Saraya Wintersmith, host of the podcast “What Is Owed?” Photo provided by GBH
Economist W has calculated that the estimated reparations owed by the US federal government to African Americans is $14 trillion.Eliam Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen. The husband and wife team's controversial discovery is discussed in episode 4 of GBH's new podcast 'What Is Owed?'.
“What Do We Owe?” A seven-part podcast exploring the history of reparations efforts, with new episodes added every Thursday. Episode 6 was released this week. The show combines archival tapes with contemporary interviews and speeches, and includes additional commentary from host political reporter Saraya Wintersmith. This podcast takes listeners back in time from present day Boston to his 1783 year. Belinda Sutton, an enslaved woman at the time, had her petite plastic surgery successfully performed.The lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts, making it one of the first lawsuits of its kind in the United States. Continued visits to Boston in the 1980s, Ghana, Austria, and Evanston, Illinois.
Image: Provided by GBH
'What do we owe?' This comes two years after a city ordinance was introduced and ultimately passed in Boston, creating the city's reparations task force in 2022. It would be another year before Mayor Michelle Wu announces the members of the task force. This long process is also documented in the podcast.
At the helm of the story alongside Wintersmith is senior producer Jerome Campbell. Campbell, who lives in California, interviewed Banner over Zoom in mid-March.
“Reparations as a concept and theme can feel like something from the distant past and disconnected from the reality we live in today,” he says.
Still, he talks about the successful reparations movement that took place in the United States some time ago.
Illustration of a slave auction published in Harper's Weekly in 1861. Photo: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act. The law included an apology and required the federal government to pay $20,000 to all survivors of World War II-era Japanese internment camps. This act of reparations was the culmination of a decade-long movement by the Japanese American community.
“To know that the reparations effort was not completed that long ago, and that the period between when America suffered the damage and when it repaired was very short,” Campbell said. They say, “Oh, why not in another case?”
He said he hopes people will use the podcast to build the tools they need to have productive conversations around justice and reparations for Black people. He hopes the program will allow individuals to share information about reparations and feel confident to participate in local community movements.
TCampbell said the most eye-opening part of the podcast was at the end of episode five, where Darity “talks about the potential for violence if reparations were to happen.”
Mr. Campbell did not consider the post-reparations reality. “It was like reparations was the finish line. And that was the quote that encouraged me…that could be the starting line,” he said.
“The real job is to get everyone involved, and it's a longer project,” he added.
The next local meeting of the Boston Reparations Task Force will be held in-person and virtually via Zoom at the Bruce C. Bolling Building in Roxbury on April 15th at 6:30 p.m. At that point, all seven episodes of “What is Owed?” have been completed. If Campbell has his way, community members will have the information they need to move forward with the reparations task force.
Listen to the GBH News podcast: wgbh.org/podcasts/what-is-owed
For more information about the Boston Reparations Task Force, visit boston.gov/equity-and-inclusion/task-force-reparations.
