By Brandi Wylie ’24, student intern
David Lyons, a philosophy professor from Boston University, will visit Wofford College to discuss reparations to the African American community.
The lecture will take place at 4 p.m. on Nov. 1 in Leonard Auditorium. He will share his thoughts on the proper approach to reparations.
Lyons believes that the importance of reparations does not come from its cash value but from the policy reforms and changes in belief that could right some of the wrongs done to African Americans.
Lyons says African Americans entered society at a disadvantageous position post-slavery, and he believes it is the job of the government to compensate for this.
“It’s a very complicated problem,” Lyons says. “Cash payments should be a component of reparations because of its symbolic value. However, it is a combination of changes in policy and programs that are funded.”
Lyons understands that everyone doesn’t agree with the necessity for reparations. So, he will take a step back during his lecture to recognize those with an opposing viewpoint.
“I respect that position, so my talk is going to be partly historical because I want to first explain the ground for thinking that reparations may be morally required,” Lyons says. “I don’t think you can begin a conversation on reparations solely talking about what they should be.”
For the past 30 years, Lyons has done work involving race and American history. He’s focused on reparations, including writing about the subject, over the past 25 years.
Lyons describes how enslaved people entered society without resources. It was not until the civil rights reforms of the 1960s that these explicit discriminations were eliminated while not addressing the “deeply entrenched racial inequalities that result from policies of governments.”
“Universities, corporations and governments are long-lasting things, so they can continue to be held accountable for their past conduct,” Lyons says. “We don’t have any living formerly enslaved persons or ex slave holders, but we have the same U.S. government that we had in 1865, same state governments and so on.”
He wishes to see reparations from these systems.
He will touch on this and other ideas in his lecture before taking questions from the audience.
To have a bank of knowledge to prepare questions, Lyons suggests reading his book titled, “The Color Line,” and his article titled, “Reparations for Slavery and Jim Crow, Its Assumptions and Implications.”
He hopes that attendees will walk away from the lecture “thinking tentatively that there is a plausible case for reparations yet recognizing that it is not clear what forms the reparations will take.”
He also wants those who do not agree with physical reparations to consider how to address racial inequities in a different way.