Assuming reparations means direct cash payments drives much opposition

Evidence

One participant (white female, somewhat liberal Democrat, 33, noncollege, South) who initially ranked herself at 8 commented: “Look around: Our country is failing, and if we were to give reparations to a specific group of people I fear that it would just further divide our people. While the idea of reparations is nice and at heart may be a morally good answer, I don’t think it is an answer that currently fits within our financial and political landscape.” In spite of her initial concerns about causing further political and social strife, she was eventually convinced that reparations were the right thing to do and shifted to a 0. “Yes, when I first heard the term reparations I immediately jumped to direct payments and how logistically and politically troublesome that would be in the end. After I realized reparations could be numerous different things, I realized that I already agreed that a lot of them should be happening.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 501

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crucial to Brown’s remedy-design: when ‘reparations’ is defined operationally as diverse policy instruments, agreement rises even in respondents who opposed the label.
• SEED: A reframing essay: ‘reparations is not a payments program’ — showing expanded definition dissolves both fiscal and political feasibility objections.
• XREF: connects to: Financial restitution demands backfire while apology demands succeed in eliciting reparations — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 734