The Case for Reparations for African Enslavement: Time for Public Health to Join the Call?
Channel: UC Berkeley Events
Date: 2021-04-22

Submit a question to Dr. Bassett in advance with link: goldman.school/wildavskyquestions

The case for reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade and ongoing anti-Black racial discrimination has recently moved into the mainstream political, policy, and advocacy conversations in the United States. Public arguments for reparations are most often moral, historical, economic, and legal; a striking absence is the voice of the medical and public health communities. Yet, with almost 150 cities and counties across the United States having declared racism a public health emergency in 2020, and a smaller but not insignificant number considering reparations as one path forward, there seems to be a unique opportunity to bring the public health lens to the conversation. This lecture will begin to outline some of the ways that a health perspective can inform the call for reparations, including helping to articulate what redress would look like and evaluating successful implementation through a narrowing of health inequities.