to the past, but have the ability to change the policies of the now.
In order to create a better future, the agenda attempts to understand the narrative
of the past, and in doing so, derive positive adaptive outcomes.

Investments translates into using money that comes from many institutions
including from governmental support and putting it into projects that will continue
to grow. Because culture is constantly growing, we find it important to note that
reparations do not have an allotted time at which they come to an end. Instead,
they should be looked as a set of constant ventures. These ventures range from
investment into traditional education, but also into cultural diplomacy projects
ranging from dark tourism to the growth of black films, music industry and
community efforts.

In addition, it is important to note that this proposal was formatted by six white
women, and although we are international relations students who are open-minded
and have contrasting backgrounds, we are not from the black community and we do
not claim to know what is truly like. Our entire initiative is intended to partner with
individuals in the African American community and endorse their objectives and
goals for a better future.

Reparations in solely a monetary sense do not work, but using money creatively has
the ability to create a level playing field where African Americans can truly prosper
alongside of all other Americans.
Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 2
Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer

2 & 3. Statements and Analysis of Problems and Issues:

Reparations by definition means, the making of amends for wrong or injury done
(Dictionary Online). In the case of U.S. slave reparations, restitution in the form of payments
is neither sufficient nor productive. Therefore, we suggest using a variety of cultural
diplomacy and creative economy initiatives to address the issue.

Nye suggests cultural diplomacy (a.k.a. smart power) as a combination of both hard and
soft power. Granted, there is no military hard factor concerning slave reparations, instead
the hard power that Nye could be alluding to here is economics. Examining the case of the
Japanese internment camps, the US Government did in fact repay back people who were in
the camps. However, this did not fully address the issue of personal properties and items
that were taken and destroyed by nationalist Americans during the war against the
Japanese. Similarly, the Native Americans received reparations in the form of:

(1) cash payments, through the operation of the Indian Claims Commission
and the U.S. Court of Claims; (2) land, through an occasional action of
Congress to return control over land to particular tribes; and (3) tribal
recognition, by either Congress or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Trosper).

Trosper continues to analyze these reparations made to the Native Americans, noting their
success with cash payments being the least successful and tribal recognition the most
(PRRAC Online). In many cases, this purely monetary (and therefore hard power based) form
of reparations has not been sufficient. Alternatively, handling slavery must come from the
power of ideas.

The problems of the U.S Slavery are rooted in the past and therefore each step must
be addressed historically. Historically it is necessary to approach each era, from the very
beginning of slavery, moving forward to the civil war and the Presidency of Lincoln, the Civil
Rights movement in the 1960s and ultimately to how racism infiltrates society today. It is
necessary to use the history to exemplify how the past has shaped policies today and how
black members of society are still excluded. According to Bhabha, there are two forms of
Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 3
Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer
racism, slavery and migration/diaspora. In particular, migrant women are uniquely politically
and socially invisible (Bhabha). Fanon sees here the dark side of a man and has a hunger for
Hegelian dream of humanity. However, racism is institutionalized from red-lining policies in
the United States, to where voting booths are placed in addition to marketing
advertisements rarely including and targeting African Americans. Bhabha would explain that
phenomenon as hybridity, which has already been established in US institutions for decades;
in other words, it has already become a big part of life in the US. Installing affirmative
action but not implementing it in real life is a form of ambivalence. Thinking on another level
of cultural diplomacy initiatives, the US sending Jazz musicians to Soviet Union in the
segregation era can be seen as an institutionalized level of hypocrisy (Kiehl).

A major problem with reparations in the form of money is that money has
acted as a further divider between black and white communities. African American
communities have always faced economic drawbacks because of the historical roots. This is
illustrated in school districts, in community lines and has such a historical component that
throwing money at individuals who are descendants of slaves does not fix the problem.
There needs to be creative methods (Creative Economy report 2010) that use money to
invest in specific projects that bring about opportunities for oppressed people. It is very
important to note that these projects need to all come from a grassroots perspective, where
members of black communities use their ideas, paired with policies that can create the most
satisfactory outcomes. In particular, as Spivak addresses, we need to let the Subaltern
speak for themselves, rather than dictating for them. In addition, we need to have a shift
culture from an epistemological object to culture as enactive (Bhabha). We want all to feel
assimilated, not foreign (lectures) and we can do it with cultural diplomacy. In essence, this
means according to Spivak that we need to listen to the culture and make sure that our
cultural diplomacy initiative speaks to the communities affected by slavery reparations in
their own language. This encompasses taking the historical context of a situation into regard
and making sure that the subaltern are involved in the program: a.k.a. members of black
communities.

