Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the Atlanticâs June cover story on reparations, responds to four common arguments against them
We pay for things all the time that we didnât do. I wasnât around when World War I happened but weâre still paying pensions. That had nothing to do with me, but I understand that I have to pay into that. Thatâs sort of what government means. If a state dies with every generation, what kind of state is that? When people talk about debt, or the state of Social Security, they talk about what kind of world are we leaving to our children. They understand that the country continues, that the country was here before us and that it will be here after we die.