In the article “The Case for Reparations,” Coates writes, “One cannot escape
the question by hand-waving at the past, disavowing the acts of one’s ancestors, nor by
citing a recent date of ancestral immigration.” To what extent are today’s dreamers
culpable for acts which, though they did not themselves commit, nevertheless benefit
from? Can someone not be at fault, yet be responsible? Use both the article and the
book “Between the World and Me” to answer this essay question.
In the article “The Case for Reparations,” Coates writes, “One cannot escape the question by hand-waving at
the past, disavowing the acts of one’s ancestors, nor by citing a recent date of ancestral immigration.” To what
extent are today’s dreamers culpable for acts which, though they did not themselves commit, nevertheless
benefit from? Can someone not be at fault, yet be responsible? Use both the article and the book “Between the
World and Me” to answer this essay question.