Kendrick Lamar: The Case For Reparations Analysis

Kendrick Lamar, a rapper born and raised in Compton, California, declared “I’m trapped inside the ghetto and I’m not proud to admit it, institutionalized, I keep running back for a visit” in his most recent album. As a successful artist who has undoubtedly acquired the means to escape the ghetto, why would he ever return? Ta-Nehisi Coates would say this is one of the common problems that affects African Americans today according to his article The Case for Reparations. There is a genuine need for reparations because the last few centuries have consisted preferential white treatment purposely trying to keep African Americans from rising up in the world by removing basic rights and opportunities. Although African Americans now have their rights protected by law, their past …show more content…
It may not be our fault, but people today are still dealing with the consequences. Many people think that if it’s not their problem, there isn’t a problem. In addition, Coates states that “we might lack the ability to pay” (Coates, The Case for Reparations.) Throwing money towards the slums won’t raise African Americans from the lower class just like giving money to a homeless person won’t fix his or her underlying problems. The only effective way to enforce reparations, however, would be to raise awareness that African Americans are still at a disadvantage because of the circumstances they are born into that came from their treatment in the past, even if no one is consciously discriminating against them nowadays. No one wants to think that they are a racist. In addition, whites realizing that they are at a better position just for the circumstances they happen to be born into because “white poverty is not negro poverty” as President Johnson said (Coates, The Case for Reparations.) Reparations will only be possible when Americans realize that race and class should not be