Reparations is an issue about attempting to rectify a situation where an individual's life has been impaired by a past injustice. The character of this injustice is that some institution benefited unjustly by taking something from the aggrieved party; it could have been taking their life, their ancestor's life or taking resources from them to something of this nature. Reparations is an effort to look at these individuals and make them whole again in society, to make them a full citizen not marked by the past injustice. We are talking about how to create an even playing field which was made uneven by a legacy of enslavement, and was reflected in Jim Crow and in the kind of segregation that was made illegal until the 1960's, which was not even actively institutionalized until the 70's. It is time to make this group of people whole again after so many centuries of being socially penalized for being who we are.
After president Abraham Lincoln called for the Emancipation Proclamation back in 1865, and later the Thirteenth Amendment mandated that slavery be abolished, it is difficult to believe that African American people are still in bondage to this day. Today we still find ourselves separate and unequal. Even though slavery was made illegal, the damage had already been done and the slaves and their descendents would never be the same. The cruel institution of slavery not only dehumanized African Americans, but it left permanent scars that have been identified as "post-traumatic slavery syndrome". This is because many African Americans are saddled with poor schools, a drug and crime plague, high rates of prison incarceration, family deterioration and socially-isolated neighborhoods. The white community was able to pass wealth down to their descendents, and we were passed down poverty.
To rectify the condition of their lower living status there is a call for reparation. African American groups like the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N"COBRA) and prominent leaders are calling for payback.