Kelsey Collier

Healing the American Morale

Coates provides a plethora of information to support his argument. Out of his extensive
article I found the chapter There will be no reparations from Germany to be the most
interesting and also the most convincing of his argument. As it is well known and often taught in
America, the atrocities committed by the Nazis in Germany were deplorable. By comparing the
Nazi acts of hatred towards the Jews to white Americas intolerance for African Americans,
Coats makes a strong point that we as Americans have an ugly past that needs to be reckoned
with. Towards the end of his argument Coates says that Germany did end up paying reparations
3.45 billion deutsche marks, or more than $7 billion in todays dollars, and overall everyone
benefitted. Coates says Reparations could not make up for the murder perpetrated by the Nazis.
But they did launch Germanys reckoning with itself. The claim Coates makes here stands out
to me as that, if Germany has healed by dolling out reparations America will too. Coates supports
this claim with in depth information about how Germany came to reckon with itself and its
atrocious past.
Americans talking about Germany and the atrocities committed by the Nazis while
suppressing our own history of racism and hatred is hypocrisy at its finest. There are numerous
parallels between crimes committed by white Americans such as lynching and crimes committed
by the Nazis such as the gassing of jews. To further drive his point Coates includes a postcard
image of lynching in the southern states. Lynching, as Coates shows us was very common in
America at one point and it shows almost the exact same kind of hatred toward African
Americans that the Nazis held against Jews.

Redlining is very similar to the forcible segregation of Jews into ghettos during the Third
Reich. Coates proves the existence of redlining by using maps and explaining Clyde Rosss own
experience with redlining. In summary, Clyde was sold a house at inflated rates and has
struggled severely over the years to pay for it while also providing for his family. Clyde had to
work twice as hard to attain the same house that a white person would have in half of the time.
White American racism during the early and middle twentieth century it appears was
simply just a milder, more drawn out and less systematic kind of genocide. Coates makes this
very clear by describing the long enduring hardships that African Americans were forced to face
for centuries due to the intolerance of white Americans. Most likely how whites were able to get
away with these crimes for so long is because they were mostly isolated events and easily
covered up. Coates tells the story of Clyde Rosss older brother Winter who was sent to the
gulag of Mississippi, Parchman Farm. Clydes brother, Coates explains was likely shot dead for
sport and his family never was allowed to see the body.
It is widely believed in America that slavery and segregation is a thing of the past and
that it is simply just not relevant anymore. Coates gives us many reasons why this is not true. He
uses quotes from important figures such as President Johnson and numerous experts to point out
and give himself credit that African Americans were not and still are not equal to white
Americans. President Johnson himself said negro poverty is not white poverty. Something I
have pieced together from what Coates is saying is that maybe our American policies that
endorse stripping African Americans of their house and belongings may not have been as severe
as the Nazi trafficking of Jews into concentration camps, but it has left lasting psychological
damage to the black population and has created a vicious cycle of black poverty and crime. A
compelling example of this that Coates uses is a quote from Billy Brooks, he says The message

the young black boy receives from his country You aint shit. You not no good. The only thing
you are worth is working for us. This is exactly what Coates wants his argument to call
attention to. African Americans are still even today seen as lesser people and providing
reparations for the past wrong doings may even the playing field.
Coates explains that when reparations from Germany were demanded, there was violent
outbreak. I see this as a kind of foreshadowing; that if African Americans were to demand
reparations there would be chaos and deadly violence in America. On the reverse Coates implies,
simply putting on a mask and saying that America is accepting to diversity and that we are a
great and moral nation today is a blatant lie and definitely not a solution. To quote him directly
he says America was built on the preferential treatment of white people395 years of it.
Vaguely endorsing a cuddly, feel-good diversity does very little to redress this. Multiple times
Coates mentions that Negro poverty is not white poverty in essence Negro poverty is majorly a
result of environment and social constraints. This fact further supports Coates in his argument for
reparations because it contradicts a widely held belief that African American poverty is self
inflicted. Another thing I understand that Coates is trying to convey is that; relative to the Jews in
Germany who had been paid reparations and prospered prolifically, blacks in America with
sturdy support could prosper in a very similar way.
The major point we as readers should absorb from what Coates is saying in this section is
that Germanys decision to pay reparations should serve as a model for America. This section is
extremely important because its not just telling us why we should pay reparations but how we
can go about it and what we can expect. Instead of looking at Germany and saying how
horrible we should acknowledge our own dirty laundry and cleanse ourselves in order to call
ourselves a truly equal and moral nation.