The horrors and effects of U.S. slavery are so deep, it’s hard to compensate for, said Stuart E. Eizenstat, a negotiator who successfully represented the U.S. in compensation negotiations for German holocaust survivors.
“Part of what makes slavery reparations impractical is also what makes slavery’s legacy so insidious and difficult to combat,” Eizenstat said in a Politico article. “We’re not talking about a single, horrific, recent event. Slavery began before the founding of the country and continued for centuries. It ended more than a century ago. But its trauma has persisted for generations, continuing to harm African Americans even as it has become less visible to other Americans.”