Read the excerpt below:
"No nation can bring shut-eye closure to more than two centuries of official hostility to a whole people without some significant, structured, and long-term repair."
— Randall Robinson, *The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks*, 2000
Based on this excerpt, which of the following best describes the primary rationale for the reparations movement?
- The necessity of structured, systemic redress to address centuries of state-sanctioned racial oppression.Answer
- BThe creation of a federal fund to support the voluntary emigration of African Americans to West African nations.
- CThe resolution of temporary, localized economic disputes through individual private labor contracts.
- DThe promotion of an anti-integrationist economic platform designed to isolate Black communities from the broader American economy.
Answer
The necessity of structured, systemic redress to address centuries of state-sanctioned racial oppression.
The correct option is correct because the excerpt from Randall Robinson explicitly outlines that a nation cannot resolve 'official hostility' (meaning government-sanctioned oppression like slavery and Jim Crow) without 'significant, structured, and long-term repair' (meaning systemic reparations). This directly aligns with the argument that systemic redress is required to address historical, state-sanctioned injustices.
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Debates on Reparations