Due to the fact slavery is a product of the state and of the people the question arises
of who will fund reparations? Should it be a state-to-state case, where some states who
had higher rates of slavery historically pay more? Or should reparations be distributed by
the federal government? As a group we would want to work at an arms length from the
government, where a large percentage of funding comes from the government. This one of
the primary objectives in the British Council (Bound), which continues to be seen as one of
Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 4
Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer
the most productive cultural diplomacy initiatives worldwide (UK Powerpoint). Additionally,
this can be attributed to the thinking about capital that Bourdieu discusses, primarily that in
the end - everything goes back to economic capital. However good the suggestions that
reparations bring forth, nothing can be accomplished without figuring out the source of
funding.

Further, many issues arise with the question - who is in charge of handling
reparations? For instance, this can be paired with education. According to Said,
knowledge is power. This was true in the case of the Egypt and Britain as Said notes, that
knowledge gave the British people a superior understanding and therefore power over the
Egyptians. In the case of handling reparations, education and access to education is the
power. Unfortunately, the United States has had issues with rewriting textbooks and only
having one or two paragraphs glazing over important topics such as abuse of slaves. There
needs to be a focus on education, where the history, however drastic it is, is accurate and
portrayed in an authentic manner. One issue with this can be addressed with Scheins
portrayal of the Iceberg model. Slavery is something that the US handles culturally as an
underlying assumption because as a country, slavery is not addressed on an open basis. In
fact, it is regulated to a side issue. Although it is difficult as a country for the U.S. to address
its historical past, it is necessary.

Another issue surrounding reparations is its formula (or lack thereof) necessary to
determine the parties and amounts involved. How much and for how long would the
reparations be owed? Who exactly would be in receipt of reparations? (Austria and
Germany do not have a set date when the reparations are stopped) For instance, should it
historically go back to the countries in which slaves were taken from? There is no simple
answer to this problem but if a common, and equal future is our objective then cultural
diplomacy methods must be in place to insure that we are working towards an all-
encompassing future, where all demographics see similar opportunities (Anderson). In this
aspect reparations need to be seen as an investment. This investment needs to be part of
an ever-growing program, because culture and humanity are fluid and ever-growing. Schein
addresses this in describing organizational culture, namely that it is the patterns of basic
assumptions that a group has developed in dealing with external adaption and internal
integration. She additionally discusses how to address the strength of paradigms of these
cultures. In particular, one issue that comes up is how does a culture learn how to behave. In
bringing this back to slavery reparations, much of how the US addresses slavery is through
avoidance (i.e. once a solution or Swiss-Army-policy has been found, the process of adaption
stops). According to Schein, this shows that the country is handling growth through anxiety,
Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 5
Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer
which is unhealthy. The cultural policy that we are adapting specifically will aim to be
innovative with a strategy that does not disregard the past but instead uses it to elevate the
livelihoods of oppressed communities.

Our final concern addresses the role the United States plays on the global
stage. The United States portrays itself as the melting pot where people come for the
chance of a lifetime, however slavery has left a legacy in the United States where white
people have unwritten opportunities while black communities are overlooked. Using
reparations internally also gives the United States an opportunity to apologize. This may
create tension with foreign policies because as a world leader it may pull into question what
other countries with colonial pasts and a history of slavery should do. However, it also has
the ability for the United States to put morals before money and think of the project as an
investment in the generations of tomorrow that is a promotion of prosperity for the U.S
government with internal and external affairs. Apologizing also build up identities and better
international relations. As Donfried says, we have to accept our good and bad sides to build
up our cultural relations. This is the platform for cultural diplomacy, bigger cultural
understanding, which means a two-way street. And there are actually many ways to do it.
But we always have to remember the five starting points for that: Historical concept, agent,
agenda, target audience and vehicle. Patricia Goff also adds that cultural diplomacy is
bridging differences and helping mutual understanding. Particularly, she notes that cultural
diplomacy reveals the soul of the nation. When the United States is portraying itself to the
global stage, it needs to be aware in how its own internal initiatives speak on a louder level.
We could also think about Tingyuang Zhaos article and the idea of All- under-Heaven that
says that our Western idea of happiness is just a Western ideology. When thinking about
cultural diplomacy to deal with the issue of slaves, we have to consider the other kind of
idea of happiness.

