Repair and reparations are derived from the same Latin word meaning “restore.” With the current movement of offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, I have been thinking a lot about how reparations themselves can somehow repair the damage done by the harmful policies that created all wrongs done to all people of color.

I am in way minimizing the horrors of slavery or neglecting the fact that much of the “success” of young America was due to work of the slaves. The prosperity of the south, the wealth that supported the Civil War, was only possible because of slavery. The wretchedness of the behavior of the ruling majority will forever be stain on our history, regardless of the late attempts to repair the damage.

But who is eligible for reparations based on past wrongs? While slavery was unique in its scope, the kidnapped and sold into bondage Africans were not the only people of color to suffer from the racist policies of the American government. And who decides who gets what? What will the criteria be for determining who is eligible? And just how much is human degradation worth?

I was digging in my backyard a few years ago. I came across what looked to be a portion of cow teeth. I was perplexed. How could a piece of a cow end up buried in my backyard, 2-3 inches down? I did some research and discovered that my home stands on what used to be a ranch in what was Mexican territory. Before 1850, the land I now live on used to belong to a Mexican rancher. Was that rancher ever offered compensation?

And before that rancher held title, the Ohlone Indian tribe had free reign. This was their homeland. What we call the United States was once the homeland of countless Indian tribes from coast to coast. The United States government, by hook and by crook, through death and destruction, marginalized the indigenous people of North America. A whole people from a whole nation. A terror driven campaign that hasn’t stopped to this day. How can reparations even begin to right that wrong?

My belief of the reparations movement is skeptical. I believe there are many who are pure in their belief that some form of reparations must be made for to the descendants of the people who basically built this nation. And I don’t disagree. But there are many wrongs that must be righted. I also think the current movement has been taken over by by those who see it as yet another way to divide people of color.

It is estimated that the non-Hispanic white majority will become the minority by 2045. That the combination populations of all people of color will out number Caucasians. It is in the best interest of the current majority to keep us fighting amongst ourselves. As long as they maintain the power to control, the longer they control the narrative.

True reparations would be a flood of monies not to specific people, but to whole communities. The communities of the chronically underserved would be better served with an influx of money without ties to the overlords control. Instead of taking the time to develop a program that will serve to have people of color fighting over a crumb, develop a program that services in the communities in which they live. Financial support of public schools in inner city areas, provide financial support for the building of stores that provide fresh, healthy food, provide basic transit services throughout all neighborhoods, funds for the creation or expansion of small businesses within those communities.

There are so many basic services that are just not found in communities of color. Each day that people of color must go further to a supermarket, or worry about the inadequate education of their children or any number of concerns regarding basic day to day life is another sign of disparity that would be addressed by true reparations.