Available:*
Shelf Number | Material Type | Copy | Shelf Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 973.049673 22 | 1:E-BOOK | 1 | 1:ONLINE | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Roy L. Brooks reframes one of the most important, controversial, and misunderstood issues of our time in this far-reaching reassessment of the growing debate on black reparation. Atonement and Forgiveness shifts the focus of the issue from the backward-looking question of compensation for victims to a more forward-looking racial reconciliation. Offering a comprehensive discussion of the history of the black redress movement, this book puts forward a powerful new plan for repairing the damaged relationship between the federal government and black Americans in the aftermath of 240 years of slavery and another 100 years of government-sanctioned racial segregation.
Key to Brooks's vision is the government's clear signal that it understands the magnitude of the atrocity it committed against an innocent people, that it takes full responsibility, and that it publicly requests forgiveness--in other words, that it apologizes. The government must make that apology believable, Brooks explains, by a tangible act that turns the rhetoric of apology into a meaningful, material reality, that is, by reparation. Apology and reparation together constitute atonement. Atonement, in turn, imposes a reciprocal civic obligation on black Americans to forgive, which allows black Americans to start relinquishing racial resentment and to begin trusting the government's commitment to racial equality.
Brooks's bold proposal situates the argument for reparations within a larger, international framework--namely, a post-Holocaust vision of government responsibility for genocide, slavery, apartheid, and similar acts of injustice. Atonement and Forgiveness makes a passionate, convincing case that only with this spirit of heightened morality, identity, egalitarianism, and restorative justice can genuine racial reconciliation take place in America.
Author Notes
Brooks Roy L. :
Roy L. Brooks is Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego. He is the author of over a dozen books, including Structures of Judicial Decision Making from Legal Formalism to Critical Theory (2002), When Sorry Isn't Enough: The Controversy over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice (1999), Integration or Separation? A Strategy for Racial Equality (1996), and Rethinking the American Race Problem (California, 1990).
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow sets much of the historical context for America?s current racial politics. In this dense book, Brooks, a law professor at the University of San Diego, attempts to resituate that legacy into a ?forward looking? model of atonement that demands both a governmental apology and cash reparations for American slavery. Brooks argues passionately that atonement is a moral obligation in the post-Holocaust landscape and a necessary step for ?racial reconciliation.? His book provides a compelling and thorough analysis of the history and the continued effects of slavery, particularly as it concerns inequalities in education. Still, Brooks spends too much time critiquing the tort model of litigation as a means for obtaining slave redress, leaving his discussion of general arguments against reparations to an over-hasty and occasionally terse final chapter. The text deliberately eschews practical considerations of the consequences of atonement as a social policy. But by focusing exclusively on moral duty, Brooks makes his claim that atonement will lead to racial reconciliation seem unrealistic. The book does offer a principled look at the atrocity of American slavery and its relevance to contemporary racial and international politics. As a demand for a formal apology and a contribution to the literature in the field, it is accessible and powerful. As a polemic on the necessity of reparations, however, it seems unlikely to convert new followers to its cause. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Choice Review
These books are useful contributions to the question of reparations for the wrongs inflicted on African Americans during the centuries of slavery and racial discrimination. Atonement and Forgiveness outlines the history of the racial redress movement and offers a new model for reparations; Reparations for Slavery offers a variety of readings concerning this issue. Law professor Brooks (Univ. of San Diego) proceeds from the premise that to be credible apology must lead to reparations, with the final objective being reconciliation. He traces the history of advocacy for reparations, noting that the compensation resulting from the atrocity of 9/11, a horror organized from abroad, has reinforced the cause of making amends for past injustice originating within US society. He contends that government on various levels bears much of the burden for reparations, as its deeds are a prime source of the injuries inflicted on black people. Brooks notes that slavery and Jim Crow "created racial fault lines that continue to erupt in twenty-first century America." He takes issue with a tort or litigation model as the primary approach to reparations, finding it too confrontational and unable to produce reconciliation. He does, however, support efforts to seek redress from corporate entities that profited from slavery. However, he fails to grapple with the need for reparations even when the guilty parties fail to offer apology or atonement. The objective of justice for the oppressed is the uppermost priority. Salzberger's and Turck's book of readings is a worthwhile companion to the Brooks volume. Particularly helpful is a stress on building new institutions to facilitate the attainment of racial equality. One of the readings outlines neoconservative David Horowitz's opposition to reparations, but the weight of the documents and commentary convincingly rebuts his arguments. Both of these works provide a valuable introduction to the question of reparations. ^BSumming Up: Recommended, both titles. All levels/libraries. H. Shapiro emeritus, University of Cincinnati