Ronald Walters

Ronald Walters is director of the African American Leadership Institute and a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland. In the following viewpoint, he maintains that many of the problems facing black Americans today—including poverty and the breakdown of family structure—are due in large part to the subjugation of blacks under slavery, although many white Americans deny this connection. He further argues that previous attempts to undo the damage caused by slavery— including the efforts made during Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement—have been halfhearted and ineffective. Walters believes that paying black Americans reparations for slavery would not only help blacks overcome the inequalities they face, but also symbolize the U.S. government’s acknowledgment of the...