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Top Experts Discuss Reparations for Slavery at Boalt Hall
Experts from across the nation gathered at Boalt Hall to explore the case for slavery reparations on Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13. The two-day conference, Reparations for Slavery and its Legacy, began Friday at 4 p.m. with a lecture by author Randall Robinson titled "What America Owes to Blacks and What Blacks Owe to Each Other." An internationally recognized human rights advocate and active proponent of the reparations movement, Robinson is the author of several books about the African American experience, including The Reckoning and The Debt.
"UC Berkeley is once again on the cutting edge of the quest for social justice," says Robinson. "Two and a half centuries of slavery plus another century of legally enshrined discrimination have, in many ways, shaped who and what we are as a nation. An honest and thorough discussion of this reality is essential, not only for the psychological and emotional health of black Americans, but for Americans of every race, class and creed."
On Saturday experts from a variety of fields examined reparations from legal, historical and psychological perspectives and discussed proposed legislation, lessons from other movements and future strategies. Panelists included Dale Minami, lead attorney in a case that reopened a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case ruling and overturned the conviction of a Japanese American man who refused to be interned during WWII; Eva Jefferson Paterson, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights; and Kristen Wells, minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee.
Also included in Saturday's panel discussions were Professors Roy Brooks, University of San Diego Law School; Richard Buxbaum, Boalt Hall; and Emma Coleman Jordan, Georgetown University Law Center. A full list of topics and participants is available at www.law.berkeley.edu/institutes/csj/Reparations.html.
(4/9/02)
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