To my brothers and sisters on the white side of the color spectrum.

When we search our ancestry and discover slave owners in our family tree, the long trajectory of de-valuing another human being becomes acutely personal.  If we are white and have read one book or belong to one study group on Black history, or we have paid any attention to the news, we cannot escape the bitter truth that, regardless of ancestry, we have profited from another’s oppression, by virtue of being white, by the iniquity of unmerited privilege.

If we are living white in America, we are knowingly or unknowingly complicit, and the child born Black is more likely to face these societal risks: 

• Generational poverty, substandard housing, and disproportionate vulnerability to economic disasters
•  Redlining and home ownership denial; unfair lending practices 
• Malnutrition and compromised health 
• Childhood exposure to extremes of violence and neglect; adverse childhood experiences predictive of early-onset chronic diseases
•  Incarceration 
• De-facto school segregation, low expectations, and underachievement 
• Voting rights suppression

 The timely necessity of Reparations:

We can no longer say we did not know, we had no idea. The new paradigm is our interconnectedness on an incalculable scale. If we do not see, think, feel and do things differently, American democracy, America’s moral authority, and, indeed, the very planet’s survival will be in peril. 

Reframing the present for a bright and enduring future:

 The dissemination and implementation of our highest values is possible, by the grace of communication technology. The economic resources are available if there is the will to use them for good and not harm. There is creativity and intelligence enough to solve the most complex problems, if there is simplicity enough to use them rightly. 

The profound efficacy of funding education:

 There is no greater act of charity than to provide a child with the education that will enable him to grow in right values, unfold his mental faculties, and fulfill his highest potential, thus, ensuring his sovereignty, and the joy and dignity of life along with its necessities.  This is the pivotal redemption, the reparation that will change the course of our history from darkness to light, and, at long last, give a new direction to time. 

Thank you for your time and consideration, 

Jane Bialosky, Educator