4. Recommendations:

Based upon the aforementioned, we recommend the following cultural diplomacy

initiatives: expanding U.S history and humanity classes; putting more money and
infrastructure into schools in poorer neighborhoods; into the creation of pen pals;
correspondences between school-age children with children of other backgrounds; inter-
state exchanges; workshops on white privilege and various other programs that work to
create to interrupt institutionalized racism procedures that are in place and bring awareness
Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 6
Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer
to the fact that they exist. Below we have outlined how each act can bring forth well-being,
promote equality and lead to a sustainable future.

U.S History and Humanity Classes: The United States has a dark history and the children
of America need to be taught an accurate history. History classes need to follow a narrative
that is detail oriented.
a. (-i.e. the 1998 mandate that all students in Californias public schools learn about
the internment of Japanese-Americans- 75 Years Later, Internment of Japanese
Remains Stain on American History By Alexander Nazaryan).
b. The Trail of Tears, Treaties and how treaties have been overrode by the U.S
government need to be outlined.
c. Slavery needs to be looked at in every era but there needs to be special attention
to create understanding on how there is still racism today, institutionalized and
overtly. This needs to happen at an elementary school level and not just in higher
education
d. History books cannot be rewritten to leave out certain aspects of history
e. Books of literature cannot take out historically accurate words to repaint a picture
of the past. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, for instance, has been modified for not
using the adequate terminology for their respective time, and therefore the reality of the
cultural context is altered.

Investment into black neighborhood schools: The public school system in the United
States is flawed. Money needs to go into schools that are primarily black because they need
to have the same opportunities as their white counterparts. The stereotype that minorities
are not intelligent is often derived from the fact that they have not given the same
opportunities. This is a primary focus.
a. Money for actual investment of school and after-school programs that advocates
for safer spaces and uses education as a way to lift individuals.
b. Better pay for teachers will in turn lead to a more educated youth, literally an
investment
c. the creation of exchange programs, correspondences, and pen pals creates a
culture that embraces diversity
d. Workshops will break down barriers, help citizens use their voices, and create inter-
racial dialogue that bridges understanding. Specifically the focus on helping white
people understand their privilege and how they can use it to lift everyone.
Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 7
Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer
Arts and culture: Although education is our primary focus, subsequent to education our
focus is on black communities, both geographically as well as culturally. In this aspect we
want to spend money on developing sustainable infrastructure, from better transportation to
community centers and gardens, but also by using the creative economies of dark tourism
(Foley).
a. Museums: creating better infrastructure, teaching people in depth about slavery;
Harvards research should be essential in the museums contents because of its
history with plantations.
b. Music: Organising venues with local black communities, promote and support artists
of African descent, teach music classes in leisure time after school in order to keep
them busy in their communities and apply their acquired knowledge in everyday life
(Venezuelan violin program)
c. Films: Hiring more black actresses and actors (Oscars so white), Screenings of
movies and documentaries (source: Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy
at Vanderbilt); Examples: Hidden Figures, American History X, Mississippi Burning,
Selma, the Help;
d. Theatre: Hamilton itself is a Cultural Diplomacy initiative with hiring black and latino
actors to play the roles of very influential white people. This is turning the
perspective on the manifestations of the place where the black society is put by the
white society;
e. Church: Using a church as a way of community strength and initiatives
to continue to promote understanding of black communities. Nearly all creative economy
narratives use the past as a technique to create a better future. It is only by looking at our
past that we can become a better society and verify that racism does not further permeate
society.

Through these recommendations, we seek to ultimately build cultural capital

amongst African-Americans that would ideally be transformed, as Bourdieu notes, into
economic capital. With more access to economic capital, African-Americans would also be
gaining access to hard power. So, even though our recommendations do not explicitly
support payments to individuals, economic benefits would be a result of our proposed
investments in cultural diplomacy.

It must be noted that our recommendations are framed according to its authors -
white, female, graduate students. We recognize that the reality inside our framed
suggestions, does exist outside as well. And so, for our recommendations to be as successful
as possible, we would ask whom Spivak labels the sub-alterns, in this case the
Group: Siru Tornoos, Gabriella Gricius, Josephine Bush, Florane 8
Lavendhomme, Bianca Bradtner, Jessica Hoefer
descendants of slaves themselves, what they would wish to receive as reparations - if
anything.

Bibliography

"Reparation." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

<http://www.dictionary.com/browse/reparation>.
Trosper, Ronald. "American Indian Reparations,". PRRAC. N.p., Dec. 1994. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
<http://www.prrac.org/full_text.php?%2Btext_id=649&item_id=6623&newsletter_id=17>.