''Reparations'' is an American website which was launched by Seattle-based artist
Natasha Marin
Natasha Marin is a Seattle-based conceptual artist, published poet, and activist with roots in Trinidad and Canada, whose work focuses on people, community, and healing. She is best known for her project Reparations (website), which received natio ...
in order to allow people with privilege to leverage what they can in order to help people of color.
Marin has stated that the website is not about
reparations for slavery
Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take numer ...
, which
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
has called for as part of its platform; Marin's website is an avenue for people to respond to modern
racial turmoil in the United States.
History
In July 2016, Seattle-based artist Natasha Marin launched a social experiment as a Facebook event page. Three days later, the project went viral, gaining international coverage in the Washington Post,
LA Times and The Guardian, and expanded to include a website. Framed as a conceptual art project, it was a forum for People of Color to post immaterial or material requests that would improve their lives, and for people of privilege and people who identify as White to offer them contributions and services. A social experiment that was never about “white guilt,” Reparations is a space where Americans, regardless of race, can take ownership of their shared history (NBC News).
The project engaged over a quarter of a million people worldwide, some of whom made death threats to Marin.
The Reparations project continues to live on through a private Facebook group, “Reparations: Requests and Offerings,” focusing on addressing present-day income inequality, community building, community care, and bringing about much needed healing and repair.
See also
*
Reparations (transitional justice)
Reparations are broadly understood as compensation given for an abuse or injury. The colloquial meaning of reparations has changed substantively over the last century. In the early 1900s, reparations were interstate exchanges (see war reparations) ...
*
Restitution
The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery, in which a court orders the defendant to ''give up'' their gains to the claimant. It should be contrasted with the law of compensation, the law of loss-based recovery, in which a court ...
*
Reparation (legal)
In jurisprudence, reparation is replenishment of a previously inflicted loss by the criminal to the victim. Monetary restitution is a common form of reparation.
Background
In the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Repara ...
*
Reparations for slavery debate in the United States
References
External links
*{{official, http://www.diyreparations.me
Current Facebook Reparations group2016 Facebook event page
Internet properties established in 2016
American websites
Reparations for slavery
Racism in the United States
Advocacy groups in the United States