When I was asked to comment on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case for Reparations,” published in The Atlantic, I had three simultaneous thoughts: 1. why address the specific issues of reparations in a feminist bioethics blog? 2. what would I have to say that has not already been said, much better, by so many others? and 3. oh $%#@! I will now attempt to offer responses to the first two (allowing the third one just to sit there, enigmatically).
In my own work, my own research and teaching, I am often struck by the centrality and significance of the intersectionality of the systems of oppressions, of power differentials, of discrimination, whether in health care, in education, within the law, and so on. Most times, I am both moved and horrified by how various axes of identity, such as race, gender, religion, class, ability, etc., interact and contribute to systematic inequality, injustice, disempowerment, and suffering of not only individuals, but entire classes of people — in some cases, impacting numerous generations. What Coates’ honest and unsparing essay reminds Americans of is that we are all, at precisely this moment, surrounded by these intersections — by the bitter fruits of discrimination, racism, and the burdens of a shameful history that can be seen, felt, and, for far too many African-Americans, lived daily, the burdens of their ongoing struggles not erased by time or political correctness, or even good intentions:
All of our solutions to the great problems of health care, education, housing, and economic inequality are troubled by what must go unspoken. “The reason black people are so far behind now is not because of now,” Clyde Ross told me. “It’s because of then” (Coates 2014).
So, yes, a feminist bioethics blog is a perfect place to address reparations if we are serious about our intersectional approaches to justice, fairness, and the burdens of multiple oppressions.
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