The Cobell Settlement and Reparations

In a major development, the U.S. government has admitted to committing financial crimes against Native Americans.

Acknowledging the Interior Department’s history of mismanaging royalties derived from commercial activities on the 56 million acres of land owned by tribes and individuals, the federal government has proposed a settlement of over $3 billion and the creation of a scholarship fund.

If approved by Congress, the settlement would bring closure to a 13 year old lawsuit and fulfill one of President Obama’s campaign promises.

Reading about this settlement made me think of slavery reparations, a contentious issue that will not go away. Since 1989, Michigan Representative John Conyers has introduced a bill to create a commission to examine the case for African-American reparations. Randall Robinson addressed the idea of reparations with his book The Debt.

When the Senate passed a non-binding resolution apologizing for the government’s role in the slave trade, they explicitly distanced themselves from reparations.

I have always thought reparations sounded good in theory, but would be very difficult to bring into reality. How do you determine eligibility? What form would they take? The Interior Department case shows some of the difficulties in administering reparations.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, Elouise Cobell, estimates the value of tribal losses at $47 billion. The government settlement is for $3.4 billion. It may sound unreasonable that people could be disappointed when receiving billions of dollars, yet this is what may happen. How does one calculate the financial cost of human suffering and exploitation? I feel that is the biggest obstacle towards a purely financial form of reparations.

I find the $60 million scholarship fund included in the Cobell settlement to be the most instructive example for any African-American reparations package. Since one of the lingering effects of slavery and segregation is in the area of educational opportunity, I think an investment in education is an excellent way of addressing past wrongs. Decades after the Brown vs Board of Education decision, it is clear that black or “urban” school districts lag behind their suburban counterparts.