Descendants owe present-day justice but not ancestral atonement

Evidence

“There’s a powerful lesson in helping other white people see what might be in their backgrounds,” James said. “Part of this is coming to understand that while we’re not responsible for what our ancestors did, we do have a responsibility to address injustice in our society today, and that includes being very honest about the injustices that persist from what our own ancestors have done. Not to atone for what they did, but to address how it shows up via racism today.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1008

Categorization

• DEFINE: Articulates the key distinction reparations discourse relies on: responsibility for present injustice versus guilt or religious-style atonement for ancestral acts.
• XREF: Mirrors how Lanier herself frames her claim against Harvard — reparative responsibility without personal guilt.