WBUR.ORG
Support WBUR Receive e-Newsletter
 
World of Ideas with Ted O'Brien
 
 
Attorney Alexander Pires
Attorney Alexander Pires
Professor Glenn Loury
Professor Glenn Loury
Sunday, December 09, 2001
Reparations for Slavery
listen to this showListen to this show

This week, we presented an Oxford-style debate organized by Boston University's College of Communications on whether the United States should pay reparations for slavery.

Arguing for paying reparations were Alexander Pires, an attorney for the Department of Justice; Christopher Hitchins, a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine and columnist for The Nation, and Matt Brown, a sophomore at the Boston University School of Management.
Pires started his argument by stating he intends to file a lawsuit against the government in order to determine the truth surrounding slave reparations. Christopher Hitchens argued that while reparations cannot fix all the social problems caused by slavery, society should still do what can be done. Matt Brown contended that reparations could be given in the form of money, or as apologies, education and prevention.

Arguing against the reparations were Professor Glen Loury, of Boston University; Deroy Murdock, a columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, and Amy Margolius, a junior majoring in journalism at Boston University.
Professor Loury argued against the ethics and racial politics of reparations. Murdock questioned the plausibility of reparations and the justice of asking descendants of whites who fought against slavery to pay reparations.



link to Newsletters
Sign up to receive weekly updates about upcoming shows on World of Ideas!


Every search and purchase you make from here supports World of Ideas
 
 

Copyright 2008. Trustees of Boston University. All rights reserved.   | RSS (v2.00)