Reparations for Repair
A commentary on how to acknowledge our scars and move forward. | 5 minute read
Text & Concept: E Ehsani
Art & Design: Cheryl Thuesday “Ras”
Introduction
Our nation is broken.
The United States has a backlog of historical abuses that reach into the present. As a nation, we have profited from the pain of others, including the stolen land and genocide of Indigenous people; slavery and its continued aftermath 400 years later; foreign domination; exploitation of global resources; widespread discrimination and inequity of marginalized groups, and the many other injustices known and unknown.
But there can be renewal from ruin.
Any design toward the future must include a reckoning with the past, and it’s time to settle the books. Paying our historical and ancestral debts gives us all a shot at being free. Harm done anywhere presents an opportunity for healing. Acknowledgment of past wrongs must be followed with concrete, tangible actions that are determined by those impacted, not by those who did harm.
Reparations can help us heal backwards and forwards.
Innovation often arises from the margins, even though marginalized peoples have been written out of the future, just as their contributions have been omitted from history. These omissions create distortions that prevent us from seeing ourselves fully, and keep us attached to stories that impede our growth as a people.
It’s time to create a new narrative that’s big enough to hold the truth, however ugly, beautiful, painful, and complicated it is. Truth fuels transformation, and action propels us towards our personal and collective evolution.
We can start repairing with those to whom we have knowingly caused harm, and from there move outward to the people, creatures, and planet whose harm we may have benefitted from.
We measure our actions by impact, not intention. By integrating this principle into our daily lives and within our institutions and governments, we come closer to preventing future abuses, and provide a rubric for charting our progress.
We become a people who do no harm, freeing those who came before us, and those yet to come.
Help us acknowledge our wounds and let your voice shed light on others. Or tag your message at #newnewdeal.