Ernest Allen Jr. and Robert Chrisman

About the author: Ernest Allen Jr., a frequent contributor to the Black Scholar, is a professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Robert Chrisman is editor in chief of the quarterly journal Black Scholar, which focuses on black issues.

David Horowitz's 2001 article on why reparations for slavery is a bad idea is an ill-informed, racist polemic against African Americans. Contrary to Horowitz's assertion that no single group can be held responsible for slavery, white Americans and their governmental institutions were the principal forces behind the transatlantic slave trade; as such, white Americans clearly benefitted most from slavery and should be charged with compensating the descendants of slaves. Moreover, welfare benefits and affirmative action programs do not count as...