READERS GUIDE
Questions and Topics for Discussion
1. Dorothy Brown shares several examples of reparations that have been handed out by the U.S. government, including the Indian Claims Act of 1946. Do you think past reparations have been fair?
2. Which example of America’s previous reparations payouts surprised you? Which, if any, were you already familiar with?
3. The story of the Masuda family is just one of thousands of Japanese Americans who were in internment camps. What hardships did they endure during and after their mass incarceration? Do you think something like this could happen again?
4. In addition to harsh living and working conditions, enslaved black people were simply not paid—or were meagerly paid—for their labor. What are the long-term losses in terms of wealth accumulation and generational wealth from this shameful period of our history?
5. Discuss what is lost in wages and property when certain groups have been targeted. Why do you think the systems we have in place—the very systems that exploited them—do not want to compensate them?
6. After the abolishment of chattel slavery, how were black Americans marginalized and criminalized? How does the United States criminalize being black today?
7. In what ways do white Americans today—even those whose families did not enslave black people—benefit from slavery’s legacy?
8. Brown writes that the American Dream “has never taken place on a level playing field, but rather on one where the dream of financial and economic security was elusive for most black Americans.” (See page 146.) Discuss how land—and the loss of it—has harmed generations of black citizens. In what ways have financial institutions and universities also harmed black people?
9. “This is a collective problem that requires a collective solution to dismantle unjust systems.” What do you think of the author’s multipronged approach to reparations?
10. Do you agree with Brown that, given congressional failure to act, a commission on reparations should be created by an executive order signed by the next Democrat elected president?
11. Why is it important not to limit discussion of reparations to chattel slavery?
12. Like the focus group on reparations described in the book in part III, on a scale of 0 to 10—with 0 being fully in support of reparations and 10 being completely opposed—where did you fall on the topic before reading the book? Where are you now?
