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Dr. Reiter discusses current talks of compensating the descendants of slave victims in the U.S.

ISLAC Director, Dr. Bernd Reiter, discusses slavery reparations in the United States in the article “If Germany atoned for the Holocaust, the US can pay reparations for slavery.” In this article, Germany is discussed in terms of how they repented for their actions with the Holocaust. Germany compensated Nazi enslavement victims by dismantling the industries that used slave labor, judged those CEOs as war criminals, and paid a certain amount of money to Israel and to the World Jewish Congress. They also added sections to their constitution to prevent hate symbols and offer asylum to refugees. In terms of the U.S. repenting for slavery, it was mentioned that an official atonement policy should be created, especially since former President Abraham Lincoln promised compensation that was never provided. However, some issues present themselves with this process. There is currently an open display of racists symbols that are protected under the first amendment, the issue of identifying the rightful descendants of the slave victims, and determining the appropriate source of the money to be used for compensation.