Christopher Hitchens

About the author: Christopher Hitchens, who wrote for the Nation, a liberal political journal, from 1982 to 2002, is a columnist at Vanity Fair magazine. In addition to his work as a journalist, he is a professor of liberal studies at the New School in New York City.

Advertisements for runaway slaves carried in U.S. newspapers during the nineteenth century demonstrate that slavery was entrenched in the nation's economy. African Americans were also denied voting rights and access to property ownership until the mid-1960s. Angered by the injustice of slavery, activists are demanding that the U.S. government pay reparations—either directly or through a housing and job-training trust fund—to African Americans. The main arguments against reparations are misguided and ignore the contributions that African Americans have...